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For many of us,our lives revolve around our smartphones. Maybe you feel like you’re missing an appendage when you leave your house without your phone (or even leave it in another room). While you might not think this is a problem, it is a sign that your smartphone may be ruining your life.
Don’t believe us? We’ve highlighted six ways your smartphone could be destroying your life and your happiness. But don’t despair because we’re also providing tips to help you form a healthier relationship with your phone.
1. You Can Become Addicted
Ever notice that little bit of excitement you feel when you receive a new text message or notification on your smartphone? you’re able to thank dopamine for that. This so-called “pleasure hormone” is the same one that’s released and causes a chemical rush when people smoke, drink, and gamble. So, you guessed it, dopamine can be addictive.
Seeing a new notification causes dopamine to be released. You then start scrolling, hoping to get more of this feeling. Facebook and other social media giants know this, so they create apps that play to this human vulnerability.
As people spend more time scrolling, hoping to get a little bit of that dopamine, they find their tolerance for dopamine gets higher over time. This means you have to spend even more time on your phone to get the same effect you enjoyed in the past. Another side effect of this situation is that daily life seems more boring.
This might sound bleak, but there is a simple solution. Let yourself have quiet, phone-free time throughout your day. Even if it feels painfully boring (and it likely will at first), resist the urge to pick up your phone. Instead do just about anything else. Over time, this will help you break out of the dopamine loop.
2. You’re Getting Overstimulated
As humans evolved, our eyes became sensitive to colors, especially those bright ones like red that could warn us about danger. Developers and designers are aware of this, so they create apps and notifications that include eye-catching colors.
These colors play into the addictive nature of our phones by overstimulating us. This encourages you to keep mindlessly refreshing that feed to see something new. It’s a lot like a slot machine in that way.
You can fight back against these overstimulating colors and make your phone less distracting by switching it to grayscale. While it might seem boring to only see things on your phone in black, white, and gray, that’s the point. By making your phone less visually enticing, you’ll be less tempted to keep checking it.
3. You’re Not Really Connecting With Others
Everyone wants to be heard, but too many of us are on our phones instead of paying attention to the people in front of us. We’ve all been around someone who was supposed to be spending time with us, but instead couldn’t take their eyes off of their phone. Think about how bad you felt when that happened.
This is because humans are not great at multitasking, even if we think we are. We can’t place 100% of our attention on the people around us when our phones are out. And just the sight of a phone can make you feel less appreciated by the person in front of you.
So, what can we do to make this situation better? It’s as simple as putting that phone away when you’re with people. This means taking it off the table and putting it in your bag or pocket. Out of sight is out of mind.
4. You (Unfairly) Compare Yourself to Others
If you’re like most people, you probablyspend a lot of time on social media. And who can blame you? Social media allows us to keep up with friends and families we know and celebrities and influencers we don’t.
However, seeing seemingly perfect photos and descriptions of people’s lives can make us feel like we don’t measure up. Deep down, we know that social media isn’t real life. However, people are prone to comparison. This leaves us comparing ourselves to the glossy depictions of other people’s lives and often feeling like a failure.
Being a slave to comparison is no way to go through life. Thankfully, you can stop this cycle by limiting your social media consumption. You can also focus on helpful and happy content that uplifts you. After all, no one has ever felt bad after watching a cute cat video.
5. You’re Not Sleeping as Well
A lot of people say they’re willing to do just about anything to get a good night’s sleep. However, many of us spend time scrolling right before bed. All the stimulation from your phone does the opposite of helping you relax. Not to mention, the blue light can make it harder to fall asleep.
The dreaded blue light from your phone can alter your circadian rhythm and interfere with your sleep cycle. This is because blue light affects your body’s release of melatonin. It makes it harder to get to dreamland and causes us to spend less time in deep sleep. The combination is a disaster for our bodies and minds.
Solving this problem is easier than you may think, though. You don’t need to take supplemental melatonin or see a sleep specialist. Instead, you should make your bedroom a screen-free zone. That meansusing a physical alarm clockinstead of your smartphone. It’s also a good idea to spend one hour without technology before bedtime.
6. You’re More Likely to Have “Digital Amnesia”
There once was a time when we memorized phone numbers and didn’t keep every detail of our lives on our phones. However, now we’re outsourcing part of our memory to a device. And some scientists believe that your memory gets worse when you stop relying on it. It’s the “if you don’t use it, you lose it” principle.
Another problem with using our phones as our memory banks is that we think we can multitask when we do so. Spoiler alert: Even with digital support, humans still aren’t good at doing more than one thing at once. So, basically, we’re only partially paying attention to the world around us and making our memory worse when we rely on our smartphones.
The good news is that your smartphone doesn’t have to ruin your life and your memory. To keep your mind sharp, strive to do certain tasks the old-fashioned way: In your head. Also, avoid multitasking with your phone. Your brain (and the people around you) will thank you.
