There was a time when only Land Line phones existed and they were just used to make and receive calls. After that, came the pagers and people started carrying them with themselves but, the use was still limited. However, things changed a lot when mobile phones were invented and just in few years, smartphones reached in each and every corner of the world. Now-a-days, you don’t own a smartphone but, smartphone owns you. The reason why we are saying this is because of the growing addiction of mobiles phones among the users specially the younger generation.
If you are thinking that you are not suffering from Mobile Phone Addiction, read the below-mentioned signs and symptoms and then think again.
20 Signs and Symptoms of Mobile Phone Addiction:
1. You keep your phone in your hand all the time. It remains in your hand more rather than in your pocket or bag.
2. You get tensed when your phone goes out of your site.
3. You spend more time on watching the mobile phone screen rather than any other activity.
4. Your phone battery rarely lasts for a day.
5. The very first thing you check while leaving any place is your phone.
6. You even take your phone to the bathroom.
7. You keep on checking mobile notifications even when there aren’t any.
8. Your day starts with checking notifications on your mobile phones and it ends in the same way.
9. The mobile phone is the first thing you look out for just after waking up and you keep your phone near the pillow while sleeping.
10. You feel a constant urge to just check whether your phone is with you or not.
11. You feel like your phone is vibrating even when it is not.
12. You care for your phone more than your life or anything else in the world.
13. Even the thought of losing or misplacing phone scares the hell out of you.
14. You carry an extra battery or your charger/power bank with you all the time so that you never run out of battery while using your phone.
15. You just unlock and lock your phone time to time without any need.
16. Even a small scratch on your phone or a crack on display hurts you a lot.
17. You have almost each and every app on your phone and you keep your phone much more organized then your cupboard.
18. In a group meeting, you are the first to pick the phone out from a pocket and last to keep it back.
19. You are constantly scolded by your loved ones for your growing closeness to your smartphones.
20. You are ready to live along only on the condition that you have your smartphone with you.
How to deal with Mobile Phone Addiction?
No matter what kind of addiction it is, getting over it is a very difficult task. You need full dedication and will to get over it. It is difficult but not impossible. Here are few simple ways by which you can cure your mobile phone addiction.
- Accept it: The very first thing you need to do is accept the fact that you are a mobile addict. It is not a bad thing and you are not the only one. Nothing can be solved until and unless you understand what the problem is and, in this case, the problem is the mobile addiction. If you agree with even 10 sign and symptoms mentioned above, we are afraid to say that you are a mobile phone addict and you should accept it as early as possible.
- Take it slowly: One of the biggest mistakes which are done while fighting against any addiction is the way people try to cope with it. Nothing can be done just in a night. If you are planning to totally boycott your phone just out of nowhere then it will have a very bad effect on your mental health. You will feel irritated and confused. Take it slowly and start skipping the use for phone slowly.
- Create boundaries for yourself: It is you who need to take the action. You can put your phone on silent and we would recommend you to stop the alert notification system. Instead of checking notifications after every 20 minutes, make a schedule of checking them after every two hours than three hours and slowly increase this duration.
- Uninstall unwanted or less used apps: You don’t need an app for everything. Uninstall each and every app on which you spend most of the time. Keep only those apps which are actually helpful and can save you time, not waste it.
- Switch Off your phone in a meeting, while driving or while meeting your friends: Try to spend time with people who have taken out few hours from their precious time just to meet and talk to you.
- Keep yourself busy in productive activities: Instead of wasting time on checking and refreshing apps, you can work on other activities. You can develop a new hobby, can start reading a book, can learn cooking and much more.
- Make a no-phone day in the week: This is the best way to overcome the cell phone addiction. Schedule a day in a week on which you will not use your phone apart from taking and receiving calls. Do this activity for one month and you will realize that you don’t need you phone with yourself all the time.
Mobile phone addiction is not a rare thing and almost every second person in today’s world is suffering from it. The real danger is that people are not aware of the consequences it will make in future. Well, the conclusion is that you need to understand that Mobile phones were created to save your time and not waste it.
