Our phones have become an extension of our own physical bodies, it seems. When our phones have basically become our second brain, it’s understandable that we turn to them as a reflex.

In DBT, we are firm believers that taking care of your physical body unlocks the fullest potential with our mental health. The PLEASE skills cover the physical needs we require. These needs include:

Treat Physical ILlness

Balanced Eating

Avoid mood altering substances

Balance Sleep

Get Exercise

What kind of effects can increased screen time lead to with these PLEASE skills?

Treat Physical Illness

Treating physical illness means that we’re taking time to ensure we’re taking our medications that we need. We’ve heard that phones can cause cancer, and I’m not going to go there. Mindfulness is being aware of the current situation, right? Consider how many times you’ve been walking and texting or driving and texting, and something happens or almost happens. According to The United States Department of Transportation, over 3000 people were killed in 2019 from distracted drivers operating a motor vehicle.

Balance your Eating

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. It’s a phone, it doesn’t effect my diet. Maybe, but also maybe not. A study completed in South Korea revealed that teens who used a smartphone for more than 2 hours a day were more likely to reach for processed foods over vegetables and fruit than teens that did not spend as much time on their phones,” (Ryu, 2021).

Have you ever zoned out with a snack while watching TV? The same idea applies to smartphone usage. My last point on the food, imagine how many ads for restaurants, uber eats, and snacks you see while scrolling. I’ll leave it at that.

Avoiding mood altering substances

This skill is mostly meant for drugs or alcohol. However, I think an important question to raise is, “are my phone interactions making me feel a certain way?” Notice how the interactions make you feel.

Balance sleep

This one’s a no brainer, but I’ll write about it anyway. If you are one of the zillion people who stay up late on their phone, you know where I’m going.

According to the Journal of Applied Physiology, one study found that Blue Light (the light that is emitted from our phones), suppressed melatonin in the participants. If this is true, using our phones before bed to “wind down” is hindering us from sleeping. My last point, who has stayed up for hours scrolling endlessly, just to be greeted by our 7am alarm shortly after? What kind of day with a lack of sleep look like for us?

Now the last letter of PLEASE is to get exercise.

This one, I’m walking the middle path on, because a lot of us can’t imagine the thought of a workout routine without phones. However, if we start to notice that being on our phone interferes with our need exercise, then we have some behaviors to change. Imagine scrolling, all dressed in your running outfit, and scrolling, and scrolling, then it’s too late in the evening to run, and you’ve missed your chance. With phones in this idea, I can’t help but also see some positives and negatives. That’s thinking dialectical.

So, what can we do?

We can practice one-mindfully

One-mindfully allows us to focus our attention on one thing in the moment. Set aside time to scroll. Just scroll and nothing else.

Set a timer on your phone for 10 minutes and allow yourself to only scroll, not attending to anything else. Once the timer hits, close out and go about your day. You’ll be amazed at how long 10 minutes can seem.

One mindfully can also be used to avoid our phones. Engage in petting your dog without being on the phone, when you go for a walk, just walk. When you’re eating just eat and when you’re watching tv, just watch TV. You’ll notice that the less you engage in your phone, you’ll feel more engaged in what you’re doing. One study has even shown that the presence of a cell phone can interfere with relationship formation, so not even being on the phone may cause concerns with our connections.

Our phones are not all evil, our phones can also offer us positive emotions such as happiness when we see our friend’s new baby pictures, or a cute kitty. Phones are tools we can use to enrich our lives worth living. However, understanding the effects that increased phone use can help us better understand what is going on in our lives, emotionally and physically.

Citations:

Blue light from light-emitting diodes elicits a dose-dependent suppression of melatonin in humans

Kathleen E. West, Michael R. Jablonski, Benjamin Warfield, Kate S. Cecil, Mary James, Melissa A. Ayers, James Maida, Charles Bowen, David H. Sliney, Mark D. Rollag, John P. Hanifin, and George C. Brainard

Journal of Applied Physiology 2011 110:3, 619-626

https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving#the-issue-what-is-distracted-driving?

Kim, H. J., Min, J. Y., Kim, H. J., & Min, K. B. (2017). Accident risk associated with smartphone addiction: A study on university students in Korea. Journal of behavioral addictions,

Przybylski, A. K., & Weinstein, N. (2013). Can you connect with me now? How the presence of mobile communication technology influences face-to-face conversation quality: Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30(3), 237–246.

Do you have a great idea for a blog topic, or have a skills question you’d like to see discussed? Let us know.