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It is no longer surprising that teens are having more and more connections with modern technology. They assume to use the technology to enhance their academic performance, maintain social contacts with others and knowing more latest news. Easier access to online recreational activities the network also becomes a way for kids to relieve their stress from their study life. However, a soaring number of parents detect that their kids are spending more spare time navigating online rather that experiencing the outside world. No wonder that parents are considering the obsession to smartphone as cellphone addition. After all, it can be incredibly unbearable and tough to have a harmonious relationship with someone who are glued to their cellphone. Therefore, this post aims to tell you more details about cellphone addiction, helping you to distinguish symptoms of cellphone addiction.

What is cellphone addiction?

Cellphone addiction, which also known as problematic mobile phone use or nomophobia, is a behavioral addiction to the Internet or smartphone usage. Overuse of smartphone can be one of the signs of cellphone addiction. You might think that the cellphone is becoming our essential accessory in our daily, and it is hard for us to get away from smartphones. Indeed, smartphones have been our navigator, personal organizer and so on. However, cellphone addiction is an unhealthy cellphone behavioral which should be eliminated for it might lead to severe impairment or distress in one’s life. According to the research, teens spending five or more hours a day on digital gadgets are 71% more likely exposed to suicide risk factors compared to teens who spending only an hour on mobile devices.

Some statistics about teen cellphone addiction:

In the part, the published statistics can guide us with a closer insight into teen cellphone addiction. The survey involves three parties: parents, teachers and teens themselves. About 47% parents are thinking that their kids are suffering from cellphone addiction, and 67% teachers hold the belief that students are being distracted negatively by mobile devices. What about teens? 22% teen respondents admit that they check their device every minute. 36% of millennials say that they spend two or more hours per day on social media, texting their friends and navigating social media. Over a half of teens sit for a long time in silence and stare at their phone instead of hanging out with friends or having in-person interaction with family.

Some more appalling data can include:

• The average time that teens spend on smartphones a day is 2 hours and 51 minutes
• Teens will click, tap or swipe their phones 2,617 time a day

Above shocking but real statistics are warning us that teens are relying on cellphone more than ever before. At the same time, there is a fact that we need to pay more attention. With the outbreak of COVID-19, teens spend even more time staring at smartphones at home. As overuse of cellphone can be one of the signs of cellphone addiction, parents should be on the alert, exerting control over the screen time of kids.

What about the signs or symptoms of teen phone addiction?

It is important for us to know the signs and symptoms of teen cellphone addiction so that we can identify and address the problem as soon as possible. Below are the symptoms of phone addiction:

• A feeling of anxiety who phone is beyond your reach or phone service are not provided
• Daily activities, chores and work are interfered by phone
• Your social contact with your friends and family are reduced dramatically or ruined by cellphones
• Neck pain or eye strain caused by overuse of phones
• Loss of sense of time due to your usage of phones
• Failure to limit your phone usage
• Increasing family conflicts about the usage of mobile devices

Once you detect your teens are suffering from the above signs, you should be wary of the dangers of phone addiction. Some negative effects might follow your kids:

• Mental health and physical health issue: Studies have offered a evident proof that phone overuse can lead to anxiety and depression. Teens with cellphone addiction are more possibly to experience chronic stress and low spirit. More time spent on smartphones means less time on exercise, which is harmful for kids’ physical health. Plus, as we mentioned above, children who spend more time surfing will more likely have a suicide than those who spend less time surfing online.
• Restless sleep: Overusing your phone before your bedtime might be blamed for lower willingness to fall asleep and fewer sleeping hours, causing low-quality sleep. The poor sleep will then have an impact on your study and work on the next day.
• Poor school performance: Insomnia and inadequate sleeping hours can make children lack energy to focus on study. The low engagement in class might lead to their poor academic performance like lower grades.

Ways to deal with teen cellphone addiction:

Don’t be panic if you find that your teens are experiencing phone addiction. Here are several feasible ways to help your break teen cellphone addiction:

• Have proactive communication with your teens: Set aside 10 or 15 minutes to have a communication with your kids, getting closer to their inner world and talk about the proper usage of the Internet. With a long talk with teens will help you know more the reasons behind phone addiction. For example, some teens are using recreational activities on cellphones to escape from the pressure. Others want to experience the excitement and novel things on the Internet. Getting a comprehensive picture of your kids’ usage of cellphones will help you suit the remedy to the case.
• Set a good example for your kids. Parents are the primary tutor of kids. The power of a good example can’t be underestimated. If we have been a good role model for our kids, they will be more willing to follow the example and correct their own online habits. More explanations of good online behaviors are also encouraged.
• Active supervision of kids’ usage of cellphones. One of the simplest ways is to set rules for their usage of digital devices. For example, you can set a time limit for their usage of cellphone every day. Many ways can help us realize this goal. For example, we can set passcode for certain app or set a time limit on certain app, disallowing kids to get access to the app for extra hours. The parental control tool can even provide us with the all-rounded solution to the problem. The tool is designed to supervise, manage and safeguard our kid’ online activities. Setting time limitation is just one of the basic functions of the parental control tool. More innovative functions are waiting for you to explore: https://www.chamspy.com.
• Indulge them in activity-based learning: Some kids play cellphones for the excitement and challenges. Taking advantage of this mindset, you can divert their attention from cellphone to doing exercise. We can encourage them to do more exciting sports like playing basketball or extreme sports. Engaging them with more different activities can help them learn from practice, which is also meaningful and helpful for their further development.

Conclusion:

The emergence of cellphones has pros and cons. They can be beneficial as well as detrimental. They enable us to keep contact with others no matter where we are, but they also reducing our face-to-face communication. If improperly used, cellphones can be a trenchant edge for kids. Therefore, we should supervise and manage kids’ usage of the smartphones, keeping balance of virtual world and the real world!

If you have any other greats way to address cellphone addiction, just leave your commons below!