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Digital Device Addiction and How to Limit it
This current state of our world is surrounded by digital devices, everything from your smart watch, phones, and tablets to the more obscure internet-connected fridge.
While these have certainly made aspects of our lives easier, are they really good for our health? We can't deny that these are a significant part of our lives, and it has become harder and harder to not interact with them as our bank accounts, bills, shopping, are right there along side our messages and social media. However, by acknowledging the pull these devices have, we can limit our use to boost our mental health.
Digital device addiction in a few words, is the need to always be on our devices. In a few short years our mental state has become conditioned to think this is normal behavior, when in fact it greatly affects our mental state.
Phone addiction is now a clinical addiction where the user is addicted to the overuse of his/her smartphone. Sometimes even for no reason, they use it.
We all hear that "today's world is a social media's world". Social media has had a significant impact on almost every aspect of our lives in the present moment. While it has made advertising for companies easier, what do we really gain from looking into these curated views of other people's lives?
While the opportunities for knowledge on the internet are endless, so are the rabbit holes that have nothing of importance. Even the other addictions mentioned above are nothing without the internet.
Notifications play a critical role to your digital screen addiction because every time a new notification pops up, your dopamine receptors go off. These receptors are not meant to be going off on an hourly or minute basis and is actually unhealthy, even if it feels normal. With notifications turned off, your heart rate isn't jumping every time you get a like, etc. and you can live with a normal mental state.
Schedule the time that when you are going to use your device and when not. This can make sure you devote your time fully to other tasks. There are applications like Freedom, that can do this for you if you have to work on your devices as well.
There are plenty of other things you can be doing besides being on your phone. We used to read, go outdoors, draw, write, build, create, and more! What are you waiting for?
Take your devices out of the bedroom. It has shown that the blue color and light that all these applications use purposely keeps us up and engaged longer. Part of the process is resetting our mind to associate the bedroom with sleeping and not actively engaging in social media, the internet, or other connections.
If for whatever reason you can't turn off notifications or other distractions on your phone, use a Faraday Sleeve. Using one when you don't actively need your phone will completely cut it off from the outside world, with continued use you will forget you even have a phone sometimes.
Digital device addiction is one of the reasons we founded Silent Pocket. It is becoming more and more prevalent as our tech connections grow. Please use the list above to make some changes in your life for your mental and physical health.
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James Morgan
April 25, 2021
This is excellent advice and something we all need to remind ourselves of.
Three years ago I was talking to a City of London Police Officer near the Old Bailey.
There was a floral tribute tied to a nearby lamp post. The Officer informed me that a young woman had been killed after walking into traffic whilst texting on her mobile phone. It had all been captured on CCTV.
According to the Officer there are many similar incidents across London – most of them involving young women. Very disturbing and a cautionary tale for any woman reading this.