Overcoming Addiction

Overcoming an addiction may take some time, but once the problem has been identified, only then, can the process of recovery can begin. One does not need to wholly give up their phone, but have some distance between him or her and the phone. If people began realizing that they do not need their phone for everyday life, then they can be liberated from their imprisonment of the “virtual world”. To quote Jeremy Spiegel of Psychology Today, “Can you manage with just an hour of unplugged time? Turn your phone off, stick it in a drawer, and leave it there for an hour. Whatever separation anxieties you feel, let them float in and out of you as you train your eyes and attention to life unfolding right before you.”
One simple solution calls for a person taking time away from his/her cell phone. “Try spending some time away from your phone, even an hour a day will make a difference to your perceived reliance on it. Go for a walk and leave the phone at home, go for a soak in the bath, but leave the phone in another room, wean yourself away from the constant demands it makes on your attention. Stop carrying it around with you at home, leave it in one place and get on with some other activities”(Laura Ginn, Health Guidance). The quote is explaining that gradually taking time away from your cell phone will remove its presence as a distraction which will help reduce your reliance on one’s phone. To help accomplish this, we recommend setting daily or weekly goals of time spent without your phone. By doing this, it can help you manage your time and use it much more effectively. Another helpful way to help ease cell phone addiction is by preventing cell phone use before sleeping. Instead of browsing Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever other social media website you use, try reading a book, counting sheep, or fall asleep at an earlier time. A simple yet effective way to prevent the urge to look at your phone is to charge your phone overnight in a different room than where you sleep. In the kitchen, in the family, in the bathroom, if your bedroom has one are all good candidates to take care of your phone overnight. You are in your bed to sleep, after all, not use your phone. On top of that and more obviously, you don’t need to use your phone while you sleep. Unless you dream about your phone, in which case, there may be a more serious issue going on, you shouldn’t even need to think about your phone. Perhaps you are not quite ready to give up your phone before you go to bed. A small step you can take to lead to giving it up is by turning down the brightness of your phone’s screen display before you fall asleep. The display of a screen at full brightness is very stimulating to the mind. By simply turning down the brightness of the screen, it can reduce the amount of stimulus it causes to the brain. Another option to add onto this was recently added to iPhones in the most recent software update. It is called “Night Shift”. It changes the colors of each pixel on your screen to the “warmer end of the color spectrum”. You have the option to manually turn it on or off or to schedule it to happen during certain hours of the day. It is a very nice addition to iPhones and hopefully it will extend to all smartphones soon. Turning down the brightness will …show more content…
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-when you wake up in the morning, don’t immediately go to your phone
-???? Need a tenth solution

For some people, they cannot withdraw from their phones. Especially when it comes to driving. Different states use a different method to prevent drivers from using their cell phones. The New Zealand Transport Agency came up with a funny way to prevent drivers from getting distracted. The simplest way to prevent phone usage is for the passenger to wait until the driver makes a move, place his or her hand over the phone and grasp the driver’s hand, make them feel uncomfortable and let them withdraw their