Mental health and the iPhone

Learn how our phones affect the way we think, feel and connect, making it essential to care for our mental health in a world that never truly switches off.

Reading time: 4.73 minutes

Technology, social media and the iPhone; three of the most commonly used words of our century. The iPhone has undeniably contributed to a series of significant enhancements, including the ease and length of our lives. The question that arises is: has it also improved our life’s quality, our happiness and most importantly our mental health?

Part of our vision at selfsquared is to increase mindfulness in daily activities, helping people be more focused and present in the moment while minimising stressors and anxieties.

In this short article, I’ll share some of my thoughts on the effect that iPhone usage has on our daily anxiety levels.

The dinner table scenario

I’m fairly certain that we’ve all experienced the scenario of sitting at a dinner table feeling quite annoyed at the one person who is constantly focusing on their phone (aggressively checking for new notifications every 35 seconds). The best case scenario is that you are sitting on the large aforementioned table and simply ignoring them. The worst-case scenario… This happens on a date! Truly, no one wants to have dinner with that person.

How often do we check our phones?

Recent studies exploring adults’ behaviours have shown that, on average, we check our phone screens about 450 times per day, meaning we spend more than a full hour per day just staring at our lock screen.

The reason for this high frequency of checking is that everything we possibly need is nowadays found in our phones. Namely, we use our screens to:

• Find the best route to get to work
• Book flight or train tickets
• Look at photo memories
• Maintain social connections
• Stay updated on news

Most importantly, our phone is the primary medium for good or bad news. Therefore, the habit of checking our screens is linked to our primitive survival instinct. If we lose our phone while being away from home, we may not be able to make a payment, get to work, meet others, or find our way back home. It’s truly stressful to think about how much of our lives depend on this one little device.

By constantly being on our phones, we lose the sense of the here and now. We either end up focusing on the future, anticipating a response, a text message, a call, a like, or a tweet, or we focus on the past: scrolling through our photo albums, reading old texts, or going through others’ social media profiles.

But what about the present? As you’re reading through this article (probably on your phone), have you noticed what’s happening around you? Have you noticed whether it’s cold or hot, bright or dark? So much of the present goes unnoticed.

A Weekend Without Phones

I recently attended a weekend-long gathering where there was a no-phone rule. I truly cannot explain how different people’s behaviours, moods and social skills were. Without noticing it, everyone participated in a social experiment of being forced to be present, without caring about filming a pointless 5-minute video of their favourite song or thinking about which outfit photo they would post on social media (which no one would probably have cared about anyway).

The focus of the weekend was rather on having interesting conversations, living in the moment, and making real memories that were vividly encoded in our brains.

Device Breaks: A Personal Experiment

For a few months now, I’ve purposely been forcing myself to take “device breaks” (spending a few hours a day without a laptop, phone, TV, or any kind of screen). I’m not saying that I manage to do this religiously every single day, but on the days that I do, I’ve noticed a huge difference in my focus, productivity, and well-being.

For anyone looking to build structure and consistency in habits, tools like the selfsquared app can support small, intentional changes.

Points for Reflection

Who has not experienced anxiety when:

• Their partner, friend or family member hasn’t responded to a text message within five minutes?
• Someone’s location becomes unavailable on Find My Friends?
• They’ve been trying to reconfirm a meeting’s time and place for the 10th time in an hour?

What’s the point of this overcommunication? Didn’t it all use to be more stress-free in the past? Unfortunately, our generation (and the generations after) will never know how that was. I did, however, ask my dad last week, and he confirmed that everything worked out just fine for him in the 70s, without an iPhone. In fact, his stress levels, sense of direction, and quick math skills are 10x better than mine, most likely because he used to practice those skills.

The Problem of Multitasking

Another aspect of the iPhone’s constant usage is the habit of multitasking. People nowadays have been looking at map apps, changing Spotify playlists, and sending voice notes on WhatsApp, all at the same time.

Research actually suggests that multitasking decreases productivity by 40% compared to single-tasking and significantly reduces our ability to focus on important tasks. This leads to counter-productivity for both personal and professional tasks. The human brain is by nature designed to single-task, so when we attempt to use our phones while performing physical everyday tasks, our attention keeps switching from task to task almost every split second. This constant multitasking is exhausting and psychologically draining.

Acknowledging the Benefits

On the other hand, smartphones have made the impossible possible. Travelling to the other side of the world with zero planning, connecting with loved ones internationally, and getting real-time access to news globally would have never been possible without our smartphones. Outside of that, hundreds of professionals now work through their phones and are able to make a living because of them.

Next Steps for Healthy Phone Use

Unless you absolutely and undeniably need to be checking your phone for work-related purposes, my advice would be to give the above article some thought and reflect on:

• How much of your daily phone checking is truly necessary
• How extended screen usage affects your mental health

As a next step, try taking a few hour-long device breaks over the next couple of days and note any changes in your anxiety and stress levels.

For support in identifying negative behaviours and transforming habits, Individual coaching sessions can help you work towards more positive patterns in a guided and structured way.

- Christie