UNITED STATES—Someone talked about something on my local morning news that struck me like a million bricks. The cellphone can create large amounts of stress. He even chatted about his mission to simply stop answering text messages that people have sent him, to prevent getting stressed out. It hit me, I do have a lot of anxiety when it comes to the cellphone because for the longest period it didn’t get to me, but technology has evolved and that adds more problems.

I personally feel if someone sends me a text message that I need to immediately reply. Why? I just have that gut reaction a person is sending that text message for a reason. They didn’t just send it because they want you to wait and reply when you get an opportunity. I mean just imagine, looking at all of your contacts in your cellphone and you notice 2 or 3 people who have sent you a text message and you KNOW someone has messaged you, but you don’t respond. It gets into your psyche, you start to stress, you get anxious, you start to worry and you don’t feel resolve until you respond.

If I respond, it puts me at ease. I’m not worried or anxious about that text message that I have ignored. It has gotten so bad, that I feel like I’m checking my phone all the time throughout the day with anxiety that I’m going to get a message about something that I need to respond to. I have programmed my brain to think I need to check the phone constantly when in reality I’m contributing to my stress level. So what can we do to lessen the anxiety of the cellphone? Put it away. There is no need to constantly check the cellphone if you’re at work. You have tasks at hand, focus on those tasks and when the work day is over or you have a break then you can check emails or messages.

I tell people constantly if it is an urgent situation the person is going to call you and get in touch with you. For those who cannot call you’ll get a message noting something is urgent. So if urgency is NOT being noted, then you don’t have anything to fret about. My cellphone is a bit crucial because I check my emails throughout the day from my cellphone. Could I just login to my computer and access my email? Yes, but the phone is so much easier because I don’t have to worry about logging in and I can just refresh my email and get notifications when new emails are in my inbox.

The anxiety of the phone only increase with social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok where we feel this desperate need to know what is going on all the time every single time. I don’t do social media just for that reason alone. I don’t need that worry and anxiety on top of the stress that we already have. Why add more stress to my life if I don’t have to America? Try to challenge yourself to go a few hours or even a day without access to your cellphone. Do you feel more relaxed as a result, are you able to rest at ease. Did you feel lighter throughout the day as a result? Those are just some of the questions you have to ask if you detach from the phone people.

Written By Zoe Mitchell