The drug we are all taking!

The drug we are all taking!

I remember it very clearly, when I first stepped in to a Chiropractic office in Godalming after graduating, back in 2014, my boss at the time said ‘there are two things you never talk about with a patient, RELIGION & POLITICS’.

So how about that budget eh? I’m kidding, this is not a budget rant.

Although this could go somewhat political later so stay tuned.

The drug I’m referring to is that 7cm by 15cm device we are all glued to that lives in our pockets. You know the one I mean?

What impact is the smart phone having on your health?

This is no surprise to you, but it is a HUGE impact.

But no one is talking about it.

Let me just say I’m just as bad as you with my phone, if not worse. This comes from a place of ‘I know I need to be better; I need to make a change.’

I’m making a conscious effort to try and use it less, but it is a drug, they are designed to keep our eyeballs glued to the apps. People are paying for eyeballs on ads.

Those people are also ME. West Chiropractic pays for eyeballs on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram for people to see our ads to showcase West Chiropractic. So, there is a complete contradiction in this blog post, I’m trying to use my phone less as an individual but as a business owner I want you to keep using your phones so you can see my ads.

Haha it makes no sense to me!

But why are phones so addictive?

Smartphones release a neurotransmitter in your brain called DOPAMINE, this is a feel-good chemical that is released in our brains that makes us happy. For example, eating chocolate will release dopamine, therefore we associate chocolate with happiness.

When we are scrolling on Instagram, we look at videos or photos and these increases our dopamine as we see funny videos, interesting content or arousing content and more dopamine is released. The thing about dopamine is that it is quickly metabolised in the brain, so it disappears, leaving you wanting more. Then you keep scrolling, trying to find more dopamine. (One of my friends calls this ‘doom scrolling’, before you know it you have scrolled for 15 minutes and have nothing to show for it.)

When you post something on social media, you are then waiting for people to comment or like your post which gives you an even bigger hit of dopamine. ‘I wonder how many people are going to like this post of me on holiday standing in front of the Eiffel Tower?’ (I’m not pointing that at anyone I promise, it was just the first tourist attraction that came to mind).

This creates a habit loop, ‘I know when I go on to social media, it will make me feel happy, therefore I’m going to check my social media apps over 50 times per day.’

Let’s go through what we know so far:

Mental Health– it is proven that smart phones can increase stress, anxiety and depression. The level of anxiety diagnoses for those aged between 18-25 jumped by 92% between 2010 and 2015. In the same time nearly 40% of teenage girls who spend over 5 hours per day were diagnosed with clinical depression. That is alarming to say the least.

The companies that have designed these apps have made them addictive, but they have hooked in kids at young ages where their brains are rapidly changing and rewiring, and the incoming messages and stimulation further adapts their brains.

Adults cannot control the amount we use our phones; how can we expect kids to not use Snapchat or Instagram?

One thing you may want to do is look up your screen time and look at the apps you are using on your phone and the amount you are using them.

Whilst doing research for this blog, I read that some people experience something called ‘digital detox anxiety’ when they are separated from their phones for too long!

I’m worried about the battle that we are going to have with our kids that are 3 and 5 right now, but when they get to secondary school, I’m dreading the day Kit comes home and asks ‘Dad, can I have an iPhone?’

Physical health– I have talked about ‘tech neck’ where we use our phones and devices for too long and this causes a reversal in the curve in the neck. This is very common and with more people using devices and computers for work every single day, it will cause more physical and structural issues in the long term.

This creates postural problems such as ‘the hump’ on the base of the neck, or sometimes coined ‘dowagers hump’ in elderly people.

Smart phones emit blue light, and this has been linked with headaches, and sleeping issues.

When we use our phones, they disrupt our circadian rhythm centre, this is the area in the brain which tells you that it is day or night.

You know when you wake up sometimes at 4am and you think how can it be 4am, it feels like it is time to wake up? Or the reverse of that is when you wake up at 6am and think ‘gosh it feels like 2am and I need 4 hours more sleep.’ If you have been to bed at a reasonable time then commonly your circadian rhythm is disrupted and your body cannot work out where it is in the day, this could be related to blue light.

Using smart phones before bed is going to disrupt your sleep, this is a fact and has been widely proven. If you are struggling to sleep then you should not use your phone or watch TV for an hour before bed, try reading a book.

Weight gain has been related to smart phone use. I know what you are thinking ‘back in my day kids use to play out in the garden and run around, now they are couped up inside on phones, iPad’s and PlayStation.’

The studies suggest that adolescents that spend more than 6 hours per day watching TV or using smart phones have a higher risk of obesity than those 2 hours or less (Cha et al, 2018). (You didn’t need a study to tell you that, but it helps).

It is true, kids are moving less than ever and childhood obesity in the UK is at an all time high.

The studies suggest a few things are happening:

1. Less movement due to static screen time therefore calories in > calories out = increase weight
2. Increased calories as kids are inside and ease of consumption. You can’t eat food when exercising.
3. Less sleep upsetting endocrine systems therefore increasing weight.

The social impact that smart phones have is also alarming. How do we now communicate with each other?

This section has been talked about in popular media, but there is less research in this field. My assumption is that increased smart phone usage makes you less able to hold lengthy and meaningful conversations face to face.

In life we are all faced with difficult situations with friends, family and colleagues where you need to have a difficult conversation with someone. We have a value at West Chiropractic where we ‘call it tight’. Which means we say it how it is…with love.

None of the sh** sandwich approach, that doesn’t work anymore, the feedback gets missed. We found that using this approach our team left ore confused.

We candidly tell our teammate the situation or how their actions have made us feel. This is often hard to do but is appreciated and gives everyone better clarity. Hard decisions now= easy life, easy decisions now=hard life later.

I would imagine that these types of conversations are harder for someone that is used to communicating via social media. These types of conversations cannot happen over text, it HAS to be face to face.

How does this relate to the budget?

He had to come back to the budget, didn’t he? 🤣

You will have seen taxes going up on alcohol and vaping.

Remember 10 years ago when we all thought vaping was the next best thing and was going to abolish smoking? Well, it has done the last part, but at what cost?

We now have 19% of 11–17-year-olds that have tried vaping.

4.5 million adults (8.7%) in the UK said they use an e-cigarette each day.

There is not enough data yet, but in my opinion (and I’m open to being wrong) I think vaping could be as bad if not worse than smoking tobacco. Only time will tell.

But back to the budget, why not have a tax on smart phones and social media?

There are several things that we know are wrong and not good for us. But we are waiting for the government to make a law against it before we act? With smart phone and social media use, my concern is by the time they make a law it will be too late.

There will be legislation bought in the next 5-10 years which will ban social media for under 16’s. Why are we waiting? We cannot control ourselves as adults let alone for our kids or grandkids.

Let me know your thoughts, do you have teenage kids? How have you managed this?

#SmartphoneAddiction #MentalHealthAwareness #DigitalDetox #TechNeck #SocialMediaImpact