Do you spend too much time on your phone?

Newstalk tech correspondent Jess Kelly thinks it has become a universal problem in the digital age and something she has personally addressed in life.

She joined Lunchtime Live today to share some tips on how you can also reduce your screen time, such as changing phone settings and having designated no-phone times.

It comes as a new study shows some 36% of people check their phones more than 50 times a day.

'Bad habit'

Ms Kelly said excessive screentime is accepted as a “bad habit” by all available research.

“It’s absolutely dreadful and every bit of science agrees on that,” she said.

“It’s not good to be looking at the blue light, but also, it’s not even good to have your phone in the bedroom - it shouldn’t be in the bedroom with you.

“I think we are like babies and this is our comfort blanket.”

Techniques

Ms Kelly said she has recently made a “conscious decision” to address her phone addiction and has made gains by using certain techniques.

“I now do a phone-free hour sometime between when I arrive home and when I go to bed,” she said.

“I turn the phone off for an hour and tell myself I have to do it – it has helped.

“What I had found is, you get home wrecked, do a bit of email and social media, you’re sitting down to watch TV and you’d be on the phone while it’s on – not engaging with anything in the room.”

A WhatsApp icon on a smartphone showing message notifications, 2-4-21. Image: Stephen Frost / Alamy

Another tactic implemented by Ms Kelly is changing her WhatsApp settings.

“I’ve turned off the ‘last seen online’ setting on WhatsApp as people don’t need to know when you were last online,” she said.

“I’ve also turned off notifications that let you know if your message is read and I’ve turned off blue ticks – there’s so much more freedom because it means you don’t feel guilty for not answering someone.”

Limiting hours

Ms Kelly also advises limiting the number of hours you can spend on an app in settings – especially for the likes of TikTok.

“Go into your settings and limit yourself to just having an hour a day and what happens is once you reach your hour, you’ll get a notification, “she said.

“You’ll have the option to override it if you want but I find it good and it will make you think – how have I spent three hours on this app today?

"The issue is when you’re four hours in [on TikTok] and haven’t done the laundry, dishwasher, or spoken to an actual human today because you’ve been scrolling by little dances.”

Ms Kelly said a good tip for parents to help manage their child’s screen time is to use Google Family Link which allows the ability to control the amount of time spent on certain apps and when certain apps can be used.

She also said it is important to acknowledge if you have an addiction to your phone and have conversations with others about it.

Main image: Parent taking away smartphone from teenage daughter. Image: Prostock-studio / Alamy Stock Photo