At first, it was novel. There’s an app for that. One app at a time, our lives were made easier, more accessible and more manageable by our smart devices in which we could download countless apps for every area of our life. There is an app for just about everything we can imagine, putting our lives and attention more and more into the hands of our devices. Today, we are using terms like internet addiction, technology addiction, and phone addiction. According to Merriam-Webster, addiction is the “compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (such as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal. The more broad definition offered by the dictionary is the “persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful”. We have become compulsively needy for our phones. Research from a firm called Dscout found that we interact with our phones more than 2,600 times a day. We are developing sleep problems because we use our phones late at night, focusing problems because we check our phones during the day, and relationship problems because we’d rather be on our phones than pay attention to our partners. Is there an app for that? As a matter of fact, there are apps to manage, track, and limit your time spent on your phone. You still have to unlock, access, and engage with your phone to launch it, though. Most people aren’t aware that their compulsive relationship with their phones is harmful, which is why they don’t realize they are “addicted” to their phone. The blue light behind the screens of our phones is designed to mimic sunlight, which triggers stimulation in our brains. Just recently did iPhone standardize the “night shift” option to reduce the blue light. Blue light exposure disrupts our sleep and creates physical stress in our brain and body. Phones create a pervasive anxiety of FOMO- the fear of missing out- that there is a call or a text, an email, or perhaps a social media notification being missed. We have created habits out of using our phones and our tolerance is obvious. Few people are capable of checking their phone just once a day or not engaging with many different apps. Technology is at its best when it creates a product the world didn’t know it needed. We didn’t know we needed a smart phone or that we needed to be engaged with it all the time. Attachment to the phone causes driving accidents, selfie-deaths, and depression. When our attachment to our phone starts wearing on our mental health it is time to take a digital detox and become grounded again without our phone constantly in our hand or nearby.
Oceanfront Recovery is a men’s addiction treatment program offering residential programs for detox and treatment as well as a specialized track for executives. Located just steps away from the iconic Orange County beaches of Laguna, our beautiful home gives men the experience of thriving in life without drugs and alcohol. When we can change our story from addiction to recovery, we can change our lives. Call us today for information and to find out more how your story can change today: 877.279.1777
