Professor Encourages Healthier Smartphone Usage
Insight from Associate Professor of聽Psychology and Counseling聽, was featured on聽more than 2,600 news sites, including聽,听, , , and others. DiMartino, who has researched the mental health impact of smartphones in the college classroom, explained that smartphone addiction changes how the brain is wired.
鈥淪martphones have the same chemical reaction in the brain as drugs and alcohol,鈥� she said. 鈥淕etting 鈥榣ikes,鈥� messages, and notifications from your phone releases dopamine, which makes us feel good, and in turn, we want to repeat these feel-good behaviors. However, when we don鈥檛 get them, we feel depressed and lonely, which creates an adverse effect.鈥�
DiMartino also shared advice for healthier smartphone usage, including designating certain 鈥渄o not disturb鈥� times in device settings, taking scheduled 鈥減hone-free鈥� breaks, and swapping out a smartphone for a traditional alarm clock.