Parents may be addicted to their phone either because of work or because they get an adrenaline rush whenever receiving a notification. Unfortunately, phone addiction can make it hard to spend time with your family and make them feel left out. It is important to do whatever you can to relieve yourself of this addiction so that you do not miss out on the lives of your children.
Common Sense Media did a survey that says 40% of parents immediately respond to texts, social networking messages, and other notifications. 69% check hourly, 56% check their phone while driving, and 51% of teens notice when their parents do this. AVG Technologies also did a survey that reported a third of children out of 6,000 from ages 8-13 feel unimportant when their parents are constantly on their phone. One way to help yourself is by writing a list of all of the activities you do on your phone that involves your career and another list of the fun activities you do on your phone. Think of the moments when it is absolutely important to check your phone. You can make different notifications for the social network notifications and a different notification for work so you know when it is important to look.
Another way to help with your phone addiction is by setting rules between yourself and your children of appropriate phone times. It can be things like no phones during the first hour of coming home so you can talk to your kids about their day, not being on your phone until your kids are in bed, no phones during meals, and no phones during family get-togethers. Just like every addiction, phone addiction also has triggers of when you feel the need to be on it. Identify these moments and think of what you should be doing differently. It can be things like putting your phone in a box or drawer when you know you should not be on it.
You can change your settings like putting it on silent, turning off notifications, or placing it on Do Not Disturb to lessen your temptation to look at it. You can also check your phone settings to see how often you are on it for more clarification. It is important for you to find ways to detach yourselves away from technology so you do not miss out on your children’s lives.
Located in Tacoma, Washington, Bayview Center’s mission is to offer clinically-driven programs and services to treat a number of substance abuse disorders along with anxiety and depression using cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, trauma therapy, yoga therapy, and more for a successful recovery. For more information, please call us at 888 570 7154 as we are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
