TLDR: Smartphones have transformed our lives within a generation. But has the servant become the master? Attachment (upadana) may have become a problem.

We’ve all seen it – maybe even been guilty of it ourselves: a table of friends out for a meal, and all on their mobile phones; a young couple on a date staring deeply into … the glowing screen of their phone.

“I once saw three young people sitting together at a party where the rest were adults,” says my friend Pamposh Dhar, a Singapore-based counsellor and mindfulness teacher. 

“All three were on their phones, so one of the adults asked them why they weren’t chatting with one another. Then came the reply: ‘We are.’ They were sitting together and messaging one another!”

Our smartphones are almost never out of reach – mentally or physically – and we instinctively jump at every ping, beep, or vibration.

Go ahead: Where’s your phone right now?

Chances are, you are actually reading this article on it. On a train, in a bus, at the park, or surreptitiously at work.

A Generational Transformation

I would say no piece of personal technology in our lifetime has become such an indispensable part of daily life so quickly and so unavoidably comprehensibly.

They are undeniably useful – we now carry the collective knowledge of the world in the palm of our hand. No more paying in instalments for a set of encyclopedias (remember them?)  that were already years out of date when they were published.

But have our phones become our master rather than our servants? 

The average American, for instance, checks their phone 80 times a day – that’s about once every 12 minutes while they are awake. Some of that is the reality of daily life in the 21st Century. But every 12 minutes?

“We should not forget that many people use smartphones for work – to stay connected with colleagues and clients across the world through email, messages, work calls, and online research,” says Pamposh.

There is a Price to Pay

A recent study by Singapore’s Institute of Mental Health found roughly half (46.3 percent) of Singaporeans between the ages of 15 and 21 have troubled smartphone use behaviour which can cause mental health problems.

“The problem here is that they often make themselves available at all times of day and night, which very often comes at a cost to their health and their family life.”

And the figure for people 15-65 was 30.2 percent.

Singapore’s first national study into problematic smartphone use and mental health, funded by the Ministry of Health and the Home Affairs Ministry, found it can lead to moderate or severe depression, anxiety and insomnia at rates three times higher than normal.

Suffering and The Four Noble Truths

Users with unhealthy phone habits feel impatient or fretful without their devices and constantly think about them, the study said. Health problems include physical discomfort – pain in the wrists or back of the neck – and missing work or being unable to concentrate during classes.

This is a rather clinical way of describing what Buddha calls attachment, or upadana.

The cycle of attachment and craving (tanha) can lead to suffering (dukkha),  the second of the Four Noble Truths.

“Most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for and attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities.” ~ the Dalai Lama

But is Attachment Inherently Bad? 

As a foreign correspondent in some rather strange lands, I wasn’t attached to my smartphone. I was heavily attached to my two smartphones. They were both essential for my job and my safety.

I multi-tasked using both simultaneously, and the nature of the countries I was living and working in also meant it was vital to have two different providers.

I now have only one. I use it for research, maps, entertainment, and photos of my travels. After living in more than a dozen countries, I keep in touch with dear friends and family spread across the globe. I also use it for meditation, loving-kindness and spiritual learning.

But it’s a tool, albeit it a smart one. But it’s just a tool, like the hammer of the screwdrivers I use to fix things around the house.

As a tool, smartphones offer many useful Buddhist apps to help with the pressures of daily life to keep yourself centred and balanced and help you grow spiritually.

Some Buddhist apps are listed below. Give a couple a try and look for some more yourself. It’s worth having at least one that speaks to you.

Phone-less by a River in a Jungle

But I have learned not only to function without it but to enjoy doing so.

Recently, I spent almost two months volunteering at a riverside adventure camp for school children in the jungles just outside Ipoh in Malaysia. The camp had the Kampar River on one side and the Gua Tempurang mountain on the other.

That was two months without attachment to my phone. I was too busy abseiling and whitewater rafting with the kids during the day. When the work was over, I was often too tired to find the one spot in the camp with reception.

For two months, I focused on exercise, meditation, mentoring and truly enjoying and appreciating the beauty of the nature surrounding me. And the world did not end. I did not miss out on anything. 

Now, my smartphone is just another very useful tool. It is not my master.

Apps to try:

• Insight Timer (my go-to): This app offers guided meditations and podacasts by noted Buddhist teachers such as Tara Brach, music, chants, and sleep timers.
• Stop, Breathe and Think: Aimed at fostering kindness and compassion. This app offers step-by-step meditations and compassion activities;
• Plum Village. A global community of mindfulness practice centres offering retreats and teachings on engaged Buddhism and mindful living by Thich Nhat Hanh; 
• Imagine Clarity: This is an online meditation course by Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, with more than 100 video and audio tutorials in English and French, photography by Ricard, and daily content.

Useful Resources:

• Singapore National Council of Social Services. Hotline: (6389) 2222; Website HERE;
• Singapore Association for Mental Health Helpline (1800-283-7019) (weekdays, 9am-1pm; 2pm-6pm);
• Singapore HealthHub (includes a link for parents);
• Singapore Buddhist Welfare Services;
• Mental Health for Youth (INSIGHT).

Wise Steps

• Set a time limit – with a reminder – for things like games or social media. Don’t get sucked into a black hole. Find ways to leave your phone aside when eating or when with loved ones
• When you’re out and about for a walk or a jog or a cycle, leave your smartphone in your pocket or bag. Pull it out only to take happy snaps or if you need directions – and even then, I sometimes happily get lost. Be a flâneur/flaneuse;
• Download some mindfulness/meditation apps.