Mindful Happiness

Anthony Quintiliani, Ph.D, LADC

  • Home
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
    • About
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Contact

February 26, 2017 By Admin

Dangers of Smartphone Abuse

Psychological Research on the Dangers of Smartphone Abuse

There is no doubt that smartphone technology bring us a great deal of advanced technological access to a world of information and communication. There is a downside. Recent research published by The American Psychological Association in March, 2017, and opinions in The Atlantic warn of potential and actual biopsychosocial dangers of excessive smartphone use.  By now most of us realize that smartphone use is a strongly reinforced habitual behavior, a habitual behavior that results in huge profits for the industry.  Like so much else in American commerce, the profit incentive takes precedent over the health of the people using the products. Here are some things the researchers discovered. Most of these findings resulted from heavy, addictive use of smartphones (on 24/7, spending many hours a day connected, loss of sleep to remain connected, rising anxiety when not connected, etc.). Here is a list of possible problems to consider quite seriously.

Do any of these reflect your own relationship with your smartphone? Here is the list:

  1. Reduced self-care;
  2. Impact on one’s sense of well-being;
  3. Sleep problems;
  4. Fear of missing out leading to compulsive use (self-medicating anxiety, depression, loneliness, etc.);
  5. Anxiety within 10-20 minutes without smartphone use;
  6. Reduced face-to-face communications (remember your mirror neurons);
  7. Interference with “real” interpersonal relationships;
  8. Higher levels of distraction (how is your ADHD doing), and problems with attention and concentration;
  9. Stronger array and generalization for bullying;
  10. Compulsive, habitual use via behavioral conditioning process;
  11. Use of persuasive technology to get users “hooked” on their smartphones (there is a Persuasive Technology Lab);
  12. Brain hijacking via brain stem and limbic reactivity;
  13. Possible classical conditioning along with obvious instrumental conditioning via smartphone use behavior and environmental cues;
  14. Obsessive-compulsive smartphone checking (up to 150 times a day in some cases);
  15. Possible additional psychological health risks for people with anxiety, depression, trauma, etc.;
  16. Possible added stressors regarding the need to keep up, not miss anything; and,
  17. Possible iPhone disorders (see the next psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual – DSM-6).

The research and opinions suggest that there is an important human need to “take back your control.”  Here are ways to reduce your smartphone’s control OVER your life.

  1. Make conscious, mindful choices to use your smartphone less – and save money while you do so.
  2. Retrain yourself NOT to be the rat in the cage pecking away for reinforcement (the behavioral psychology story).
  3. Consciously time-out/limit your smartphone use.
  4. Clarify expectations that you will NOT be available via smartphone 24/7 or for immediate responses.
  5. Silence all notifications.
  6. Protect your precious sleep time by totally unplugging.
  7. Be more active interpersonally in the real world of human relations. Spend more time with people, not smartphones.
  8. Do not open the device without clear intention (Tristan Harris – Time Well Spent).
  9. Perhaps influencing smartphone companies and engineers to have a “do no harm’ ethics code.
  10. Doing more meditation, yoga, exercise instead of smartphone use.
  11. NEVER text, email, or talk while driving.

For more information refer to Weir, K. (March 2017). (DIS) – Con Nected. The Monitor on Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. See also Top Concentrations Killers. WebMD, March 7, 2017. Also refer to Harris, T. (November, 2016). The Binge Breaker. The Atlantic.  

Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, VermontChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness  

Mindful Happiness cover designs.indd

New Edition of Mindful Happiness in Production…Coming soon!

Filed Under: Addiction, Behavior, Brain, Featured, Mindful Awareness, Psychological Research, Self Care, Smartphones, Thoughts & Opinions Tagged With: ABUSE, ADDICTION, MINDFUL HAPPINESS, SMARTPHONES

Twitter

Mindful Happiness -Currently in Production

Mindful Happiness Posts

Mindfulness-Based Emotion Regulation The following emotional regulation practices (also called emotional balance skills) have been supported by over 2500 years of mindfulness training and current psychological research on human emotions.  These practices/skills are to be practiced before they are needed, and directly applied when they are needed.  Here is the list. 1) Practice noticing and […]

Healing Meditations for Destructive Emotions Based on the mountain of research supporting the use of regular meditation practices and yoga, it is safe to say that Buddhism and its practices have merged with modern scientific investigation. From the early days of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (the MBSR of Jon Kabat-Zinn) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (the DBT […]

Thoughts on Teaching Mindfulness and Meditation There are always questions about the necessary level of expertise, training, and personal meditation/yoga experience required for a person to self-identify as a teacher.  Some differences of opinion exist, and some experts differentiate teaching mindfulness from teaching meditation.  Some formal organizations have set their own standards; many of these […]

Trauma: Object Relations Therapy Object relations therapists, D. W. Winnicott especially, have presented a logical analysis on how to provide object-relations-oriented therapy to people suffering from the effects of psychological trauma. Such attachment-based trauma therapy provides support and healing from trauma, loss and long-term trauma-effects.  The interventions below combine the best of object relations therapy, […]

Drink a Cup of Tea with Thich Nhat Hanh According to the article “A Perfect Cup of Tea” by Noa Jones, The Great Meditation Master offers this sage advice about the best way to enjoy a great cup of tea. I suppose if you would rather drink coffee, the same suggestions may apply. Recognize that […]

Practice:  Mindful Actions to Improve YOUR Self-Esteem Improving Your Awareness with Practice Remain mindfully aware of the content and meta-cognition regarding the “speaking” of your inner, self-conscious critic.  Note what trends appear in the conversation. Remain mindfully aware of the reactions your mind and body experience regarding the activity of your inner self-critic in dealing […]

Mindfulness Training  From The Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton,Vermont The Problem:   Many people become stuck in the suffering of their past, and they continue to re-experience an event in the futile hope to better understand it, or to find an escape from it.  Many of the same people become fixated fearfully […]

Breath as the Object of Meditation  A Deeper Understanding In the Satipatthana Sutra the Buddha noted that meditation practice was necessary for success on the path to liberation and enlightenment.  He noted that it could take many, many years of practice to achieve this experiential goal.  The good news is that Buddha also noted it could take […]

How Suicide impacts Psychotherapists One of the greatest fears of psychotherapists is that one of their clients will commit suicide.  Here are some common reactions of psychotherapists when one of their clients commits suicide.  In some ways these reactions are sequential, but no exact concrete sequence is well documented. Here is a list to consider. […]

  My blog site mindfulhappiness.org has many posts on meditation, Buddhism, education, clinical practices and self-activated emotional health practices.  Perhaps you may wish to initiate a Reflective Journal practice after you do practices presented on the site.  There are many  benefits from maintaining a written journal about personal experiences and practices.  Not only does a […]

Insights – Vipassana Mediation There will be future, more advanced vipassana meditations posted on the site. For now, however, we will end this series with a final post about the insights often experienced via vipassana meditation. We learn via experience about impermanence, suffering and its causes, no-self, emptiness and many other things – or, perhaps, […]

Loving Kindness Meditation from The Buddha Loving Kindness Meditation (hereafter LKM) is, perhaps, one of the most popular meditation practices in the world. What many practitioners do not know is that one form of it came directly from The Buddha. Along with LKM wisdom we also are guided by the enlightened words of The Dalai […]

Self-Help in Mind-Body Medicine In this brief post we will review several specific ways that may improve your psychological and physical health. The post will be short, sweet, and simple to encourage participation. Here it is. Affirmation – “I am learning to love myself just the way I am.” Repeat this mantra sub vocally over […]

More RESPECT Needed for People Being Served Recently, I read a post by William White, the well-known Recovery advocate.  The post dealt with the troublesome area of language used to describe, refer to people suffering from various conditions – addictions being only one.  While some may respond to his post by thinking it is simply […]

Trauma Informed Care – Avoidance Process Although more and more clinicians are learning about and using principles/practices of Trauma Informed Care, too few understand the behavioral dynamics of negative reinforcement in the avoidance of trauma-related cues (people, places, things, internal sensations, emotions and images). This post will give a very brief description of negative reinforcement […]

Chronic Pain and Doing Body Scanning Although doing body scans cannot fully relieve your pain, it may help you manage it better. If your pain is serious and chronic you need to work with a qualified pain management professional, who will use both psychological and medical interventions. Note that a recent issue of Consumer Reports reviewed […]

Using Mindful Movement as a Form of Meditation Practice with the Body In Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction practices Hatha Yoga has been used as part of the recovery process from both psychological and physical suffering. In my own clinical use of mindful movement with children, youth and adults, I found that basic Qi Gong/Che Kung, Walking […]

Our Brains React to Worry According to research by The American Psychological Association in 2015, some of the core sources of severe stress reaction for Americans are: financial problems, job-related problems, family problems, and health problems.  Our lives are complete only with joy/happiness, suffering and boredom – sometimes referred to as pleasant, unpleasant and neutral […]

Meditation on Gratitude – Why it is so Important The daily rapid vibrations from our fast-paced and sometimes dangerous world may impact us in ways that make unhealthy norms of being. The struggle to feel good enough, to have enough, to be somebody, to keep up with the raging ads about what you need NOW and […]

Advanced Buddhist Practices Abiding in Emptiness The various impediments (enemies) to abiding in emptiness are noted below. We have strong attachment to objects of mind and our sense door pleasures. We experience strong desire and cravings as our norms. We over-attach to forms of affection. We may become stuck in grief related to our experienced […]

Mindful Happiness Tags

TRAINING RITUALS SUFFERING EMPTINESS VIPASSANA SELF CARE SELF MEDICATION MINDFULNESS THERAPY. TRAUMA MINDFUL ACTIVITIES DEPRESSION SELF COMPASSION BREATHING MEDITATION PRACTICE MEDITATION BRAIN INNER PEACE CONSCIOUSNESS MINDFUL MEDITATION BUDDHISM PSYCHOTHERAPY SELF ESTEEM ACTIVITY DR ANTHONY QUINTILIANI MINDFULNESS TRAINING ACTIVITIES ADDICTION WALKING MEDITATION CLINICAL SUPERVISION WISE MIND PRACTICE ELEANOR R LIEBMAN CENTER MBSR MINDFUL TRAINING VERMONT ANTHONY QUINTILIANI THICH NHAT HANH MINDFUL HAPPINESS VIPASSANA MEDITATION PRACTICES EXERCISES HAPPINESS MEDIATION COMPASSION

Mindful Categories

Mindful Happiness Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Site Map

Copyright © 2019 · Mindful Happiness