Experts warn of chilling health consequences from excessive screen time.
Addiction to phones and their apps is real and can have negative effects on health, including dopamine addiction, nomophobia, sleep deprivation, and overall poor health. The more time people spend on their phones, the more they need novel content to keep them hooked on the dopamine provided by the apps. This has created an "attention economy" where companies fight for users' attention for profit, at the expense of addiction and health. Searches for "cell phone addiction" have been rising since 2004, and smartphone users receive 427% more messages and notifications than they did a decade ago.