Smartphone overuse in adults

June, and the office in Paltan is in the middle of year-end closing. Kaniz, 37, a senior accountant, has a ledger open, a reconciliation due by four, and a phone in her hand. She picked it up to check the time. That was fifty minutes ago: a recipe reel, a cousin’s biye photos, a video about a cat in Chattogram, a sale on sarees.

“Kaniz apa, your phone has more screen time than our server,” says Rahat from the next desk, and the whole row laughs.

“I was only checking the time,” she says, and they laugh harder.

At home her daughter holds up a drawing, and Kaniz looks up a beat too late. In bed she scrolls until one, wakes tired, and has started leaving the phone in the kitchen, then getting up at midnight to fetch it.

An illustration drawn from common experience. The person is invented; the pattern is not.

Understanding smartphone overuse

Smartphone overuse is not a diagnosis in ICD-11 in the way gaming disorder is, but it can still cause real harm. Phones are built to reward checking, and the habit can run without decision. Heavy use is sometimes a way of escaping stress, boredom, loneliness, anxiety or low mood, and sometimes linked to attention difficulties such as ADHD. A doctor looks at what the phone is doing for the person, and what it is taking away.

How common it is

There is no national figure for Bangladeshi adults. A meta-analysis of digital addiction, whose studies together covered more than two million people in 64 countries, estimated smartphone addiction at 26.99% in the general population, not adults alone, with digital addiction overall higher in low and lower-middle income countries. A second meta-analysis of 109 studies from 2012 to 2022 put problematic smartphone use at 37.1% across all age groups, rising over time and rising fastest in older age groups. Both note that results vary widely with the questionnaire used.

Signs worth noticing

• Losing time on the phone without meaning to, many times a day
• Using it in bed until late, and feeling tired the next day
• Falling behind at work, or missing what family members say
• Feeling restless or irritable when the phone is out of reach
• Trying to cut down and not managing it

How care helps

A psychiatrist will ask what the phone helps you avoid, and check for depression, anxiety, ADHD, sleep problems and stress at work or home. Where these are present, treating them can loosen the habit. For problematic internet use, a systematic review found that dialectical behaviour therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy helped with impulsivity, although the number of studies was small. Cognitive behavioural approaches are also used, building small changes: notifications off, apps moved off the first screen, the phone out of the bedroom, and planned times for the things it was replacing.

What getting better can look like

Kaniz might manage with a wristwatch, an old alarm clock by the bed, and the phone in her bag during closing. One evening a week she sits with her daughter and a box of crayons, and the drawings get her full attention.

Common questions about smartphone overuse

Is smartphone addiction a real diagnosis?

Smartphone addiction is not a formal diagnosis in ICD-11, although gaming disorder is. Even so, phone use that harms sleep, work or relationships, and that you cannot cut down, is worth taking seriously, especially when it comes with low mood or anxiety.

How can I reduce my phone use?

Turn off non-essential notifications, keep the phone out of the bedroom, and use a watch and an alarm clock. If you cannot cut down, or the phone is helping you escape low mood or anxiety, an assessment can look at what is underneath.

When to see a psychiatrist

If phone use is costing you sleep, work or family time and you cannot change it on your own, or if it is covering low mood or anxiety, please book an appointment.

Care here is personal: built around your history, your health and what you want to change, and reviewed with you as it goes.

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 999 or go to the nearest hospital emergency department.

Sources

• Meng et al., Clinical Psychology Review, 2022 (PMID 35150965)
• Lu et al., Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 2024 (PMID 38979617)
• Aguilar-Yamuza et al., Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2024 (PMID 39391084)