Why your smartphone means you're out of clean pants!

Could chasing the dopamine hit of checking your device be making you live out your life in panic mode, asks Dr Stephanie Fitzgerald...

- Dr Stephanie Fitzgerald

We can get a bit jaded about the advice around smartphones and the importance of disconnecting. Yes, we know about blue light and too much screen time impacting our sleep. Yes, we know that social media is responsible for negative comparisons to others, setting unrealistic expectations of - and subsequent disappointment in - our own lives. And, yet, it is still persistently difficult to put our phones down. We live in a constantly connected world and much of our social interaction, our business connections, and our entertainment comes from the same device which research shows 90 per cent of us keep within arm's reach 24/7! It is hard to break away from the siren call of our screens, but what about the impacts that we aren't told about? What about the challenges we don't automatically link with our phone use? What if I told you that your phone is the reason why you don't have any clean pants? Let me explain...

Smartphones are named as such because they are physically changing how our brains work - but it's definitely not making us smarter. Human brains are reward based. If we do something and receive a reward, our brain will want to do that thing again. Research tells us that checking our phones, seeing a funny meme or receiving a like, releases a small dose of dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in how we feel, how we think, and how we plan. This mini-hit feels great but it is temporary, and so our brain seeks more. After all, who doesn't want to feel good? However, the sheer number of times we reach for our phones means that we are finding it harder and harder to get a subsequent high.