How we can control our smartphone addiction?

If you look at your accumulated hours of cell phone use, you may be in for a shock: here's what you can do to unhook yourself.

Do you think your cell phone is wasting your time and wasting your life?

There's a very simple way to find out.

If you have an iPhone all it takes is accessing 'Screen Time' to see how many hours a day you spend on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Skype or using Wikipedia, Multitran (if you're a translator) or wow essays writing service(if you're a student). On Android devices there is a similar option called 'Digital Wellbeing', although not all manufacturers offer this option and it is necessary to resort to an external app.

Our brain reacts in the same way as it does to cocaine: every time we receive alike, get a message notification or watch another funny dog video, our reward system is activated. We have the sense of having done something important and we look for more. The issue is hours spent staring at a five-inch rectangle.

It cannot be proven that cell phones themselves are the cause of psychological disorders. It has been seen that addiction to the devices preys on the most vulnerable people who already suffer from low self-esteem, poor impulse control, anxiety, depression and even alcohol and tobacco abuse.

The problem is that cell phones are tremendously useful and even indispensable for certain tasks. Is it possible to decouple the pernicious use we make of them from their useful functions? Experts like Adam Alter, the psychology professor and author of the book Irresistible, Who

Turned Us Into Tech Junkies, makes some recommendations:

When sitting at the table for lunch or dinner, the box places all cell phones in a closed box to eliminate distractions and restore communication between people living together. Those who live alone can do the same to enjoy the meal, perhaps with a little music, but without a cell phone.

Goodbye notifications: completely disabling cell phone notifications can save hours of time throughout the day. Daily tasks are not interrupted, and access to information becomes something we must actively do (pull) instead of letting it control us with incessant beeps and vibrations (push).

Put your cell phone in another room: how many times today have you had to move your feet to reach your cell phone and check it?

Out of bed: the bed is a sacred place where the mobile, like the television, has no place. Having the cell phone on the bedside table, within arm's reach, has negative consequences: increasing stress levels and h producing instant jet lag, telling our brain that it is time to be alert, and preventing us from falling asleep.

Rearranging icons: it sounds silly but it's not. Our brain and fingers get used to following a sequence of apps (Facebook, Instagram, email) that we open in an automatic cycle. If we change the icons around once a month, we have to learn those movements repeatedly, and the frequency of use is reduced.

Gray mode: another solution that affects the brain's dopamine circuitry is to use a screen mode where colors are removed, and everything is in grayscale. Bright colors make everything more attractive, and black and white images reduce our desire to interact with applications.

On top of all this, it's important to take a vacation where the mobile stays in a drawer. It can be a radical week-long retreat in the countryside or a couple of hours for a walk in a park. Our brain needs that break.

What's the basis for all this?

Moderate correlational relationships illustrated relationships between these variables, such that smartphone addiction was associated with self-reported negative effects on productivity, both in the workplace and in participants' daily lives.

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