Suffolk charity warns we need to be mindful of how we use our phones
Our phones could be contributing to increased mental health issues and other negative emotions according to a study
A Suffolk charity is warning that excessive phone use could be leading to increased mental health issues and other negative emotions.
Time to Talk UK, which helps people in our area, told us phones can be both good and bad and that we need to be mindful with what we use them for, and for how long.
Graham Carrington from the charity told us he thinks the amount of attention people pay to their phones and the time spent on them, is largely contributing to these issues: "You need to use it as part of your life rather than immersing yourself in it.
"I think during COVID and lockdowns it was quite easy just to stay inside focusing on what you can get hold of, which is the online world, and now we're hopefully going out of it.
"Now we can get out and see some people go for a drink, go for a walk....
"I think the key is addiction. Addiction to them and and how you measure addiction. I guess it's whatever takes you away from.
"And so it's more important, it's important to try and put it (your phone) down. Things like sleep as well.
"When your minds quite active, a lot of people use their phones as they go to bed, which is perfectly fine.
"Catching up on news, catching up on friends, stories maybe interacting with people.
"But actually that mental interaction just before you go to sleep can impact on your sleep.
"You need sleep at a time when your mind hopefully switches off and rebuilds itself and all that sort of stuff. So there are things online about getting good sleep."
How can we monitor our phone time?
Graham added: "The key things is get rid of any electronic devices for maybe an hour before you go to bed or something like that. As well as having the routine.
"I think people need to learn how to use them and actually just have the phone as one element of what they do during the day.
"Actually to get outside, maybe go for a walk each day, do some gardening, do some craft type stuff, make things, talk to people, play an instrument, learn a language,
"There's so much more we can do that and get stuck on your phone.
"So it's just using your phones as something to have. But don't make it grab all your attention all the time."
Graham said liking something one day on social media can lead to your feed being filled with it in future: "It's and partly it's knowing how the algorithms work and also knowing what the information you see is."
"And actually it's all about connecting with people.
"We spend all our time on phones. It's really good to put our phone down and go out and talk to people, do some craft clubs or go walking or just having phones and social media as part of your world.
"It's important part, you can reach out to people. You can help people, you can connect with people.
"I also think it's important to think about what you're seeing.
"If you've got negative thoughts coming in, try and do something about them.
"So maybe put your phone down rather than go down that spiral and don't believe everything you read."
How can we tackle the issue?
"I think phones by themselves aren't necessarily good or bad.
"It's how we use them and I guess that's that's down to education, which could start in schools because there's a lot of school aged kids, teenagers that can go down that slippery slope of doom scrolling and comparing your life with somebody who's perfect. Supposedly perfect.
"So maybe education in the school would be a good thing to start, but not just school aged kids."
Educating people may help the situation but Graham also believes we need to communicate with each other.
"We found out that about 50% of the conversations are people are just happy to find someone to talk to.
"And that's the key thing. It's being able to talk to somebody.
"And if you've got friends who you think are suffering, maybe you can detect some different and then maybe they're a bit grumpy, if they are normally grumpy, they're at bit brighter , because it can work both ways.
"Just try and ask them if everything is okay. If they say 'absolutely fine nothing's wrong', ask them again, if they're really okay. And if they're not, they might open up.
"If they're fine, then so be it. Nothing lost. But at least you're reaching out to them... and you given them a route in."