How I kicked my phone habit

The first iPhone was released in 2007, and since then, our smartphones have been slowly, insidiously changing our brains. But with features designed to addict us, can we take back control? The Weekly goes cold turkey.

- WORDS by GENEVIEVE GANNON

I hand my partner, Matt, my phone and tell him to hide it. The time is 7pm, hour zero of the phone ban I’ve imposed on myself. I was recently separated from my phone for about five hours and the resulting panic and anxiety was deeply shaming. I’d suspected my attachment to my magic rectangle had the qualities of addiction, but it wasn’t until I noticed my hand repeatedly reaching for it when I knew it wasn’t there, fingers twitching, that I had to confront the hold my device had over me.

I’m not alone. There are 1.2 mobile phones for every person in Australia, and we’re spending more than six hours a day on them, according to Red Search’s 2025 screen time report.

Cognitive neuroscientist Mark Williams runs workshops in schools and workplaces to help people have healthier relationships with their smart devices, and he agrees to chat to me about how smartphones are changing our brains. I confess my digital sins, and he confirms it’s time to take drastic action.

“It is an addiction,” Mark says of our collective dependency. Smartphones are engineered to tap into our primal systems and get us hooked. App developers do it intentionally. “Apps cost very little to buy,” Mark explains, “Therefore, the only way to make money out of an app is to make it go viral. And the only way you make it go viral is to make it addictive.”

Smartphones use noise and sound to trigger the parts of our brains that evolved to protect us from predators. “So that leaves us on high alert. Plus, they’re very colourful which also helps.”

These beeps and trills disrupt our alpha brainwaves, which are responsible for keeping us calm, and the dopamine hit delivered by a text or a funny gif leaves us craving more.