Spend only half an hour a week on Instagram <\/p>\n
The concept of connecting with people on social media is not inherently bad. But adverts and posts from influencers now take priority over pictures of friends and family on our feeds, which leads to less connection and more mindless scrolling. Last year a meta-analysis in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication found passive viewing on social media sites \u201cwas associated with worse emotional outcomes\u201d than if we were to actively comment on others\u2019 posts. Marcantonio Spada, emeritus professor of addictive behaviours and mental health at London South Bank University and chief clinical officer at the mental healthcare company Onebright, says \u201cfundamentally voyeuristic\u201d sites such as Instagram and Facebook are worse than platforms such as LinkedIn and Reddit that \u201ccentre more on ideas exchange and skills\u201d. If you must use Instagram, focus on active engagement with accounts that interest you and pay attention to how you feel afterwards, he says. Unfollow accounts that prompt negative emotions. Make an agreement with yourself as to how much time you are willing to waste scrolling, write it down and track it (iPhones break down your screen time into specific app usage in settings). Spada pledges not to spend more than half an hour a week in \u201cvoyeuristic activity\u201d across all platforms.<\/p>\n
Swap TikTok for podcasts and YouTube![\"Germany](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\/28affa97-5900-48a6-9e5d-d76c6c5cb228.jpg\")
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Encourage teens to watch longer content on YouTube, rather than short videos on TikTok<\/p>\n
ALAMY<\/p>\n
TikTok videos and Instagram Reels, which often last as little as 7-15 seconds, are particularly harmful on social media. More cognitively stimulating than a picture, they deliver rapid spikes of the neurotransmitter dopamine, associated with learning and reward, \u201cneurobiologically and attentively locking us in\u201d, says Dr Rayyan Zafar, research fellow at Imperial College London\u2019s department of brain sciences. According to documents released by TikTok as part of a lawsuit against the company<\/a>, it takes just 260 videos to form a habit. These videos are particularly damaging to young brains because they are not fully developed \u2014 a concern, given Ofcom research has found that 45 per cent of girls and 41 per cent of boys aged 3 to 17 have a TikTok account. \u201cShort-form video apps like TikTok should not be used under the age of 18,\u201d Zafar says. He suggests parents encourage their teens to watch and listen to longer content on YouTube and podcasts that generally prompt a more sustained dopamine release. Spada advises we spell out to our children exactly how the short-form video format has been cynically designed by tech titans to hook us. \u201cExplain that they are outsourcing their brains to California,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s how I explained it to my children.\u201d<\/p>\n Ask yourself why you\u2019re picking up your phone<\/p>\n Pledge to cut out \u201cnon goal-directed\u201d phone use, Etchells says. All phone pick-ups are not equal. Checking to see if a friend has replied to a text message \u201cfacilitates social connection\u201d, Etchells says, but scrolling Instagram while driving is obviously \u201cdisastrously bad\u201d and problematic phone use stems from \u201chow often you engage in it in what we call a non goal-directed way\u201d. Before you reach for your phone without intent, he suggests asking yourself, \u201cWhat\u2019s led to this point? What relief or release am I trying to create?\u201d When Etchells realised he had started scrolling comedy Instagram Reels in search of light relief after a bad day, but that it wasn\u2019t making him feel any better, he switched to reading a book<\/a> instead. Seeking distraction after a busy day is OK, to a point, Spada says, but trying to regulate your emotions because you are depressed or anxious is not. \u201cWe know through the literature [scrolling] will exacerbate negative emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 How to stop your child from scrolling \u2014 the doctor\u2019s guide<\/a><\/p>\n Believe that you can change your bad phone habits <\/p>\n Saying we are addicted to our phones is \u201ctremendously disempowering\u201d, Etchells believes, because it implies a lack of control. He maintains it\u2019s more helpful for us to view heavy smartphone use as a habit that we have within us to change. \u201cThe first step is to notice what you\u2019re doing.\u201d He cites his own habit of doing the crossword<\/a> on his phone while trying to get his children to sleep as babies. When it stopped being a \u201clifeline\u201d and became a bad habit that stopped him going back to sleep, he deleted the app and started sleeping better again. He doesn\u2019t dispute that getting rid of an app or curtailing time spent on one is \u201creally hard\u201d and requires \u201cresilience and strength\u201d but says, \u201cIf you keep trying, you will get there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 How I was cured of my smartphone addiction \u2014 for four minutes<\/a><\/p>\n Mark out weekly windows of time away from your phone <\/p>\n While you can\u2019t ditch it altogether, regular breaks can reduce your smartphone\u2019s appeal. Recent research in the journal Computers in Human Behavior found 72 hours of restricted access to smartphones decreased activity in brain regions, including the middle frontal gyrus and the superior parietal lobule, that are involved in various functions including attention, visual processing and motor control, suggesting smartphones might become less stimulating. \u201cOur study suggests that even a short break from smartphone use can lead to changes in brain activity, particularly in regions associated with reward and self-control,\u201d said the study author Robert Christian Wolf, deputy director of the department of general psychiatry at Heidelberg University Hospital. Spada spends eight hours away from his smartphone every Sunday \u2014 a habit that has an \u201cunbelievable effect\u201d on his desire to scroll the rest of the week \u2014 and picks up his phone after 7pm every evening only if it rings.<\/p>\n \u2022 I\u2019m a smug digital minimalist \u2014 here\u2019s how you can be one too<\/a><\/p>\n Remove yourself from non-essential WhatsApp groups Consider how you are using WhatsApp: \u201cbeing bombarded by irrelevant messages is not [helpful\u201d<\/p>\n ALAMY<\/p>\n Yes, WhatsApp groups are helpful when you\u2019re not sure what time the bus leaves or whose turn it is to host the coffee morning, but being bombarded by irrelevant messages is not. There is a presumption among many in messaging groups that they\u2019re a dumping ground for random thoughts and we would do well to be upfront about the rules of engagement, Etchells says. In WhatsApp, these can be pinned to the group\u2019s mast. \u201cThinking about how we change our attitudes to those sorts of groups is an important thing we\u2019re not discussing,\u201d he says. Spada is stricter still, removing himself from any WhatsApp groups that aren\u2019t \u201centirely functional. Anything that has to do with discussions or opinions I see as a waste of life because the interaction is digital.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Read more social media stories from our experts<\/a><\/p>\n Keep your phone 2m away from your bed <\/p>\n We are forever being told to keep our phones out of our bedroom, but research \u201cdoesn\u2019t support\u201d their mere presence leading to poor sleep, Etchells says. There is no definitive proof the blue light smartphones emit has a \u201cmassive impact\u201d on production of the hormone melatonin, which regulates our sleep. \u201cFrom my read of the literature I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a problem,\u201d he says. Nor does turning your iPhone onto Night Shift mode to reduce blue light have any \u201cappreciable effects\u201d on sleep. \u201cMy phone is my alarm clock on my bedside table,\u201d he says. It is the temptation our smartphones offer that interrupts sleep, he says, especially among teenagers because there is a \u201csocial expectation\u201d that they are available late at night and may not be able to resist the lure of messaging friends when their device is in sight. Encourage them to leave their phone in another room overnight. Spada recommends adults also use a \u201ctraditional alarm so the phone is not nearby to mindlessly engage\u201d and that if the smartphone has to be used, it is kept a minimum of 2m away to \u201creduce the trigger to engage\u201d. <\/p>\n It is the temptation that smartphones offer that interrupts sleep<\/p>\n ALAMY<\/p>\n Download apps that enhance your brain<\/p>\n Although enjoying a game with a friend in person can boost levels of the bonding hormone oxytocin, sudoku<\/a> and chess played on our smartphones are just as beneficial for cognitive function as those conducted in the flesh, Spada says, while educational apps such as the language platform Duolingo<\/a>, which offers points and badges for achievements, \u201cgamify the dopamine response but allow your attentional networks to engage in something productive\u201d, Zafar says. He recommends a games app for kids called MentalUP and the CogniFit games app for adults, which \u201charness neuroplasticity to improve brain function\u201d. He believes a healthy relationship with our smartphone is \u201cabout mastering our biology in view of developments of technology\u201d. Can it be done? He is optimistic. \u201cIt is being done.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Dial-A-Poem, the phone addiction that\u2019s actually good for the soul<\/a><\/p>\n For childrenDon\u2019t ban your child\u2019s phone \u2014 it will only make them want it more<\/p>\n \u201cCreate a situation where children feel supported in their tech use,\u201d Etchells says. \u201cWhat do they want out of their phone use? Where are the boundaries you can both agree on? Co-design that.\u201d He cites research that found regardless of whether parents lay down rules authoritatively or collaboratively, kids will break them \u201cbecause that\u2019s what teenagers do\u201d, but if they are scared of breaking them, they will be more likely to hide their tech use from their parents, with potentially disastrous results. Tell them, he suggests, \u201cThese are the rules, but I want to make it clear that if something goes wrong, I don\u2019t care about the rule any more. I care about the thing that\u2019s happened.\u201d Zafar says teaching teens they have \u201cagency\u201d in what they consume is key, along with \u201cthe ability to understand that this beast that\u2019s been created can be used for good and for bad. Parents could try to drive it in a direction which is useful.\u201d<\/p>\n Set boundaries that you and your child agree on<\/p>\n GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n Talk to your children about graphic content<\/p>\n Horrific content is compulsive viewing \u2014 and it is ubiquitous. Graphic and violent videos such as the shooting of the political activist Charlie Kirk<\/a> go viral not because we \u2014 or, more worryingly, our teens \u2014 enjoy watching them, but because they prompt a significant brain response, Zafar says. \u201cWe know from brain-imaging studies the reward circuits respond to unpleasurable things in the same vein as pleasurable things,\u201d he says. The dopamine released is our brain\u2019s way of trying to learn from what we see. \u201cIt\u2019s a survival mechanism. Our brain\u2019s thinking, what can I learn that might protect me? We\u2019re being played to feel more under threat than we are.\u201d If your teen tells you they\u2019ve seen something disturbing, avoid the temptation to shout at them and see it as a positive sign they have confided in you, Etchells says, because \u201ccontinuous conversations about intentional use\u201d are the most effective antidote to harmful smartphone habits. Talk about how the video has made them feel and where it\u2019s come from, he adds. Often content is spread through their messaging groups. \u201cDoes that mean a conversation with a school, or parents?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Whatsapp](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\/5b4996eb-7294-4359-bfa1-d2c9734d8dd1.jpg\")
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