Where is your phone right now? Chances are, it’s probably already in your hand!
Our smartphones have effectively become extensions of ourselves. For a lot of people, it’s the first thing they reach for in the morning, while others tend to feel anxious whenever they are without their phone for too long.
A 2019 Pew Research study found that 95 percent of all U.S. teens have access to a smartphone, with 45 percent reporting that they are “almost constantly” on the internet. Further, a 2021 Pew study found that 85 percent of Americans own a smartphone. Smartphones are definitely handy – they can help us get somewhere or find useful information.
They can even get us a date. But are we at risk of becoming a bit too attached to these devices – or even addicted? All that scrolling and swiping can not only result in hours of screen time but also distract some students from more important tasks – like schoolwork.
Nancy Cheever serves as the Journalism Program Coordinator for the CSUDH Communications Department. Her research focuses on the potential impact
of technologies on mental health. She said it could be helpful for students to limit their overall phone usage during the day.
“The first thing I would say is to turn off notifications because they create dopamine effects within our bodies, and over time those effects will cause an increase in anxiety,” Cheever said.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter – or chemical messenger in the brain – associated with pleasure and reward. However, an excess amount of dopamine can lead to addictive behaviors. Dopamine also mainly contributes to various mental health disorders.
“Eventually though, those dopamine effects wear off,” Cheever said. “Leading to us constantly thinking about our phones, which leads to major massive amounts of anxiety.” Cheever also suggested turning off the phone right before going to bed. She said students often don’t get enough proper and beneficial sleep and that it can lead to improper brain development.
“When you are constantly looking at your phone, especially right before you go to sleep, that can delay you getting to sleep,” Cheever said. “Maybe start by at least trying to silence your phone at night.”
Lastly, Cheever offered insight into how students can try and schedule times throughout the day when they don’t look at their smartphones at all.
“Try and have a meal by yourself and not with your phone. By looking at your surroundings and observing real life, it can take you out of that artificial world that you live in.” Cheever said.
Cheever said stepping out of the virtual world is crucial for students. “Real life is better than the artificial life,” she said. “Artificial life is nothing like real life; it’s all manufactured and mediated.”
Phones can also distract students from taking care of their physical and mental health. “Physical activity becomes less important due to having a smartphone and there are more serious issues such as depression and anxiety,” Cheever said. “Besides a person’s parents, their phones are the number one influencer on people’s lives.”
Assistant Psychologist, Jax Flowers is on his way to becoming a psychology professor but currently works at a private practice.
He has been an assistant for three years and his research focuses on balancing phone usage.
Flowers said our minds are being manipulated by our smartphones and we don’t even know it.
Flowers primarily specializes in child psychology. Flowers said that based on his research, phones can manipulate students every time they look at or even pull them out for a quick moment. He said that it builds a sense of attachment, as if the phone were a beloved pet.
“This feeling of anxiety comes from not having our phone visible and this leads to everyone freaking out,” Flowers said. “We feel that we have to use our phones for a sense of being involved with society but in reality, it leads to people, especially students, becoming less social within the youth communities.”
Flowers added that excessive phone usage could contribute to routines that might further addiction. “We as people grow such bad habits in society, like the silent buzz…our minds tell us we got a text even when we didn’t,” Flowers said.
By raising awareness, offering support, and adopting healthier phone habits, Flowers said students can start to forge a path toward a more mindful and connected future.
Having a smartphone is inevitable in our current society. However, managing the amount of screen time students use could help them not become fully submerged in bad technology habits.
Flowers states, “making your life balanced and managing our screen time with technology is beneficial for our minds and for our health.”
