TT9 - 5 Reasons To Use Your Cellphone Less

Summary:

Our cellphones are such a powerful thing. These tiny devices have the ability to connect us all and make our lives much easier. Although they are good, cellphone overuse can come with a ton of other problems, and as Spiderman's uncle once said, 'with great power comes great responsibility'. Understanding why you should be using your cellphone less is the first step in actually doing so. In this week's Thursday Thoughts, I speak about 5 reasons that you should be using your cellphone less. Enjoy!

1. They Can Ruin Your Sleep - The blue-light that your phone screen emits has the powerful ability to suppress your melatonin secretion for up to three hours after exposure. Melatonin is responsible for putting you into those deep stage 3 and 4 sleep stages that are crucial for long-term health and memory. By looking at your phone within the last moments of the day, you are potentially destroying your sleep quality, even if you are able to fall asleep right away. The best advice that I can give you for this is to try and cut back phone use for 90 minutes before you go to bed.

2. They Can Increase Your Stress - Not only are looking at cellphones before you go to bed a bad thing, but checking them as soon as you wake up is as well. When you immediately check your phone, you are prioritizing other people, allowing any outside emotions to affect you first-thing during the day. There's a huge different between seeing an email that you don't want to as soon as you wake up, and seeing it an hour or two after you're awake - your brain's ability to process and handle it improves as the day goes on. Making anywhere from ten minutes to an hour or two without your phone in the morning can do wonders for your stress levels throughout the day.

3. They Decrease Your Dopamine Sensitivity - When you are constantly looking at bright colors and new images, your brain is consistently releasing small hits of dopamine. This leaves you chasing more, and can cause phone addiction. At the same time, it can also decrease your dopamine sensitivity, causing you to want more and more while feeling less and less of the effects. By cutting back on your phone use, you are consuming less dopamine, allowing your brain to process that dopamine better in the future.

4. They Cause Anxiety - Phone use and constant hits of dopamine can also mess with a neurotransmitter in your brain called GAB. This neurotransmitter is responsible for regulating your anxiety among a few other things, and if disrupted, can leave you feeling more anxious throughout the day. I've definitely noticed that as my phone use goes up, I'll be more anxious in certain situations. Try to pay more attention next time you experience anxiety; were you using your phone a lot?

5. They're Crushing Your Attention Span - The constant barrage of new images and new ideas is what your brain is meant to handle; but at the same time, this constant switching causes your brain to slowly lose it's ability to concentrate in the long-term. When you are constantly switching between your phone and real life, or even different apps, your brain is slowly losing it's ability to concentrate, decreasing your attention span. Next time you're out in a waiting room or doing nothing for a few minutes, note how long it takes you to unconsciously try and grab your phone.

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