SAY NO TO THE SCROLL

Worried about how much time you spend on your phone? Here's how to cut down on your screentime and reclaim your time and mind.

- Charlie Hale

Most people take their phones with them to the bathroom. Sixty-five per cent, in fact, are guilty of toilet scrolling. There are people who sleep with their smartphones underneath their pillow and, according to a 2021 survey, we stare at our phones for an average of five and a half hours each day. This isn't just unhygienic and an inordinate waste of time, it's telling of a growing epidemic of a society addicted to their phones.

Smartphones, and the various apps they hold, are designed to be addictive. Shouty notifications and endless feeds snare your attention for hour-long stints. Addiction isn't an infrequent side-effect, it's a feature of the tech industry.

In the much-talked-about Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, tech ethicist Tristan Harris explains how the design features of common social media apps, such as continuous feeds and the pulldown refresh element, derive from the gambling industry, devised to keep people hooked and lose track of the passing minutes.

While clearly designed to be addictive, it is the individual (not the industry) that picks up the phone and chooses to engage. Often, the urge to check your phone happens as you experience an unpleasant emotion - a lull in conversation, simple boredom, overwhelm or facing an insurmountable task - so you seek refuge in the online world, looking for a quick boost, distraction or validation, and finding yourself sucked in for half an hour or more.

Even while writing this article, I have felt the pull to reach for my phone for no reason other than it's there, seemingly winking at me. It's like a compulsive ticwrite a few lines, look at my phone - on repeat (sound familiar?). I am no off-grid guru, but my hope is that by better understanding the harm, I might be more motivated to fight the urge.