How To Set Your Kid Free From Addiction
If you want to help your child to overcome digital addiction, here are some ideas:
Set limits. There should be strict and clear boundaries of when and how long to use the mobile device
Introduce tech breaks. Family time in the evening or at the weekend should be smartphone-free.
Establish digital-free zones. Arrange not to use mobile devices in the kitchen and bedroom while allowing play in the living room.
Put a specialisedparenting app on their smartphones. Parental control software lets you monitor your childs device usage and block inappropriate content.
Try to replace the phone with healthy alternatives. Engage your kid in active family time or fun activities. Teach them to enjoy the real world, treasure the joys of life and to get along without a cell phone.
Limit screen time
Kids spending too much time in front of screens? Cant get them to stop? Use Kidslox to set a daily limit on the amount of time your kids use their mobile devices.
How To Break A Cell Phone Addiction
Whether you meet the criteria for a full-blown phone addiction or simply want to reduce your emotional dependency on technology, there are lots of helpful strategies for breaking this bad habit.
Outsmart your smartphone by using technology to limit your technology use. Want to use your phone less? Theres an app for that. In fact, there are LOTS of apps for that. The BreakFree app, for instance monitors your phone usage, tallying up the number of times your unlock the screen, how many minutes hours you spend on your phone, which apps you use the most. The app then gives you a daily addiction score. If your addiction score alone isnt motivation enough to make you think twice before using your phone, the app also allows you to set up notifications to alert you when youve been on your phone for an extended period of time or opened an app too many times.
Get your phone out of the bedroom. There are lots of reasons why you should not sleep with your phone. For starters, using your phone within an hour of bedtime leads to poorer sleep quality and more insomnia. If youre like me and you check your phone every time you wake up in the night, your sleep is even more negatively impacted. Furthermore, when you wake up and check your phone before getting out of bed, you are reinforcing the habit for the rest of the day. Buy a cheap alarm clock and stop sleeping with your phone by your side.
The Real Reason Youre Addicted To Your Phone
Nirs Note: I no longer agree with this article. Its been several years since it was written by Avi Itzkovitch and published to my site and Im leaving it up for posterity. But after extensive research, I do not think it properly depicts addiction.Please see my thorough research on addiction here: as well as my other articles on the topic of Who is Really Addicted you to Technology.
Do you constantly check your smartphone to see if youve received messages or notifications on Facebook? Does your phone distract you from your studies or work? Do your friends, parents, children, or spouse complain that you are not giving them enough attention because of your phone? You may be addicted to your phone.
The smartphone has become a constant companion. We carry it throughout the day and keep it by our bedside at night. We allow ourselves to be interrupted with messages from social media, emails and texts. We answer phone calls at times when it is not socially acceptable, and we put our immediate interactions with friends and family on hold when we hear that ring tone that tells us a message is arrived. Something fundamental in human behavior has changed: our sense of phone etiquette and propriety has caused us to get out of whack in our interactions with one another.
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% Of American Teenagers Connect The Absence Of Their Smartphones With Negative Emotions
Statistics conducted by the Pew Research Center have also correlated smartphone addiction and emotional factors. It was found that more than half of American teenagers feel anxious or lonely when they dont have their smartphone. Plus, teenage cell phone addiction statistics show that girls are more likely to display these unpleasant cell phone addiction symptoms than boys.
The Suicide Rate For Teen Girls Increased By 65% Between 2010 And 2015 Coinciding With The Rise Of Smartphone Use
The rising trend in cosmetic surgery and false beauty standards set by celebrities like the Kardashians puts significant stress on the young female population. According to cell phone addiction statistics, which investigated data from over 500,000 teens, the connection between increased screen time and depression exists. Teenage girls showed the highest percentage of having suicidal thoughts. This tendency might be explained by the false beauty standards set by society and the fear of missing out.
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Modify Your Smartphone Use Step
For most people, getting control over their smartphone and Internet use isnt a case of quitting cold turkey. Think of it more like going on a diet. Just as you still need to eat, you probably still need to use your phone for work, school, or to stay in touch with friends. Your goal should be to cut back to more healthy levels of use.
Nearly Half Of Americans Consider Themselves Addicted To Cell Phones
- 43% say that their phone is their most valuable possession.
- 83% of Americans feel uneasy leaving their phone at home.
- 54% of people say they panic when their cell phone battery goes below 20%.
- 41% of Americans say they experience stress or anxiety less than 30 minutes after misplacing their phone.
- 52% say that they have never gone longer than 24 hours without their cell phone.
- 46% say that having another person use their phone causes them anxiety or stress.
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Most Phone Addicts Forget How Living In The Real World Is Like
Most of the phone addicts completely cut themselves off from real life and thus limit interactions with people and other real life experiences.
They see the world through their phones and interact less.
This prevents them from making their lives a little better or indulging in other activities that might actually be fun and refreshing for them.
Cell Phone Addiction=more Than Talking
Teenage cell phone addiction goes well beyond texting and talking. It includes apps, games, and, in particular, social media. For teens, cell phones have become a way to comment and criticize, approve and admire. They are not always communicating with friends. Often, they are commenting on their activities. They are checking for likes and responses to their own posts. Theres a biological component to this behavior. The brain reacts to the cell phone as if it were a drug. Studies have shown that both the phone ringing and the alert of a new text cause the brain to release dopamine.
What could be a benefit has descended into an obsession for many teens. Take the smartphone app Snapchata photo-sharing service. It boasts that teenagers use the app more than 18 times a day.
Also Check: Why Is Addiction So Hard To Overcome
% Of Americans Admit To Sleeping With Their Phone At Night
People check their smartphones up to 160x a day , according to a new study that examines the obsession.
Americans are completely obsessed with their smartphones, with 75.4% saying they are “addicted,” according to a new report from Reviews.org. The obsession runs deep, and shockingly so, with 45% choosing giving up sex over giving up their phone.
Currently 81% Of Americans Own Smartphones
For comparison, the smartphone statistics determined in a previous 2013 study show that 56% of adults in the United States had at least one smartphone in their household. This study found another piece of information regarding Americans and cell phone ownership: wealthier citizens have a higher chance of owning a smartphone. However, younger adults with average paychecks are also likely to own one.
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Parents Have A Problem Too
Parents might complain about the amount of time their teens spend on their phones, but they admit they have their own difficulties when it comes to unplugging.
Twenty-seven percent of parents feel they are addicted to their mobile devices, while nearly the same number of teens, 28%, believe their parents are addicted, according to the poll.
Sixty-nine percent of parents check their devices at least hourly compared to the 78% of teens who say they do that, and nearly half, 48%, of parents feel they need to immediately respond to texts and social networking messages. More than half, 56%, of parents admit checking their mobile devices while driving and nearly the same number, 52%, very often or occasionally try to cut down the amount of time they spend on devices.
GG Benitez, a mother of three, said that as the founder and chief executive officer of her own public relations firm, she feels the pressure to always be available due to the fear of losing any potential press opportunities for her clients.
While she is often praised by her clients and her family and friends for her immediate response to texts, emails and social media posts, she said this constant need to be connected can be taxing. Yet, even when she tries to stay off her phone in the evenings for at least one hour, she has a tough time.
Most Americans Spend Their Mornings Days And Nights With Cell Phones
From the moment they wake up to the time they go to sleep, Americans stay glued to their phones. Theyll even resort to texting someone in the same room instead of talking to them.
- 83% of Americans use their phone as an alarm clock.
- 80% of Americans say they check their phones within the first 10 minutes of waking up.
- 62% say they sleep with their phone at night.
- Americans spend an average of 50 minutes on their phones before bed.
- 67% say they have texted someone in the same room as them before.
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How Do I Beat My Phone Addiction
First things first take it slow. Dont lock your phone in a safe somewhere. It doesnt work like that.
There are two places you can start with:
1. The Bedroom
You can buy yourself a normal alarm clock and make the bedroom a phone-free zone. You dont actually need the phone in your bed.
2. The Table
Leave the phone away while eating or socializing with friends. That way youll be able to enjoy both the conversations and the meal itself. Its refreshing to talk to people face-to-face, instead of chatting with them online. Most people dont bite.
*fun fact Human bites account for 0.3% of ER visits.
Heres another tip on how to avoid it:
Turn off Your Notifications
HEY! HEEEY! HELLLOOO! Your phones light is blinking. Somethings happened. COME ON! HURRYY. PICK IT UUUP!
Probably its only my inner voice that sounds like a hyperactive gnome on cocaine. But you get the idea.
I hope this information helps you stay out of the cell phone usage statistics.
If youve read any of my other articles like What is a cyber attack?, or How to create a strong password you already know that I always spice up my texts with some interesting facts.
While researching the topic I stumbled upon some really
% Of Male Employees Use Their Smartphones To Access Blocked Websites During Working Hours In The Officecompared To 43% Of Female Employees
Furthermore, smartphone use statistics found that male employees are more likely to use their devices to access banned pages and websites while at work. Banned websites mostly include those dealing with pornography, Netflix, Reddit, Tumblr, or Youtube. By banning certain websites during work hours, employers hope to increase productivity levels.
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What Are The Signs/symptoms
Psychologists like making lists of symptoms for addictive behaviours, and the current standard is a list of six main symptoms that are linked to smartphone addiction:
- Feelings of unease, anxiety, or irritability if you cannot access your phone
- Using your phone for longer than you intended
- Wanting to stop using your phone, or decrease your amount of usage, but failing to do so
- Inability to resist the impulse to use your phone
- Increased attention to your usage or to the idea of quitting using your phone
- Continuing to use your phone even though there are negative consequences
Psychologists also use four functional criteria to diagnose smartphone addiction, meaning symptoms that have real-life consequences. And these criteria are:
- Excessive use of a phone that results in physical or psychological problems
- Using your phone in physically hazardous situations or in situations that have a negative impact on daily life
- Phone use that negatively affects social relationships or performance at school or at work
- Phone use that is time-consuming or that causes distress
In order to officially be considered a phone addict by psychologists, someone has to show three or more of the main symptoms, and two or more of the functional symptoms.
If you think that you, or someone you know, are a smartphone addict, then theres a simple online test that can help you self-diagnose.
Smartphone Addiction: Is It Real
If youve had the experience of breaking your phone or losing it for a few hours, you probably noticed the uncomfortable feelings you had during this time. It feels like a fish out of water to not have something to reach for throughout the day! It is common for people to feel anxiety if they are forced to give up their phones for a short time.
The truth is that every time you get a new phone notification, it gives you a mini high that is similar to your brain on cocaine. A hit of dopamine in the brain releases feel-good chemicals into your body, which reinforces the behavior. Eventually, this pattern creates an addiction and makes it difficult to live without feeding the habit.
Smartphones have changed human behavior because so many people are ready to respond to these digital notifications. People answer phone calls when it is socially unacceptable and interrupt conversations by looking at email, social media, and text messages. Smartphones provide variable rewards that make it compelling to respond to these notifications, to the point where these things are no longer considered interruptions.
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What Is Smartphone Addiction
Ever think about just how often you use your mobile? Ever get nervous or antsy because youve accidentally left your phone at home? Do you sometimes promise yourself that youre not going to use your phone but then find yourself using it anyway? All of these could be signs of smartphone addiction.
Smartphone addiction, or to give it its real name, nomophobia, is exactly what you expect: being addicted to your smartphone. In the same way as you might get addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, video games, gambling, or even shopping, you could potentially get addicted to your phone. Not all of us suffer from smartphone addiction, but some do, and the potential is there. In the same way that some people can have a couple of beers at the pub and then go home and others find themselves drinking a bottle of vodka a night , some people find that they have problems putting down their phones.
% Of Teens Feel Addicted To Their Smartphone Devices
Teenage cell phone addiction is real and should be addressed. Teenage cell phone use statistics showed that around 45% of teenagers constantly check their phones and confess feelings of addiction to their electronic devices. Nevertheless, the increasing trend of social media and technology has suffused teen lifeand has proven to be an ongoing struggle not only for teens, but also for their parents.
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Cell Phone Addiction Statistics Found That 71% Of Smartphone Users Usually Sleep With Their Device In Immediate Reach
The statistics found in the Trends in Consumer Mobility Report also hint at some concerning data on smartphones and sleep deprivation. In fact, an incredible stat on nomophobia found that 3% of smartphone users sleep with the device in their hand. Its no surprise that people are having trouble letting go of their smartphones and are losing sleep as a result.
