Anxiety, addiction and discomfort: The consequences of internet overuse
How long do you spend on your phone every day? If you’re like the average Taiwanese, that’s about 4 hours on weekdays and 7 hours on weekends. But so much time in the virtual world can have its consequences offline, from muscle pain and strain to anxiety and addiction. So how did we get here? Our Weekly Feature.
She learns Japanese on the go. Voice actor Chiao Chiao doesn’t let a minute of her commute go to waste.
Her phone meets her every need from food and clothing to education and entertainment. The first sound she hears every day is her phone alarm, and the first thing she reads is her messages.
Chiao Chiao
Voice actor
The first thing I do when I wake up is check my schedule and see if there are any spots available for me to work. If I don’t reply quickly, I might miss the opportunity. I can’t be without my phone. On the bus, I check the timetable on the dedicated app, and when I get out of the MRT I use Google Maps to reach my destination.
Chiao Chiao is most definitely not alone in her habits. About 85% of Taiwan’s population uses a smartphone. Everywhere you look, there’s people scrolling on their phones.
Mobile phones are no longer just a tool for communication. 2007 was a pivotal moment that turned the smartphone into a gadget with annual updates, and with the functions of a mini-computer and a digital camera. With an ever-expanding range of applications, smartphones became an essential part of our daily lives.
Social media is one of the biggest reasons we’ve become so hooked to our phones. In Taiwan, the most used social media apps are Line, Facebook and Instagram. With TikTok coming in at No. 5.
Our phones keep us connected. But too much of a good thing can be bad. Being always online can cause anxiety.
Chiao Chiao
Voice actor
When there is such an explosion of information, it can leave you feeling like “How come I can’t do this? Why don’t I know this? How come he went to Jay Chou’s concert? How did he score tickets? How can they travel so much?” It looks like other people’s lives are full of wealth and beauty and yours isn’t.
Chen Chih-heng
Psychologist
When you compare yourself to others, it feels terrible, and that can give rise to frustration. Social media pushes you a lot of anxiety-inducing content. This anxiety makes you want to scroll even more. There’s an expression to describe this, “FOMO,” which stands for “Fear of missing out.”
FOMO inadvertently makes people become reliant on their phones.
Chiao Chiao
Voice actor
I always carry a power bank with me. If I don’t bring one with me, or if my bag’s too heavy I rent one when I’m out and about.
Carrying a power bank has become a habit for Chiao Chiao, who says she feels uneasy if her phone runs out of battery. This fear of being without a phone has been dubbed “Nomophobia.”
Having a phone near you when you’re working or at school can have a negative impact on concentration.
Chen Chih-heng
Psychologist
I get distracted all the time, checking for new messages, or wondering if someone is trying to reach me. The use of phones and other personal electronics has really fragmented our attention. We can’t stay focused for a sustained period of time.
And losing focus while walking on the street brings with it a higher risk of accidents
The average Taiwanese spends 3 to 4 hours a day online on the phone, computer or tablet. On weekends, the average is between 4.4 and 7 hours.
Voice of Chen Chih-heng
Psychologist
You can see how long you’re using it by going to Screen Time, and it will show you how long you used each app every day for the past week.
But putting down your phone and resisting the urge to pick it back up is already very difficult for adults, let alone children and teenagers, whose brains are not yet fully developed.
Mackay Memorial Hospital has a clinic for child internet addiction. Every year, more and more parents are bringing their children in after having a row over mobile phone usage.
Mobile phone addiction is not an official medical term. It’s not the phone itself that is addictive, but the online games and apps in the device. That’s why in 2018, the World Health Organization classified internet gaming addiction as a mental health disorder. It’s recognized as an addictive behavior comparable to substance abuse and alcoholism.
Tsang Ju-fen
Mackay Memorial Hospital
Some people say, “Well, I don’t play online games, I just read articles or check Line.” But if you do it too much, or if it makes you emotionally unstable, we still classify it as internet gaming disorder. There are nine diagnostic criteria, and if you present five or more of the symptoms over a period of 12 months, we can make a diagnosis.
The time you spent online is not the only consideration. It’s also necessary to determine whether the patient struggles to control their behavior, using the phone when they shouldn’t, or being online for so long that the habit begins to impact their studies or their daily life. An internet gaming disorder diagnosis is only passed down after a comprehensive assessment.
Tsang Ju-fen
Mackay Memorial Hospital
An internet addiction can directly affect brain function. It hinders the development of cognition, emotions and behaviors in children. It completely stunts development. Using the internet too much can weaken the brain’s control system, leading to more impulsive behavior and accidents, as well as suicide, homicide and bad decision-making when it comes to things such as falling for scams.
Spending too much time online, can also hinder the formation of relationships offline.
At this cram school in Taipei, the classroom is completely quiet before class, as most students are on their phones and tablets.
Chang Yu-chia
Cram school teacher
Back in the day, supervisors would have to come in to quell the chaos that would arise during class breaks. Students would be playing and get rowdy. That was 10 years ago. But now, during the breaks, it’s all quiet. They pull out their phones and scroll online, watch short videos, or YouTube, or they play videogames. They don’t interact with their classmates as much.
Phones can connect us with people far away, while isolating us from those around us. These high schoolers are part of Gen Z, a generation that grew up with the internet from a young age. They’ve also been dubbed digital natives.
Reporter
When did you get your first phone?
Johnson (Voice altered)
High school student
The first semester of junior high.
Reporter
When do you play on it?
Johnson (Voice altered)
High school student
I play during class sometimes, sneakily. And after class. Or before I start studying at home.
Stone (Voice altered)
High school student
In elementary school, I used to share a phone with the rest of my family. I got a phone of my own in junior high, to contact my parents to pick me up and drop me off.
According to the Child Welfare League Foundation, Taiwanese children typically get their first phones at the age of 10. About 95% of them use social media. They spend an average of 4 hours a day on their phones, and up to 7 hours on weekends.
To get a better understanding of mobile phone addiction, we asked three teens to fill in a questionnaire on internet usage habits by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. One of them exhibited a high tendency for addiction.
Stone (Voice altered)
High school student
After filling out the questionnaire, I realized that I have a serious problem. I sometimes stay up late on the internet, or on my phone. That makes me sleep later, and I wake up tired the next day.
There are pros and cons to banning phones. The Action Alliance on Basic Education says it hopes the Ministry of Education will provide guidelines on the matter.
Wang Han-yang
Action Alliance on Basic Education
We think a gradual approach is better. Preschool students should be educated to not use smartphones. At elementary schools, usage can be limited to one hour, and at junior high schools, two hours. There should be guidelines for parents and kids to follow to reduce use. I think that would be a better approach.
Wang Han-yang believes that educating the whole family is important, since parents can be just as addicted as their children and see no problem with excessive phone use. A doctor says unchecked phone use from a young age can also bring about physical problems over the long term.
Lin Sung-kai
Rehabilitation physician
The main problem it can cause is cervical spine degeneration, which can lead to pain, numbness, nerve compression and, more importantly, an imbalance in the sympathetic nervous system.
Neck and shoulder stiffness from phone overuse can be relieved with a good stretch, putting your arms behind you and bringing your shoulder blades together. You can also massage key pressure points on the body.
Mobile phones have essentially become necessary in our lives, but they are best used with self-control. Keeping a healthy distance from the virtual world is key to prevent us from losing touch with the physical realm.
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2025-06-27
