Find Freedom From Phone Addiction: Ending the Doomscroll

Phones have become the copilots of our lives. Our personal secretary, entertainer, and for some, a ball and chain.

While there have been many good things to come with smartphones, there is also an underbelly of sticky content that intentionally keeps users where they don’t want to be.

Terms like doom-scrolling have become commonplace, yet not many people have the required knowledge or willpower to stop using their phones. Phone addiction is a very real problem that has more than half of Americans feeling like they can’t get out.

Causes of Phone Addiction

Phone addiction is caused primarily by changing brain chemistry. 

The brain's reward system releases dopamine to reinforce pleasurable behavior. However, the stimulus that releases dopamine isn’t always the most positive behavior. It’s the same mechanism that drives substance addictions.

While scrolling and posting on social media platforms and other apps, the brain releases dopamine. That reinforces the habit of checking social media. Likes, notifications, and endless scrolls add to the dopamine coming into the brain.

As the brain gets frequently flooded with dopamine, it will begin to change its chemistry to account for the extra dopamine. Making it harder for the brain to operate at a regular level without the additional dopamine from phone usage.

Smart Phones are Designed for Addiction

Smartphones are designed to keep people’s eyes on them. Everything from the notifications, color choices, and app interfaces is designed to keep people on their phones for as long as possible. 

This is a known fact and something everyone should be aware of. Phone addiction is so much harder to break than many behavioral addictions because phones are designed to keep people using them as often as possible.

Fear of Missing Out of Social Events

Much of life is lived online. Pregnancy announcements, flash sales, events, news, and cultural moments all occur on social media platforms. If you aren’t on social media, you will likely miss out on these moments.

Excitement over moments tends to die down quickly. One moment, everyone is obsessed with a trend; the next, no one seems to care. The speed of trends can exacerbate the FOMO that many people experience thanks to social media.

‍Fear of missing out is associated with phone addiction. The more FOMO someone experiences, the more likely a phone addiction will develop. It’s also correlated with the intensity of the addiction.

Instant Gratification

Being able to grab your phone, find anything you want, and engage with it is a contributing factor to phone addiction. Phones offer users instant rewards across a plethora of interests, and that’s not always a good thing.

The instant gratification that phones offer is short-term and unstable. Posts won’t always give you the dopamine your brain craves, and short-form content might lead you to places you didn’t intend to go. A short glance can quickly turn into doom-scrolling.

Compulsively Checking for Notifications

Separate from social media and apps, compulsions can create an ever-present feeling that your phone has to stay on you.

Instant communication and tracking are helpful tools for daily living and checking the safety of your loved ones. However, this feeling can become an overwhelming compulsion that if your phone isn’t with you, then someone in danger won’t be able to contact you.

This feeling can be debilitating and stop you from living the life you want to. 

Phone Addiction Complications

Feeling like you need to check your phone all the time isn’t the only symptom of phone addiction. Overusing your phone can lead to other mental health issues or be an indicator of other mental health struggles.

Anxiety

Phone addiction can cause anxiety. This can occur in more than one way.

• Being away: Someone who is phone-dependent will experience anxiety while away from their normal lives or their friends. They could feel they need to keep up, fear missing out, or a feeling that someone who needs them will call or text.
• Social interaction: Scrolling through pictures of people having fun isn’t fun. Anxiety can stem from FOMO and seeing “how much better” people’s lives are.
• Viewing unwanted content: Algorithms are designed to feed you what you want, but it’s possible to come across content that is disturbing, unwanted, or designed to make you anxious.

If phone usage is starting to make you feel anxious, take some time away from your phone altogether. Or keep reading for ways to dumb down your phone.

Learn more about the signs, symptoms, and treatments for anxiety disorders.

Depression

Phone addiction can cause depression and make you feel isolated. 

Phones are meant to keep you entertained, but most content on social media is meant to impress. Spending copious amounts of time looking at how great other people’s lives are won’t do you any favors.

In fact, excessive phone use is associated with depression. 

Learn more about the causes, signs, and treatment of depression.

Loneliness and Isolation

There are a lot of communities people can find online. Apps like Discord and Reddit allow people to connect over granular hobbies and interests. However, theories suggest that excessive phone usage weakens or reduces offline relationships.

These communities may foster meaningful interactions and connections, but they shouldn’t replace offline relationships. Having your social circle in your pocket at all times is not a healthy way to live your life.

It’s known that offline relationships are important for developing children and teenagers. However, how this affects adults is still undetermined.

Sleep Troubles

People who are addicted to their phones will likely use their phones before bedtime. Some people say this is how they unwind before falling asleep. However, science would state otherwise.

Mobile phone use before sleeping has been proven to disrupt sleep patterns and decrease overall sleep hygiene. You might be able to get a decent amount of sleep, but the quality of that sleep will be worse.

Sleep hygiene is important for living a balanced life. When sleep is poor, mental health issues are much more likely to grow. 

Learn more about different sleep disorders and how Sequoia can help treat them.

How to Stop Phone Addiction

If you’re aware that your phone usage is problematic and harmful to your health, you’re in a good place. Knowing is half the battle.

Dumb Down Your Phone

Many people have already come to develop tools and tricks that help them live a balanced life while still using their phones. Some products lock phone usage from occurring so you can focus on getting work done, enjoying company, or taking a hike.

Here are some tricks you can use to make your phone more human-friendly:

Turn Off Notifications Except From Humans

Notifications are trying to get your attention. Turn off all non-important notifications. That includes apps like Facebook, Amazon, Chipotle, Gmail, and any other app.

Notifications should be used as a way to get a quick glance at what someone is saying. Notifications like “Check this out”, “Buy now”, and “Been a long time” are all designed to get you back on the app.

Charge Your Phone Outside of Your Bedroom

This simple change can improve your sleep hygiene and help you end your phone addiction.

Charging your phone outside of your bedroom makes your bedroom more sleep-focused. That means while in bed, you can’t look at your phone. If you use your phone as an alarm, purchase a cheap alarm clock to replace it.

Set Your Phone to Grayscale 

This trick has been around for a long time, and it’s an easy one.

The colors used for home screen notifications and app icons are intended to grab your attention. At any time, your home screen can look cluttered and full of icons that are dying to be opened.

Setting your phone to greyscale will make your phone more boring to look at and decrease your interest in it.

Remove Infinite Scrolls

This is easier said than done for most people. Infinite scroll apps like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, X, Bluesky, and many more should be removed or severely limited.

Autoplay is another feature you should disable. It’s meant to keep you engaged with content even if you’re done consuming.

Look into apps and settings that can lock you out of specific apps after a specified amount of time.

Phone Addiction Treatment

Phone addiction is a behavioral addiction that can be treated similarly to drug addiction.

The treatments available for phone addiction and all other behavioral addictions include:

• Group therapy
• Cognitive behavioral therapy
• Recreational therapy

If phone usage is stopping you from pursuing what you want, seek the help you deserve.

Phone Addiction Treatment at Sequoia Behavioral Health

Sequoia Behavioral Health is a holistic treatment facility that treats clients through personalized treatment plans. While here, we’ll treat the symptoms of your behaviors as well as the root cause.

Contact us to start the onboarding process and get the help you deserve.