Dr C’s check-up

A study found that four in 10 people aged 18 to 30 can’t keep off their phones, and display addictive behaviours. Dr C says we need to set boundaries with our tech

In the first lockdown, people’s phone use went up by more than 200 per cent. Now research has found that a third of young people are addicted to their device. The scientists said people were addicts if they couldn’t control how long they spent on their phone, felt distressed when they couldn’t access it, or neglected more meaningful parts of their life because they were busy on it. We throw around the word “addiction” a lot, but this is clearly addictive behaviour.

SPOT THE ‘HIGH’

Apps on phones are designed to hook us in, they give us little bursts of dopamine, a brain chemical that makes us feel good, so we keep going back for more. They make your brain react in a similar way to a slot machine or a drug. You’re looking for that little “like”, which is just like a “high”. You might think that sounds over the top, but if you are addicted to your phone, how much are you ignoring other things as a result? That’s how we can measure the damage.

MAKE SIMPLE CHANGES

If you know you spend too much time on your phone, you can wean yourself off by interrupting the impulse. Set time limits for how long you spend on social media, turn off notifications so that you only see things when you choose to rather than being alerted by a ping, delete apps that are eating your time and unfollow random people so you don’t have thousands of accounts vying for your attention. Set boundaries too, so decide that when you’re eating, or watching your favourite TV show, it goes in another room or in a drawer, or you turn it off. We now feel like we need to fill any “empty time”, by scrolling through Instagram, but it means we pay less attention to our flatmate, kids or partner, so try to get comfortable with not grabbing your phone every time you get a minute to yourself.

USE HELPFUL INFO

It’s unfair to say people are addicted to their phones when they’re actually addicted to certain apps. If people are using their mobiles to call or message friends, they’re looking for companionship – and that’s good. It’s when people are using them just for “reward”, by getting likes and comments, that it becomes problematic. There are some very useful apps; such as NHS ones for monitoring conditions like gestational diabetes or asthma. People use them to keep an eye on their health and set reminders. Recently, scientists designed a way to scan people’s eyes using phones to check for glaucoma, and there are similar advances happening in skin cancer apps. It’s proof technology can do a lot for our health if used correctly.

BOOST WELLBEING

Mental health and meditation apps are also very useful. I use binaural apps, which use sounds to help move you into a sleepy state. For example, Brain Waves plays you slightly different pitches in each ear

(via headphones) to induce sleepiness. I find it incredibly effective, having struggled with sleep for years. We’re also realising more how much we can help people using virtual GP appointments. It wouldn’t be right for everything to become remote, because we need human contact, but virtual appointments can save people a lot of time, and we can reassure and diagnose patients over the phone or on a video call easily.

GO BACK TO BASICS

Isolation is a huge concern, and phones help us stay in touch. People often use them to surf the internet, take pictures and scroll through social media, but rarely make calls. I know a lot of doctors who have swapped their iPhones and gone back to a very cheap, very simple phone without any apps because they only want them to stay in touch. Watch out for tracking apps, too. If you are trying to get pregnant, for example, they can increase stress and make you feel distressed when you

get a period. You can become a slave to an app, when more than anything else in the world you need to try to relax and de-stress when trying for a baby. Plus, they often aren’t terribly accurate. It’s the same if you’re tracking sleep – if you’re becoming a bit obsessive about your sleep stats, the phone has become your master, and that isn’t helpful.

TAKE CONTROL

Most apps have been cleverly designed to encourage us to spend more and more time on them. But we need to learn how to use technology in a healthy way by taking back a bit more control over it.