How Screen Addiction Changes Your Brain

Today we’re going to talk about how screen addiction changes your brain.

We’re seeing that the average American spends 4-5 hours on their phones per day. This does not include watching TV shows and movies.

The Gen Z population is averaging 6+ hours of mobile screen time per day.

We’re living in a world where people have an addiction that they aren’t even aware about.

Not only does this habit waste hours of your day, it affects all areas of your life.

Our phones can literally rewire our brains to feel more anxious and irritated.

Phone addiction shows up differently for each person. The most common addictive behaviours are:

• Social Media / News

• Online Shopping

• Video Games

• Gambling

It’s not entirely your fault.

These app developers want you to spend as much time as possible on their apps so that they can make more money through ads.

Before we dive into how excessive screen time changes our brain, here are some signs to tell whether you have screen addiction or not:

• You feel anxious, irritable or restless when you’re not using a screen

• Reaching for you phone every time you experience boredom

• You neglect school, work and personal responsibilities

• Consistently lose track of time when on your phone

• Difficulty falling and staying asleep

• You avoid offline interactions

If this sounds like you, here are all the changes that are happening in your brain without you even realizing it.

Dopamine Reward System

Your phone overstimulates your reward pathways which leads you to crave more screen time.

This is the foundation of how the addiction is created.

As you continue to overstimulate your reward pathways, you will find other areas of your life less pleasurable. Things like doing work or talking with a friend.

This is why people with addictions struggle to focus and end up becoming more lonely. It creates a negative spiral and people to seek comfort in their phones.

Prefrontal Cortex

Your prefrontal cortex is responsible for decision making, impulse control and attention.

Excessive screen time weakens your prefrontal cortex. Making it harder to concentrate, resist distractions and delay gratification.

This is especially important for kids and teenagers. Excess screen time will stunt the development of their prefrontal cortex and it will become much harder to grow this area of the brain once they become adults.

Unfortunately we’re seeing much higher screen time with kids in comparison to adults.

Amygdala & Limbic System

Our amygdala is responsible for emotional regulation and excessive screen time makes this area of our brain hyperactive.

This is why people feel anxious or irritable when they don’t have their phones with them.

Studies show that areas of the brains responsible for processing negative emotions shut down when using their phones.

You become more reactive emotionally to what’s happening both on and off the screen. This prevents the calm equanimity that’s required to pause and reflect when you experience negative emotions.

Disrupted Sleep Patterns

Finally late night phone usage negatively impacts your sleep. The blue light from your phone suppresses your body’s ability to make the sleep hormone melatonin.

This leads to poor sleep quality, insomnia and disrupts your circadian rhythm. This compounds all the negative affects that your phone has on your brain.

Here’s a graphic that shows all areas of your brain that is affected by excessive screen usage:

I hope this article gives you more awareness on how your phone is affecting your brain.

If you need more practical tips, you can check out my article on Phone Settings That Will Save You 12+ Hours Per Week.

I’ll see you all next week.

Cheers,

Ashvin

P.S

If you want to talk 1:1 for personalized advice on how you can start implementing these changes, I’m offering FREE coaching for a limited time. You can click the link here to book a call with me.