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Smartphone Addiction

In the modern world, smartphones are everywhere and are incredibly useful for staying connected, working, and entertainment. But with this constant access comes the new challenge of screen addiction, which can be especially concerning, particularly for our children.
It’s easy for children and adults to get caught up in checking notifications, gaming and chatting with friends. Each of these can lead to specific addictions in themselves including online gaming addiction and social media addiction.
As caregivers and parents, worrying about this and the consequences is natural.
Rebel Therapies was created to address these challenges. With the rise of smartphones and tablets, communication and interaction have transformed dramatically.

Signs of Smartphone Addiction

Restlessness

Restlessness or anxiety when away from the phone.

Avoiding Problems

Using a phone to avoid real-life problems or emotions.

Excessive use

Spending more time on the phone, often losing track of time.

 

Less Social

Neglecting family or social time due to excessive screen use.

Checking for Updates

Constantly checking the phone for updates.

What is Smartphone Addiction?

Smartphone addiction can be a big concern if you have children with mobile phones. If your child seems glued to their device, loses track of time on social media, or gets anxious when not using it, they might be struggling with this issue.

It’s important to recognise these signs so you can help them find a healthy balance between screen time and other activities.

“Combat Screen Addiction is a must for anyone wanting to break the spell of screens. A real wake me up moment. It’s helped me free my screen addiction! Now I have hope I can help my kids!”

Anna – Glasgow, UK

The Impact of Smartphone Addiction

The effects of screen addiction go beyond mere distraction. Excessive phone use has been linked to a variety of detrimental issues, such as:

Mental Health: A recent study from Yale and Columbia found that 9 and 10-year-olds who spent the most time on screens showed greater changes in brain development and higher levels of depression and anxiety two years later.

High-screen use was linked to:
– Emotional regulation issues
– Difficulty completing tasks
– Lower curiosity
– Trouble making friends
– More challenging behaviour
– Reduced self-control

Sleep Disruption: Children using devices such as smartphones and tablets at bedtime have over double the risk of a disrupted night’s sleep compared to children without access to such devices, according to a study led by researchers from King’s College London.

The blue light from screens hampers melatonin production, a hormone that helps regulate sleep. As a result, children may experience mood swings, difficulty concentrating, and poorer school performance due to insufficient sleep.

Productivity Loss: Constant notifications and distractions can make it difficult to focus on tasks, reducing efficiency and performance in work or school.
A study amongst undergraduates found that those without smartphones had higher recall accuracy compared to those with smartphones.

Physical Health Issues: Extended phone use can cause eye strain, headaches, and poor posture, leading to neck and back pain.

Who Are Rebel Therapies?

Rebel Therapies was established in response to the challenges posed by the unregulated digital landscape that emerged with the rise of smartphones and tablets in the 2010s.

This technological shift has profoundly altered communication and had a significant impact on various aspects of society, with some individuals experiencing more severe effects than others.

The organisation was inspired by Munur Shah’s own journey, which began in 2013 when he confronted screen addiction within his own family.

As an entrepreneur, business mentor, and life coach, Munur delved into the underlying drivers of intrusive technologies and their influence on emotions, thoughts, and behaviours.

Find out more

Sign Up for Our Courses

By leveraging our knowledge and experiences, we aim to build a more sustainable and respectful approach to screen use.

We focus on addressing the root causes of digital addiction and its adverse effects, with the goal of creating a happier, healthier world for everyone, including future generations.

To provide further support, we offer a comprehensive five-week program course: Combat Screen Addiction.

This is designed specifically for parents, guardians, teachers, and caregivers.
This course equips you with practical tools to reduce screen time and tackle issues like gaming and social media addiction, helping you reclaim balance in your family’s digital life.

Alternatively, if you’re looking for a taster, why not sign up for our Combat Screen Harm & Addiction Masterclass, which is completely free.

Sign up Here
sign up here

FAQ's

Signs of mobile phone addiction in children can include constantly thinking about their phones. They may have trouble cutting back on phone time and may get upset or restless when their phones aren’t available.

This addiction can lead to ignoring responsibilities and activities, along with mood swings. Additionally, excessive phone time can cause problems with school performance and make them more isolated from friends.

Excessive phone time can have several negative physical health impacts. It can cause eye strain and discomfort from prolonged screen use.

Poor posture and musculoskeletal issues may arise from sitting for a long time in front of a phone. Additionally, excessive screen time can disrupt sleep patterns, leading to insomnia. Sedentary behaviour associated with long smartphone sessions can also increase the risk of obesity.

To check your child’s screen time, start by using built-in features or apps available on their devices.

Many smartphones have settings that track and limit screen usage, allowing you to see how much time is spent on each app. You can also explore third-party apps designed for parental control that provide detailed reports on screen time and app usage.

Children are increasingly vulnerable to screen addiction, which can impact their cognitive and social development.

To safeguard their well-being, screen time recommendations have become more stringent:

  • Under 6 months: No screen time is advised.
  • 6 months to 2 years: Screen use should be limited to interactive video chats with loved ones.
  • Ages 2 to 5: Screen time should not exceed one hour per day.
  • School-aged children: While specific time limits are not set, it is crucial for parents to monitor and manage their use of social media and video games.

Get in Touch

Petra Salva OBE

Petra Salva began her career in youth and community work after graduating with a BA Hons in Community and Youth Studies in Lancaster. Since then, she has accumulated 30 successful years’ experience working with young people and adults. She is best known for her work and contribution working in the third sector in the UK and abroad. Specifically leading and designing projects within Homeless charities and influencing the Government, local authorities, and the London Mayors Office around national and local rough sleeping strategies and has significant experience in leadership roles and managing large scale change.

She has been at the forefront of developing services that directly support some of the most destitute people in our society and in 2019 she was awarded an OBE for her years of contribution and impact in this field.

Petra is passionate about helping people and organisations to grow and develop their skills and aspirations. She is a qualified coach and mentor with many years of experience in delivering training and working one to one or in groups.

Martin Watson

Martin is an experienced accredited psychodynamic psychotherapist with many years of working with and helping adults. Martin believes in creating a safe space and a trusting relationship can help us think and explore together the reasons you might be looking for help and counselling. He has worked with many ranges of anxiety, depression, trauma, and loss. He has a gentle, sensitive approach and would welcome meeting you to see if he can help you too.

Martin is a fully qualified psychodynamic psychotherapist accredited with the BPC (British Psychoanalytic Council). He offers individual therapy to adults and young people. He is also a registered member of the BACP (MBACP).

He has been offering individual therapy and counselling for many years in both private practise and within organisations. He is currently working with the Counselling Foundation and has previously worked at Mind in Barnet for many years. Martin also worked as part of the Grief Encounter adult bereavement counselling team.

Richard Bell

Richard is an experienced mentor and executive coach with a record of accomplishment of working with large corporate organisations supporting key career transitions and continuous professional development. Richard also mentors technology entrepreneurs and is the co-founder of a software start-up company.

Transition Coaching is a key focus, supporting clients who are new to company, function or corporate title.  Supporting senior promotion candidates through the selection and evaluation processes and then guiding them to establish senior peer-to-peer relationships, personal gravitas and cross-functional teamworking.

Richard’s style of coaching is both supportive and challenging. He is passionate about working with the “whole person” and believes that career transitions are only a single aspect of an individual’s current situation. Exploration of any “limiting beliefs” and utilisation of creative coaching techniques help visualise the target state.

Shabazz Nelson

Shabazz has over two decades of working as a behavioural change specialist and coach to hundreds of academic and private clients. His unique style of engaging, enquiring, determining goals, and activating real change and success, has changed the lives of each of his clients. 

He helps clients experience empowerment when resolving current issues, creating coping strategies, and acknowledges client talents and gifts, encouraging them to find new and innovative ways to utilize them.

Shabazz works relationally with his clients, allowing for a development of understanding and alliance, which creates the structure and safety for clients to be themselves and access their true self. Clients are then free to create new goals and strategies for success, but with a wholly positive regard for themselves.

Melanie Shah

Releasing Emotion, Building Resilience, Uncovering Joy 

Melanie has dedicated the last decade delivering to her clients as a therapist, mentor and coach.

Melanie offers a bespoke mix of Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), also known as Tapping, combined with NLP, Hypnotherapy and Life Coaching. She delivers individualised therapy and coaching to an international clientele with varying ages, cultures, and requirements.  

Melanie has helped with a range of presentations including trauma, anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue, physical pain, phobias and addictions, relationships, and self-esteem.  The value of this kind of therapy is that it can be applied widely and have rapid, measurable results.

Her work as an integrative therapist draws upon her various academic and informal learning, across countries and cultures, and across various professional and personal roles.  In her experience within private practice, she has honed her techniques in creating a solution-based, individualised service for each client to explore their perceived inner and outer world with safety and curiosity. 

Melanie encourages her clients to try the cutting-edge therapy that she offers. The work with her clients has the potential to be very empowering.

Munur Shah

Munur has dedicated the past few years in researching the impact of screens and their addictive nature on the unsuspecting world population.  His knowledge and expertise in this area has naturally directed him to create a programme to help understand and combat the problems screen addiction poses.

An experienced mentor and coach, Munur is passionate about ‘awakening’ your senses to how organisations create applications with their number one requirement and desire being capturing your attention at any cost.

Screen addiction is an ever-increasing problem and now at an epic scale, especially among teens and young children. Anxiety, stress, loneliness, bullying, harassment (mental and physical), polarisation, misinformation, racism, sexism, hate, self-harm, and suicide are some of the by-products of screen addiction.

As parents and guardians, now is the time to take responsible action to help your children take back control of their lives, rebuild relationships, and create a positive, happier, healthier lifestyle.

Over the past few years, he has spent his time helping parents and their children overcome their addiction to screens.

Munur has created this programme using his experience alongside in-depth research to help parents coach their children to take back control of their time, and their lives.