Is your smartphone too irresistible to resists?

Research suggests that 89% of smartphone usage is initiated by the user and not by a notification (Heitmayer & Lahlou, 2021), so why are they so hard to resist?

We take our smartphone to the bathroom. They are with us why we sleep. We can't leave home without them, but does it need to be this way? There once was a world where they didn't exist and we all seemed to survive just fine! Yet today, there are very few individuals who will leave home without one. For some it may have become natural, automatic and a habit to have their smartphone in their hands. This intimate relationship with their phone may even cause them to pick it up or unlock it without the intentional knowledge of doing. Frequent unlocking, playing around with the various applications in a sort of 'fidgeting' could be a form of comfort or distraction, or could it be a form of dependency?

When these habituative behaviours cause negative outcomes users may need to re-learn how to engage with their smartphones and improve their digital wellbeing.

Undoing habits can be challenging and digital wellbeing is a personal journey that only we know how best to solve!

If you need support with your own digital wellbeing, reach out info@smartphonebalance.com

www.smartphonebalance.com