Using CBT to Reclaim Control from Smartphone Addiction

 

Describing smartphone overuse as an addiction is a relatively new concept. Smartphone addiction is not included in the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. However, many addiction experts recognize the similarity between this form of phone use behavior and impulsive and addictive disorders. There is even a name given to fears about losing access to one’s phone or losing phone connectivity. It is called “nomophobia”, meaning “no mobile phone phobia”. Despite not being listed as a definitive mental health disorder, “smartphone addiction” has become a common and accepted descriptor of the behavior of people who have an extraordinary and unhealthy dependency on the use of their cell phones.

Smartphone addiction statistics in one U.S. national survey revealed that up to 46% of smartphone owners believed that they “could not live without” their smartphones. Behavior patterns such as reassurance seeking by excessively checking their phones for messages and notifications and fear of missing out on such messages are hallmarks of this kind of phone addiction.

Researchers believe that the underlying motivations and causes for smartphone addiction include emotional and psychological factors. These include the need to relieve boredom or anxiety and the need for personal validation. 

Recent studies highlight the impact on both the physical and mental health of people who engage in smartphone overuse. It has been shown to negatively impact one’s ability to think, pay attention, remember details, and regulate emotion. 

Anxiety and depression are the mental health effects most often associated with smartphone addiction, and difficulty sleeping is a common symptom. Physical problems associated with smartphone overuse are often the result of accidents resulting from inattention. These include traffic accidents, slips or falls, burns, or electric shocks.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has proven to be an effective treatment for the common problem of smartphone addiction, by addressing the unhelpful thought patterns and emotional triggers behind it.

Understanding Smartphone Addiction through CBT

Cognitive behavioral therapy is commonly used to treat anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. It has proved to be helpful in addressing smartphone addiction as well. CBT helps people gain insight into the causes and the consequences of maladaptive behaviors like smartphone overuse. 

CBT helps people specify the negative thoughts and emotions that they are seeking relief from. Whether it is fear of missing out, social anxiety about being compared or judged, or emotional triggers such as boredom, stress, or loneliness, constant phone checking is often a subconscious attempt to alleviate mental unease.

Identifying personal triggers and thought patterns is a first step in using CBT to address smartphone addiction. 

CBT Techniques to Treat Smartphone Addiction

The following techniques derived from CBT can help you overcome smartphone addiction. 

Thought Records Identify and Reduce Smartphone Overuse

Keeping thought records, by writing down automatic negative thoughts or self-criticisms in a journal or notebook as they occur, can help you identify habituated, maladaptive thinking patterns. You can then test these assumptions for accuracy and challenge the need to repeat or reinforce them. Here’s how to create a thought record:

 

First, record the situation that prompts or triggers an automatic, unhelpful thought (Ex: I inadvertently left my phone at home during an errand. Now I’m experiencing unnecessary anxiety.)

 

Next, record how this makes you feel about yourself. (Ex: I’m frustrated and angry at myself. Also record any unhelpful assumptions. (I’m always so forgetful. That’s why I can expect more stress.)

 

Then record the actual evidence that both supports and challenges your assumptions about yourself. (Ex: Yes, I do forget things sometimes, like everyone does. But I don’t always forget, and now that I recognize the tendency, I can make a point to address it. And I don’t necessarily have to become stressed, just because I don’t have my phone. I’m working on reducing my reliance on it anyway, so this is a good opportunity for me to do that.

 

Finally, record how you feel after completing the thought record exercise. (Ex: I feel proud of myself because I was able to dispute my unhelpful self-criticisms; and I’m pleased to recognize that my mistake actually helped me, because it allowed me to practice reducing my reliance on my phone.)

 

Using the CBT thought record steps outlined above, you can challenge and reprogram old, self-defeating beliefs and unhelpful habits of any kind. This process teaches you how to be in charge of your subconscious triggers, rather than being reactive to them. 

 

Use Exposure Therapy to Reduce Smartphone Dependency

Exposure therapy is another CBT practice that helps you gradually become able to tolerate and then release the anxiety associated with an emotional crutch, such as dependence on a smartphone for emotional regulation. Here’s how exposure therapy can be used to reduce smartphone dependency:

Define your goal: 

Ex: Reduce the amount of time spent on your smartphone, while feeling comfortable with the change.

 

Set up a reduction schedule that you feel you can tolerate. 

Ex: Decide to wait 10 minutes between checks of your phone for messages.

 

Keep to your schedule

Only look at your phone at 10 minute intervals for the first day or two. Notice the amount of mental and emotional distress this causes you to feel. Note when the distress begins to diminish as you “prove” to your subconscious mind that it will get relief; it must just wait a bit.

 

Increase intervals of phone abstinence

After you’ve become able to tolerate only checking your phone at 10 minute intervals, then increase the time between checks, perhaps to 15 minutes....Then when you can tolerate that interval, increase the amount of time between checks again, until you have reached a schedule that you feel is appropriate for your goal.

 

Teaching yourself that you can tolerate graduated exposure to discomfort and resist the habituated relief seeking response of using your smartphone allows you to mentally reprogram that unhelpful habit. It also builds your self confidence regarding your capacity for overall emotional self-regulation. 

Behavioral Activation for Healthier Habit 

Behavioral activation is a CBT strategy by which you replace undesirable, unhelpful habits with meaningful positive habits.

 

Instead of always relying on your smartphone for social interaction, socialize with others face to face. Meet a friend for lunch or engage in another social activity with them. Go for a walk, ride a bike, or simply sit outside and take notice of what is happening around you. Involve yourself in the real world, versus the virtual world.

 

Create a schedule for engaging in your chosen alternate activities, so that you are more likely to follow through on them long enough for them to become sustainable habits.

 

You will find that such activities are more rewarding than hours spent on your smartphone, and you will be pleased with yourself for making these healthy changes.

 

Creating An Action Plan for Using CBT to Address Smartphone Addiction

You now have some strategies to use to break your habit of smartphone overuse. Take the next step by creating an action plan to reaffirm your commitment and help you follow through to a successful completion.

 

1. Track your current smartphone usage, identifying how many hours a day you spend on your phone.


2. Decide on a reasonable reduction of usage that you feel you can sustain.


3. Identify your emotional triggers and challenge them using a thought record.


4. Use exposure therapy to gradually reduce the amount of time you spend on your smartphone and how often you check it.


5. Use behavioral activation to trade smartphone time for engagement in positive, healthy activities.

 

If you need help in making these changes, seek support from friends, family, or a behavioral therapist. By learning and practicing CBT techniques, you can change your unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors and reclaim your time, focus, emotional poise, and self-confidence. With commitment and consistency, you will be able to overcome your smartphone addiction. Decide now to make a positive change in your life through the use of CBT.