Study Finds We Unlock Our Phones At Least 150 Times A Day — 5 Ways To Prevent It From Taking Over Your Life
It's time to build some boundaries with technology.
PeopleImages.com - Yuri A | Shutterstock As you've surely heard and likely experienced, our phones are having an outsized impact on our mental states, whether we came to tech late in life or grew up digital natives. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so there's no better time for some strategies for managing these little boxes that keep monopolizing more and more of our lives.
A study found we unlock our phones at least 150 times a day.
According to a 2013 study, we each check our phones an average of 150 times a day, which is roughly once every 9 minutes — assuming we're awake for 24 hours at a time, that is. And that was all the way back in 2013! Tech, social media, and the internet have changed so much since then, and now occupy even more of our lives' real estate. We can probably assume that the number is a drastic underestimation by now.
Plus, other studies have shown that we toggle between different web pages and apps about 1,200 times a day. Given the decisive links between how our phones impact everything from anxiety levels to circadian rhythms to our dopamine and other brain chemicals, it's easy to imagine how all this constant smartphone use is affecting us.
Of course, we don't have to imagine it because the statistics are myriad. As study after study has shown, our ever-increasing smartphone and tech addiction since the 2010s has correlated with skyrocketing upticks in mental illness, steep declines in literacy, and all kinds of other problems.
So with Mental Health Awareness Month in mind, what are some strategies to rein all this in? Digital agency InboxArmy dove deep into the research to come up with some answers.
Here are 5 ways to prevent your phone from taking over your life:
1. Schedule focused deep-work sessions.
Research has shown that the vast majority of us are unable to do as little as 1 to 2 hours of deeply focused work without getting distracted. Studies have also shown that even interruptions just 4.4 seconds long can significantly increase errors, and on average, it takes us 23 minutes to refocus afterward.
So, how can you untether yourself and actually get some stuff done? Schedule blocks of time where your phone is away from you in another room, and all unnecessary browser tabs are closed out. Better yet, let colleagues know you're unavailable if you can. Research shows even just the presence of a phone can hinder our cognitive capacity, so time away can really help you stay on task.
2. Notification detox.
A 2017 study found we each get an average of 63.5 notifications every single day, and as far as our brains are concerned, every single one of them is a disruption. Not only can that hinder productivity, but depending on the circumstances, it can also spark a stress response that aggravates anxiety or spikes our cortisol, which is bad for our health overall.
Taking the time to disable any non-essential notifications, switching email updates to arrive in batches at times you designate, and using features that only allow urgent communications can all help lower stress and improve focus.
3. Create technology-free zones and times.
If you're old enough to remember a time before smartphones, you likely remember spending a lot of time just … thinking. Or daydreaming. Or zoning out. Think about it: When's the last time you actually did that instead of scrolling?
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It may seem like wasted time, but psychologists say this "empty" time is not only vital for our brains' rest and recovery, but it's also important for our productivity. Even worse, this constant tether to our phones interrupts vital processes like our sleep-wake cycles and circadian rhythms.
Experts recommend setting firm boundaries to counteract this, including a "digital sunset" 1 to 2 hours before bed, screen-free meal times, and, if you can manage it, blocks of time each day and even certain rooms in your home that are no-tech zones. It'll all help you decompress.
4. Practice single-tasking.
No matter how many job descriptions might call for it, the scientific fact is that we humans are actually really bad at multitasking, and it makes us less productive. Our obsession with our phones only makes this worse: One study found we lose an average of 59 minutes a day trying to find information buried within tools and apps.
Narrowing focus to a single task at once helps reduce all this lost time and energy. Task-grouping, in which you tackle similar tasks as a group, helps too. It reduces stress and heightens focus, which allows us to get more done in less time, even if multitasking FEELS like it's more productive.
5. Schedule regular digital detox periods.
You've surely heard the myriad studies that have found correlations between internet and smartphone use and conditions like depression and anxiety, along with sleep disruptions (which also exacerbate depression and anxiety) and even a decline in in-person relationships.
Regular digital detoxes are a major way this impact can be curbed. Remember, though, that for many (or maybe even most) of us, our tie to our smartphones and all they contain is quite literally an addiction. So, starting small is essential.
Experts suggest kicking off with short, memorable periods — no smartphone use before 10 a.m. or after 8 p.m., for example — and then working up to longer periods, like perhaps the so-called "digital Sabbath" of tech-free Sundays. Planning offline, face-to-face activities during these times helps too, not just with digital detoxing, but with reinforcing the relationships in our lives, which is itself a huge boon to mental health.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
