What are the symptoms of phone addiction?

What are the symptoms of phone addiction? Phones make life so much easier. Being able to text or call up anyone while in the comfort of your home, to effortlessly ordering pizza online, checking for account balances, learning new recipes, all with a single tap of a button is simply fantastic.

However, even with all these advantages, excessive phone use can turn out to be addictive. Below are symptoms of phone addiction.

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Below are symptoms of phone addiction.

Difficulty sleeping is a symptoms of phone addiction

Lack of sleep and smartphone addiction are closely related. According to research, the blue light that’s visible on the phone screen can greatly affect ones sleeping pattern. This is especially for the people that love sleeping with their phones just next to the pillow. It may be the reason behind your lack of sleep and also a sign that you’re suffering from phone addiction.  The need to have your phone share sleeping space points towards phone addiction.#

The way Social media affects you is a symptom of phone addiction

If most of your time is spent checking on sites like Instagram, Snap chat, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and others, you’ll most likely get stressed because of the things you read and see. Research has shown that spending prolonged hours on social media can harm you by lowering confidence levels in the long run. Most of the lives shared on these sites are rarely real, so you mustn’t use them as measures of success.

Always anxious is a symptom of phone addiction

Phone addiction isn’t just about scrolling through the phone all the time. It’s also about that feeling you get when you’re not scrolling down the phone.

Phone addicts become very uneasy when their phones aren’t with them. The feeling of not having their phone causes a sense of panic because they’re addicted. Practising how to live a normal life can help deal with such an addiction.

It’s affecting your relationships are symptoms of phone addiction

According to research, a good number of people pay more attention to their phones than they do with their relationships. This is certainly not the right thing to do because a phone is just a material thing. It could get lost one minute and get replaced in another. For some relationships though, once they’re lost, getting them back is impossible. If you find that your phone is the priority instead of your relationship, you’re an addict.

You seem to be in another world most of the time

Scrolling down through your phone with eyes tightly glued to the screen as you move, makes you look like a zombie. You can easily get so immersed in your phone making it seem as though the rest of the world is invisible. You create a whole new world around. However, there are other alternatives better than this. We live in an amazing world, choose to instead admire the environment around, converse with a neighbour, make new friends. Just as long as you avoid spending too much time on your phone. This addiction will cause you to miss out on the important events happening around you.

Constant checking of the phone

The average person checks their phone at least 47 times in a day, according to research. That’s a lot of time considering there are many other things you could do during the day, so if you check on your phone that much, you may be overdoing it.

You lose productive time

Say there’s this report that needs to get completed and handed over to the boss before the end of the day. However, instead of working, a lot of your time is spent visiting sites like YouTube to watch videos, playing online games, checking in on popular social media sites, and before you know it, its end the of the day. The report is incomplete so you rush and hand in half-baked work. Worse, you request for more time to complete it. This does not only paint you as not a serious employee but it’s also very unprofessional. The truth of the matter here is that you’re addicted to your smartphone.

Your phone easily distracts you

This tends to happen a lot to people that are hanging out with either a friend, family, or spouse. Just when everybody is having a good time, one of the people finds an excuse to get their phone out. At this point, everyone else can see them scrolling mindlessly. They not only miss out on interacting with people around them, but this act also presents them as individuals that simply have no manners. Tapping away on your smartphone instead of interacting with those around you is a clear sign of disrespect and phone addiction.

Texting is better than speaking

Are you constantly choosing to text rather than to speak? In the real world, people need to meet and talk physically. This is good because in case the other party doesn’t understand what is being communicated, it can be clarified for them in real-time. If a friend invites you over to discuss an issue in person but instead you tell them you prefer texting via Whatsapp, you’re simply exhibiting signs of being a phone addict. This is a serious problem especially if it’s your go-to option all the time.

Always feel phone vibrations are symptoms of phone addiction

You always feel your phone vibrating even when the screen is dark. You can’t afford to miss a thing, the vibrations make you scamper to check for what it could be. Maybe someone is calling or a text message came through? These vibrations which may not even be there sometimes will cause you to be absent even in situations where you’re physically present. This kind of feeling where you’re always anxious to receive a notification a call or a text is a symptom of phone addiction.

Feeling of loneliness without your phone

People that are always using their phones all the time often turn out to be shy and lonely. This is because their actual life is on the phone and not in the real world. Their real friends are online friends on Instagram and Facebook. When you live like this you’ll have a difficult time fitting in because this isn’t what you’re used to doing. Phone addicts get uncomfortable when put in situations without their phones, it just feels awkward. However, this shouldn’t be the case. Everyone should be able to interact comfortably without carrying a phone to keep them occupied.

Driving with a phone in your hands

This is downright very risky because it can cause accidents. Texting while driving or receiving a call is a very risky venture. Phone users like these don’t realize that it’s risky at all. As long as they can text and call while driving, nothing else matters.

Sharing meals with your phone

With a plate of food in front of you, your phone has to seat close to your plate. This is a very common behaviour for phone addicts.  They do this so that they can check on their phones every minute. This behaviour is wrong though. Mealtimes deserve to be respected, at least according to universal table manner standards. It’s very rude to seat at a dining table, eat food and also text away. Similar to driving with a phone in your hands, you could choke on the food and end up getting embarrassed. It’s better to eat first and then use your phone. If you don’t have the patience to wait, you’re addicted. The earlier you check yourself, the better.

Conclusion: Symptoms of phone addiction

Those are some of the universal symptoms that show if someone is addicted to their phone. Phone addiction is very serious as you’ve read. It can make you lose friends, relationships, and forget about how the real world operates, something that phone addicts don’t realize. Anyone can fall victim to this, though if you realize earlier, you can reduce how much time you allocate to your phone to prevent getting addicted.