How to break the tech habit

Introduction

I saw a funny cartoon on social media that said “The battery on my phone died and I had to talk to my family. They seem like nice people.” It’s funny because it’s true! Smartphones are taking over our lives. There was a video going around in 2017 that has received over 60 million views with the message “Look Up” (from your phone.)

Technology and smartphones aren’t bad. They offer us many many benefits. We can get directions when we are lost. We can let our partner know we got there safely. We can check the weather. We can keep in touch with friends from High School on the other side of the country (or even world.) The problem is most of us don’t follow the old adage “everything in moderation.” We get in to the habit of checking our smartphones too often.

What the data shows

40 percent of people check their phones within five minutes of waking up according to a 2015 study by Deloitte.

The average person checks their phone 110 times a day. People who are “addicted” check their phones as much as 900 times as day.

Research shared on on Psychology Today found that 58% of men and 47% of women suffer from Nomophobia (the fear of being without a smartphone.)

In another study 44% of the people surveyed stated that they become “very anxious” when they lose their phones and become phoneless for an entire week.

Do you have a problem

David Greenfield, PhD, of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine has developed a Smartphone Compulsion Test. If you answer “yes” answer to more than 5 of the 15 questions you may have a problematic relationship with your smartphone.