8 Solid Reasons To Put. Your Phone. Down.

Your Health

How does constantly being on your phone affect your health? Let me count the ways. Constantly looking down at your phone's screen can put unnecessary pressure on your neck and back (it can also give you a strain injury called "texting thumb"). The multi-tasking involved with being on the phone literally alters the structure of your brain.

Between news sites, gossip blogs, and whatever foolishness your ex is talking about on his IG page, always being on your phone increases your anxiety and stress levels. Because most of us take our phones EVERYWHERE, they cause us to come into contact with all kinds of germs, bugs and viruses. Always wearing earphones with our phones can permanently damage our hearing. And, since six million car accidents are directly-related to texting and driving, being on the phone too much can also lead to hospital visits or worse.

Speaking of worse, teens who are on their cell phones five hours a day or more think about suicide a lot more than those who aren't. No website or phone call is more important than your health. Right?

Your Vision

Aside from the fact that the stress and strain of constantly looking at your phone (and the small print that's on it) can result in you needing glasses way before you should, another thing that a lot of cell phone use can result in is temporary blindness.

No joke. There is research to back up that if you lie in the dark on one side of your body with one eye open and one side closed while you're on your phone, you could actually go literally blind.

Is Black Twitter in the midnight hour worth all of that?!

Your Relationships

Something I've noticed about the people in my life whose love language is quality time is, whenever they are with me, they are able to be without their phone. They want to be so present and in the moment that they prefer to not let their cell phone distract them.

You can read articles like "How Your Smartphone Is Ruining Your Relationship" to see why their example is something a lot of us could stand to learn from. I've been to lunch with a friend who stayed on her IG the entire time. I've been on dates where the guys took calls or checked notifications. I've counseled couples where one spouse is sick of trying to cuddle with their partner as they try and cuddle with their phone.

That reminds me. I have some relatives who are wealthy but don't have call waiting on their phone. They said they always found it to be rude to interrupt someone while they're talking. They've been married almost 50 years now.

Sometimes I wonder if we fail to realize just how rude being on the phone while we're spending time with people we care about can be. How much it says that they are not a priority in our lives.

Who wants to be in a relationship with someone when they don't feel important? Just something to think about.

Your Libido

Internet porn (pardon the pun) screws with the desire for foreplay or real intimacy. Gaming (and technically, Candy Crush counts) hyper-stimulates us (especially men). I can't stress enough how much taking a phone to bed has the ability to totally piss off your partner. In short, cell phones do nothing good for your libido or your sex life.

You've probably heard that bedrooms are only for sleep and sex; that all electronics should be left out of it. Maybe because we're on our phones so much, we don't see them as an electronic item, but they qualify.

Leave your cell phone out of your room for a week and see if it takes your sex drive to new heights. It just might.

Your Productivity

If you're wondering why you haven't been offered that promotion you've been wanting or why you always seem overwhelmed at work, your cell phone probably has a lot to do with it.

Between us being distracted by the phone and it slowing down our productivity, based on what we're reading, listening to or talking about, our cell phone can alter our moods as well.

Your job is what pays for your phone. What's the point in always being tapped into what's going on if it's going to ultimately result in you losing your job — and your phone — in the long run?

Your Time

There's a Chinese proverb that simply says, "Enjoy yourself. It's later than you think." Keeping this in mind, I did a little digging around and discovered that we spend between 4-5 hours on our cell phones a day.

That might not seem like a lot at first, but when you take into account an eight-hour workday and 6-8 hours of sleep, that only leaves 8-10 additional hours. What is happening on Bossip, Very Smart Brothas (one of my favorite sites, by the way) or Facebook that you'd constantly want to give up what little time you have outside of work and sleeping on a daily basis?

And what if you're using your phone to chat? As far as conversations go, TheNew York Times once did an article on how human interaction is critical to our mental health and well-being. Meaning, instead of a two-hour phone call with your bestie, meet up for dinner or drinks. For the sake of valuing your time and mental health, it's the better route to go.

Your Level of Compassion

Whenever seniors talk to me about how crazy the world is compared to how it used to be, the first thing I do is remind them of how King Solomon once said that there is nothing new under the sun. Then I follow that up with something along the lines of, "The world's been crazy. The internet just makes us aware of all of the craziness that's happening at once."

That said, I remember exactly where I was when the Columbine high school shooting happened 20 years ago this year (April 20, 1999, to be exact). I also remember that it ran on television, non-stop, for a couple of days. These days, mass shootings happen so much that they barely get a full write-up. Emotionally, we seem to move on within moments after reading about them. And the desire to do something to help (which is what compassion is all about) escapes far too many of us. Y'all, that is nothing to be proud of.

Believe it or not, our smartphones have something to do with it. Because we're in a constant state of information overload, it's making us numb to tragedy and pain. Don't take my word for it. There are studies that indicatecell phones are making us less empathetic.

If nothing else is disturbing about this article, that should be.

Your Sleep Patterns

I have a friend who has a chronic case of insomnia. Whenever we talk about it and her husband is around, in the most masculine way possible, he rolls his eyes. According to him, he can't tell who she loves more — him or her cell phone. And you know what? That could be what her sleeplessness is all about.

There are plenty of studies to support that the light from cell phone screens can impact our circadian rhythm; that's basically our internal clock that helps us to fall (and stay) asleep. Some scientists have even directly linked our cell phone screens to obesity. Since sleep deprivation is also the cause of everything from high blood pressure and a weak immune system to moodiness and even shortened life longevity, if none of the rest of this convinced you to put your phone down more, at least let your need for beauty rest do it.

Whatever is happening while you sleep, your notifications will be sure to alert you in the morning.

In the meantime, do yourself a favor and turn your phone — off.