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📵 Digital Wellness
Are you addicted to your phone?
Clinical smartphone addiction screening.
Rate how often each applies: 1 (never) to 5 (always).
1I check my phone within 5 minutes of waking up.
2I feel anxious or uncomfortable when my phone is not nearby.
3I use my phone longer than I intended.
4People around me complain about my phone use.
5I feel phantom vibrations from my phone when there are none.
6I check my phone during meals, conversations, or in the bathroom.
7I have tried to reduce my phone use but failed.
8I reach for my phone when I feel bored, anxious, or lonely.
9I have missed sleep because I was on my phone in bed.
10My phone use interferes with my work, study, or relationships.
Smartphone addiction: the numbers
The average person checks their phone 96 times per day (Asurion 2023) and spends 3 hours 15 minutes on it. The Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS-SV, Kwon et al. 2013) is used in clinical research worldwide.
Score interpretation
- 10-18: Healthy use — phone is a tool, not a habit
- 19-28: Average — moderate dependency, typical for most people
- 29-38: Problematic — your phone use affects daily life
- 39-50: Addicted — clinical concern level
Key research
- Nomophobia (no-mobile-phone phobia) affects 53% of smartphone users (Yildirim 2015)
- Your phone's mere presence reduces cognitive capacity — even face-down (Ward et al. 2017, "Brain Drain")
- 89% of people have experienced phantom vibrations (Drouin et al. 2012)
- Smartphone addiction correlates with depression (r=0.34) and anxiety (r=0.31) (Elhai et al. 2017)
- Average pickup: 58 times/day — one-third are within 3 minutes of the last check
Sources: Kwon et al. (2013, SAS-SV), Ward et al. (2017, Brain Drain), Yildirim (2015, Nomophobia), Elhai et al. (2017).