How to cure your phone addiction

00:00 06:55

Mary Wakefield has narrated this article for you to listen to.

Somehow, I’ve lost the ‘Light Phone’ that I bought to replace the dumb phone that I hoped would break my addiction to the iPhone. The Light Phone is the latest bit of hipster kit, designed to mimic a smartphone but without the distracting internet connection. I don’t know if it works or not because, as I say, I’ve lost it – and I’m despairing but not surprised. It’s been three-and-a-half years since I first thought I’d try to escape the iPhone’s clutches, and over that time it’s outwitted me easily and consistently.

A crop of articles have appeared recently by journalists who have made the leap and freed themselves from smartphones. I represent another, less admirable demographic. What I can offer you is not a view from the other side, but a cautionary tale.

What I hadn’t realised is the extent to which the smartphone had taken charge of my brain

I first became aware of the extent of my habit in the winter of 2018 as I cycled home from work. At each red light, I found myself fumbling for the phone in my pocket, scattering biros, and checking for updates and new messages without having made a conscious decision to do so. I noticed other cyclists doing the same, faces lit up in the evening dark. What were we looking for? What could have changed in the seven minutes between red light stops? It scared me. I found the ‘screentime’ monitor: eight hours a day.

The next day I set about looking for a replacement phone, a ‘dumb’ phone of the sort I used in my twenties. The iPhone was soon to be a thing of the past. I was sure of it. What I hadn’t realised is the extent to which the smartphone, with its constant internet access and array of available apps, had taken charge of my brain.