How our relationships with our phones affect us

WAMU 88.5 | By Michelle Harven

Published October 11, 2023 at 2:44 PM EDT

Guests hold their smartphones to record the Boohoo by Kourtney Kardashian show during New York Fashion Week in New York City.

You’re working on a task, trying to focus, maybe even reading a book. And then… a phone notification goes off.

You get a text message, maybe a TikTok notification.How could you not pick up your phone to check what it’s about? And then one thing leads to another. Suddenly you’ve lost 30 minutes scrolling through Instagram.

A report from Common Sense Media found that teens get over 230 of these distracting notifications each day. Some get over four thousand. But teens aren’t the only ones inundated.

According to market research company Insider Intelligence, American adults spend four and a half hours a day on their phones. Smartphonesand social media apps are lauded by their industries for their addictive design.

Now, lawmakers in Utah, New Jersey, and North Carolina are taking action to protect kids from the reach of social media. How are we being affected by the constant presence of our phones? And what can we do to claim back our focus?