Column: Are you addicted to your iPhone?

By Jackie Hennessey
Posted 5/23/17

Let’s be honest. Do you find yourself checking your iPhone way too often? Even when you’re with your kids? 

The good news is you are not alone. Unfortunately, 90 percent of …

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Column: Are you addicted to your iPhone?

Posted

Let’s be honest. Do you find yourself checking your iPhone way too often? Even when you’re with your kids? 

The good news is you are not alone. Unfortunately, 90 percent of Americans are addicted to their digital gadgets. According to a recent report, the average American adult (18+) spends two hours and 51 minutes on their smart phone every day. And 50 percent prefer to communicate digitally rather than having face-to-face communication. (Sources: comScore, Live Trading News, and Economy Watch).

Whether you work from home or in an office, it doesn’t take long before you become addicted to your iPhone. I'll be honest. I’m guilty of being digitally dependent. I work from home as a consultant and I have to admit, having an iPhone is kind of awesome. There’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of technology that can help make your job and life easier. But, as it is with most things, over-doing it isn’t healthy. It may be due time to put the iPhone down and smell the coffee.

How do you know if you’re getting carried away?

Some sure-fire signs that you need a “digital detox”:

• You rattle off generic, “uh, huh,” “that’s great, honey” and “good job” responses to your kids while buried in your hand-held device.

• You bring your iPhone everywhere, including the playground.

• Your child pleads with you to get off your iPhone.

• Your child begs you not to post a photo that you’ve taken with your iPhone.

• You interact with friends online as much as you do in person. (Sometimes more often.)

• You text during a phone conversation and lose your train of thought. (And the person on the other line notices.)

• You weave Twitter #hashtags into everyday conversation.

• You text your spouse when it’s time for dinner. And he’s home.

• Your spouse pleads with you to put your iPhone away.

• You bring your iPhone with you on vacation, meaning you never really go on vacation.

You may not consider yourself a digital addict, but when this behavior starts becoming the norm and your spouse and kids start to notice, you know it's time to face the iTunes.

I updated my iPhone several months ago (my son still jokes that my iPhone looks more like an iPhone 4 because it’s so small) and I have had a love-hate relationship with it ever since. Thanks to my iPhone, I can work anywhere, any time. It gives me so much freedom with my consulting business. But it can also be my worst enemy.

I was able to get away with working on my laptop and cell phone in front of my kids a lot more when they were little. They didn’t catch on that mom was “online”. Through the years, they have become more “in tune” if their mom tunes them out. Now that my kids are 13 and 16, although life is no longer all about playground playdates and elementary school activities, they catch me in my auto-while-on-line-mom-responses, which means I have to try to be more present when they are in my presence. Because I'm their mom and that comes first, regardless of their ages or my looming deadlines (or my friends' hilarious texts).

Ten tips to help reduce “online” mom/dad guilt:

• Go on a digital diet. I know, I get it. It sounds totally unrealistic. But I challenge you to take a tiny break from your digital devices at least once a week. I know you can do it.

• Make mini-goals. If your job depends on you to be “tuned-in” around the clock, dedicate at least 30 minutes a day to be completely, whole-heartedly off-line. Gradually increase it by an additional five minutes every day. Make it a goal to go a few hours every day without being online.

• Use an oven timer. Time yourself while you’re online. Find out how many hours you spend on your phone or device and see how it makes you feel.

• Block off time. Try to dedicate “off-line” time with your kids. Set a block of time every day to turn off your iPhone and step away from your laptop. Shoot hoops, take a walk or bake cookies together. And leave your phone on the charger, away from your view. Far, far away.

• Enjoy life off-line. Do something off-line together as a family after school. Weather permitting, go bike-riding, grab some Daily Scoop or Medici Gelato, or go to the park. Try taking a fun exercise class together at CardioGlow, True Balance or Barrington Pilates. Meditate. Read.

• Hire Help. If you are too stressed and simply cannot break from your digitally-oriented job after the kids get home, hire a baby sitter or a mother’s helper to watch your kids while you meet your deadlines. There are plenty of kids (ahem, including my CPR-certified 13-year-old daughter) looking for part-time baby-sitting jobs.

• Dinner time tune-out. Turn off your devices between set blocks of time such as 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. This will allow you to accomplish your online duties during specific hours so you can spend quality “off-line” time with your family.

• The same rules apply. As a general rule, you know it’s rude to text or use social media during a meeting. Apply these same rules of thumb when working from home. Don’t text during “mommy time” or “reading time” with your little ones.

• Leave it. The next time you’re out with your family, try leaving your phone in the car. You might be pleasantly surprised. You can always answer a text or voicemail when you get back.

Jackie Hennessey is a Barrington mom and public relations consultant who blogs about her take on motherhood at www.ventingsessions.com and writes about it in her gift book, How to Spread Sanity on a Cracker.

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.