Why are we always touching our phones?

Have you ever checked your back pocket for your phone, but it’s not there–so you reach into your back pocket again, to get your phone to help you find your phone?

Yeah, me too.

Photo by Bagus Hernawan on Unsplash

According to an article published by PR Newswire, the average person checks their phone 96 times a day, or once every 10 minutes. Another article written by DScout suggests that a person touches (clicks, swipes, taps) their phone 2617 times a day. But aside from turning on and actually checking our phones, think about how many times a day we literally touch our phones. We move our phone from the nightstand to our pocket, we set it on the bathroom counter while we brush our teeth and pick it up when we leave. We place it in the cupholder while we drive, or on the table while we eat. Our phones are always on us or near us, and we’re always  touching them. 

Even as I’m writing this, I noticed an urge to move my phone from the seat of the couch to the arm so I could see it better. 

But why?

Turns out, there’s a word for this: Nomophobia, often used to explain separation anxiety from our phones. Tesla and SpaceX founder, Elon Musk, claimed that we are already cyborgs and that so much of our lives are online in the various forms of messages, emails and social media. We can’t stop touching our phones because we feel a deep attachment and dependency to them. These devices encompass our memories of photos, videos and conversations with meaningful individuals in our lives.

How can we stop relying on something that means so much to us? 

There’s no definite answer, but here’s a start: practice ways to lessen your time and your touching. 

Tech companies are starting to get onboard with this. For the last few years, Apple has had Screen Time installed on iPhones. Screen Time easy way to check how much time you’re spending on your phone, what apps you’re using & how many times you pick your phone up. Last month, Apple released its new internal operating system for the iPhone, iOS 14. This update allows iPhone users to add widgets to their home screen. Widgets are great for easy access to your calendar, the weather, your notes, photos, or… your screen time. 

Trinity Western University student, Jennifer Funk, stated that the Screen Time widget has helped decrease her screen time by a considerable amount. She stated, “The first thing I see on my home page is the Screen Time and it makes me more aware of how much time I actually spend on my phone. I like to try and keep it under 2 hours a day. It seems like a lot, but it’s harder than you think!” 

Photo by Luis Cortes on Unsplash

Adding a screen time widget to the front page of your phone is a simple way to help you recognize and keep you accountable to the time you spend on your device. 

However, in order for this to work, there has to be an understanding that better things lie outside of our phones in order for us to stop touching them. Most of the people we text and the people we take photos with, are people we can spend time with in real life. Memories and conversations with people who have passed or don’t live in the same area as us are important, but there are also neighbors, people in line at the grocery store or out for walks with their  dogs,that are important too. 

So, add that widget to your phone. Say hi to your neighbors. Find little things throughout the day that can give you that burst of dopamine. Find the feel-good outside of the screen.