Are You A Phone Addict? (25 Questions To Ask Yourself)
Ask yourself the following 25 questions. If you answer “yes” to more than half, you are most likely addicted to your phone, and you should seek professional help.
It is hard to imagine the world that is today that a person would not have some type of cellphone or smartphone to use on a regular basis.
What can be difficult for some to imagine is that someone might get readily hooked on using a smartphone, but it happens all of the time.
Smartphones today can handle so many of the tasks that people used to need three or four different devices for that it is no wonder that a person can spend hours at a time using their phone for work, entertainment, information and leisure.
The real danger becomes when you find yourself using a smartphone to the detriment of others and the rest of your life because at that point you may be becoming a smartphone addict.
Here are 25 questions to ask yourself to see if you are a phone addict and rely too much on your smartphone.
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1. What do you do if your phone is not in the same room with you?
For most people something like this occurring is not really that big of a deal.
They might leave their phone in the bedroom to charge while they eat dinner or have the phone laying around as they go about their evening.
However, there are some people who might fly into a bit of a panic if they look around and do not see their phone right nearby where they could access it easily if they need to use it.
2. Your vacation spot does not have cellular service. Do you still go on vacation?
This can be a pretty dicey question for many people and might really help determine if you need to have your phone around you too much.
The whole idea of going on vacation is to be able to get away from everything that is part of your normal routine.
While many places do you have cell service today, there are locations where there is none and international service costs much more than regular service in your country.
With this question you really need to be sure of what your priorities are going to be.
3. Your new job says you cannot have cellphones on during the workday. What do you do?
Much like the vacation question, this question can lead to some tough issues if you really are a phone addict.
Most places of work do not want you spending hours attached to your smartphone when you could be doing productive work.
They find the phones can be too distractive and many places have put some restrictions in place.
There are also some jobs where having a cellphone on you all day is not practical so it is prohibited.
If you find yourself wrestling with this question and feel you might have a hard time doing your job with no phone access, you may have an issue.
4. Where is your phone right now?
If you are able to answer this question just by glancing into one of your hands right now, you may be a phone addict.
While most people may have their phone within easy reach during the day (on their desk, in their purse, in their pocket and the like), it is not every person who knows where their phone is at all times or uses it often enough so that it may be in their hands for most of the day.
If you never have to think where it is, it is around you too much.
5. Do you know what a text message is?
While this may seem like a silly question, there are people that are not aware of what a text message is let alone how to send one.
While knowing what a text message is certainly is not a true indicator of whether or not you might be a smartphone addict, if you are fluent in the language and acronyms used throughout the world of texting and can type out a text message faster than you can do anything else, you may have spent too much time doing this type of task.
6. Why do you have a cell phone?
This is an interesting question to ponder and might help you to answer whether or not you are a phone addict.
For most people, the notion of having a cellphone was always one so that they could be reached in the case of an emergency or had a phone if they really needed quick access to one.
While most people have moved beyond this as the sole purpose of having a cellphone, if you have trouble actually coming up with a reason why you might really need to have a cellphone at all, you may not have a real need for the phone as much as you have a want and desire for it.
7. Where is your phone while you sleep?
The majority of people will be able to answer this pretty easily, but how you answer can determine if you are a phone addict.
For most, they will place their phone on their nightstand or whatever location it needs to be in so that it can easily charge overnight and be ready for the next day.
However, those that may have an addiction problem might be tempted to actually have the phone in bed with them, meaning they were using the phone right up until the time they fell asleep or they have a need to have the phone near them at all times, even if there is no need for you to really have the phone next to you on your pillow while you sleep.
8. What would you do if you had to go somewhere and could not bring your phone?
While this may not happen to most people very often, there may be occasions where there are places where you cannot bring your phone or, at the very least, are not allowed to turn it on for use while you are at a particular location.
You would have to be able to come to a decision as to whether it is a place you want to go or not, and those that might have an addiction might actually think twice about going if they knew they could not bring their phone with them.
9. Do you treat your phone like a person?
There are some people that really do this, calling their phone by a particular name they may have given it, interacting with it through voice commands so that it is almost like you are talking to a person or even referring to the phone so that it sounds like referring to another person.
Many people get easily caught up in having some type of “relationship” with their phones and end up using it so often that it feels like they have a friend in their cellphone.
10. Do you use your phone to check the time?
A lot of people have even stopped wearing a watch because they just use their phone as the source that they need for whatever time it may be, but this may be a sign that you have come to rely on your phone too much to provide you with information.
While it may seem like a small thing to you and is really no big deal, it can also be another excuse for you to make use of your phone when you may not really need to do so.
11. Could you choose between using your phone and a relationship?
This question may be a clear indication to you whether you have an addiction problem or not.
For anyone that might choose the use of their phone over having a real personal relationship with another person there may be too much of an emotional attachment to using your phone for everything.
If you are willing to sacrifice a relationship, whether it is a friend, family member or a person you are in love with, just so you can keep using your phone as you do, there is a problem existing.
12. Do you always need to have all of the latest app updates right away?
If Tuesday is your favorite day of the week because many of the new updates for applications are released on this day or you start a conversation with your friends with “Did you see the latest update for (fill in the blank)? It is so cool,” then you are too concerned about using your phone.
There is nothing wrong with being happy an application is updated so it improves, but looking forward to it more than anything else might be a bit much.
13. Do you take your phone into the bathroom with you?
Most of the people that you talk to or text to may not want to know the answer to this question.
People who need to have their phones with them all the time will not think twice about taking a phone into the bathroom with them, but you do have to question that is what you are doing so important that you need to have it with you while you are doing this? There are also some issues of hygiene that are going to come up as well, with the potential for all kinds of germs getting on your phone.
14. Do you feel anxiety over losing your phone?
To be honest, most people feel anxious when they may have lost their phones.
A smartphone is a big financial investment and the thought of losing it or someone else using it can be troublesome on many levels, with privacy being chief among them.
However, if you are feeling deep anxiety over losing your phone because you are not going to be able to use your phone until you get it back or get a replacement, that could be a sign of a different problem for you.
15. Would you answer your phone in the middle of an important meeting?
Something like this may happen to everyone at some point.
You thought you had silenced your phone and it goes off, ringing or making a noise to indicate you received a message or some type of notification.
While it can embarrassing for you, it does happen and you can just reach for your phone and shut it off.
If you reach for the phone, check it and then decide to answer the phone in some way by taking the time to send a message or answer the ring, you may have to question what you are doing.
At the very least, the persons in the meeting with you will question your motivations for work.
16. Do you call or text someone in the same house as you?
Are you sending messages to your parent in the kitchen, asking when dinner will be ready or if they could bring a snack to you? Is your spouse sitting on the couch next to you and you are sending them messages instead of actually talking? A lot of people do this and it might seem cute or funny the first time you do it, but when it starts to turn into a regular occurrence people are going to ask what the problem is with you.
17. Do you spend more money on your phone than anything else?
Spending money on your smartphone may not be a bad thing since you do have to pay for the right type of plan for your phone, but if you find yourself paying extra money each month for going over your usage limits, buying new applications all the time or getting the latest accessories for your phone and do not have money left over to pay other important bills you need to take a look at your habits and see what you are doing that can be changed.
18. Do you use your phone when there are other productive things to do?
Are there times when you are at work and you should be working on a project but instead you are spending time checking status updates? Maybe you have chores to do at home or homework that needs to be finished but are checking out YouTube videos instead.
Everyone can be guilty of this sometimes but when it happens to you all of the time you have to question it.
19. Do you lose track of time using your phone?
One minute you are using your phone to chat with a friend or look at Facebook and the next thing that happens is you look at the time and see it is 2 AM and four hours have passed and you do not know where they went.
When this is happening all of the time to you is when you notice a problem developing.
20. Has the time you use your phone increased?
Perhaps when you first started using your phone it was just to make calls and check social media.
Now you find yourself surfing the Internet, watching movies, texting with friends, looking up recipes, playing games and more all of the time.
Your time has gone from minutes to hours and keeps going up all of the time.
21. Do you use your phone in the middle of the night?
Where once you got up in the middle of the night just to use the bathroom, walk the dog or turn off the light you left on, now you figure as long as you are up you might as well check your phone and see what is going on in the world, see who is awake or get in that last game for no reason other than you want to do it.
22. Do you have your phone when you are eating?
This may be the pet peeve of every parent out there today and many make rules against it, but there are just as many adults that eat their meals today with their faces buried in their smartphones.
It can seem very rude and detached to the others that may be eating with you, but if you keep doing it anyway you may have an addiction problem.
23. Do you have to check your phone as soon as it makes a noise?
It may not even need to be your phone ringing for you to check it
Your phone can make noises for all kinds of notifications and most of them are far from critical or important, but you may have the need to look right away and see what it was that you are being alerted to, no matter how insignificant it may actually be.
24. Do you check your phone even when nothing is happening?
Okay, so you checked your phone, read your email, answered some texts, and maybe took a quick look at Facebook and Twitter.
Two minutes later you are doing the exact same thing even though nothing has changed with anything you looked at.
Two minutes later you are checking again.
It could be turning into a regular compulsion for you to do this.
25. Have you cried when you dropped your phone?
No one likes the idea of their phone breaking and it can be upsetting when something happens to it, but if you find yourself crying and weeping over your phone, whether or not any real damage occurred or not, you have become too attached to using your phone too often.
Answering yes to a few these questions may not indicate that you are a phone addict, but if you answered yes to a majority of them, or even all twenty-five of them, then you may want to take a closer look at just what you are using your smartphone for and realize that you may have an addiction problem so that you can take some steps to try to get some of your old life back.
14 Comments Add one
I answered only yes to the questions that most people answered yes to. I don’t have access to a pc so I need my cell phone for asking questions I am curious about, and like immediate answers to. I’m an impatient person so having access to a computer on the go is awesome, and in today’s world, a necessity. Instant gratification is a wonderful thing, especially when it involves/concerns knowledge or information.I do some of the things asked, but only when it involves needing to know something immediately. As for calls,emails,texts, and social media, I rarely use those features. My phone is for knowledge, information, and entertainment.
Thanks for sharing your experience Patrick!
It’s funny that you just admitted that you’re an addict while trying to deny/deflect. Those uses, especially the “knowledge” one, are prime examples of you having a dependency. Plus it makes you stupid. Why learn or remember when you can just look it up instantly…. breeds stupidity
How can you say using your smartphone to learn something breeds stupidity?
In my opinion, as long as you retain the knowledge you just learned, it doesn’t breed stupidity. In fact, utilizing the tools at hand to learn something shows intelligence and initiative.
My daughter is 35yrs old and she has a serious addiction to cell phones to the point where she is seeing things in the phone that know one else is seeing. Please help i dont know what to do!
Dear concerned parent, please reach out for help for your daughter from a properly educated and formally trained professional such as a psychologist or psychiatrist. Also, if there is any possibility that the”things” your adult daughter “sees that no one else sees” on her phone may be threats from a potential bully of any sort, it would be appropriate to seek advise from your local police department.
i am here just asking a question, is it bad if you use your phone more than 12 hours a day because i want to make sure if i am OK and i wont lose out in the world that is out there.
Hello Liam,
I am not sure there is a number of hours that would be the threshold. Like 1h59 would be ok, but 2h01 would be bad.
Often times addiction is a matter of the impact it has on your life and how much it influences your every day decisions and your interactions with people around you.
I use my phone almost always but with restrictions because of my parents but I use my phone a lot, I used most of the time for my classes because I do t have a computer but also I use my phone for games, music, social media, etc what I want to say is that I use my phone a lot and maybe I should start using it less
I think this article is very interesting because it shows how some people depende on their phones and cannot survive without it
It was really nice to know that i don’t have an addiction with my cellphone
I don´t concider myself addicted because I can live without my phone. although I do admit that I use my cellphone a lot; it´s not like I have it in my hand all day but I do check it when I get a notofication or stuff like that.
I have to say that it´s impossible not to use my phone because nowadays everything is online, and whethrt I like it or not, I have to use electrical devices.
Well, according to the test I´m not a nomophobic. It would be a shame if I was, considering I´m already addicted to the computer (Netflix has a pretty great catalogue right now, I can´t help it :/ ).
But for my phone there are only a few things that catch my attention. I think I mostly use it for Episode, and I pass a considerable amount of hours per week at it, but it´s all. I use it for taking pictures too, But If I could do those things on my computer, I think I´d never use my cellphone.
i think this help and the tips that you give people are really great because not only are you changing lives but saving some too, because texting while driving and doing other things like that could be the cause of someones dead. so thank you!