iPhone Addiction – Putting Down the Device


I noticed a recent trend that I found slightly troublesome.

The other night I looked up at dinner (we were eating out) and I was buried in my iPhone while we waited for our order. My daughter was buried in a coloring page, and my wife was buried in her iPhone as well.

As soon as one of us put our iPhone’s down, my daughter would immediately ask if she could play on it.

Then she’d have HER head buried in an iPhone.

This is one of the only times during the day that our family is sitting down together, and the fact that we were all buried in our own little worlds was upsetting.

It’s my fault – I led the charge. I bought my wife her iPhone after I had mine for a few months (the day the price dropped to $399), and my daughter is obviously learning from watching me.

So – I have decided that it’s time to put the device down. Just at dinner.

When we’re all sitting together, we need to spend time together as a family, and we need to spend it without staring a screen of any kind.

It was tough the first night – which I think truly shows just how addicted to this little device I am – but I don’t want my daughter growing up completely unable to spend time not directly connected to some sort of computer.

After the first evening it wasn’t so bad, and I’m going to continue to do this from this point forward. If you find yourself head down at the dinner table with an iPhone in hand – I highly recommend that you give it a try as well.



Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

5 Comments

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  1. Great article. I am a Hypnotherapist in Scotland and due to the number of people coming to see me with similar problems, I decided to release an iPhone App designed to break the constant “tech” habit. If you care to review it, please let me know:
    It is “Disconnect” with Andrew Johnson
    As a HUGE iPhone fan, I know how easy these problems build up.
    Regards,
    Andrew Johnson
    Twitter: Andrew_Johnson

  2. Great first step Michael. I’ve been coming to this realization myself. Even though I don’t have my own family I find that I’ve been socializing less because I would be busy reading news on my iPhone. Standing in lines, hanging out with my girlfriend, etc are opportune times to put the iPhone away and strike up some healthy conversation.

  3. Ahhh yes, I know the feeling. I’ve created a few rules too. No iphone at dinner is one of them. I try not to use my iphone if I’m with a group of people unless we are using it for information needed by the group. Also my son loves to play with it. So I only let him if we are in a situation and he truly needs a distraction. I am never without my iphone but I do think it is best that we keep up the our commitment to civility! I can only imagine what Miss Manners would say about us.

  4. This is no joke. I am alone in my own house. There is no coversation, no TV show
    no affection. Its all iphone. I started thinking she was seeing someone else or something. I’m starting to be suspicious all the time. I even have an iphone, but there is more to life than this stupid phone.