As Dr Robert Lustig, emeritus professor in pediatric endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, told the New York Times that high levels of cortisol impair the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for decision making and rational thought. He describes the cortex as “the Jiminy Cricket [of the brain, which] … keeps us from doing stupid things”.
So what to do about these potentially life-threatening, cortisol-raising smartphone side-effects? Well, if you consciously work towards curbing some of your bad smartphone habits this might help your brain and body to self-regulate the release of the hormone to acceptable levels. You can start by turning off unnecessary notifications and avoid the way various apps make you feel when you use them. If Twitter makes you mad as hell then don’t go on it all the time.
You can also take long — initially twitch-inducing but ultimately beneficial — sustained breaks from your phone. You don’t have to go all in and start with a 24-hour no-tech-use cleanse, but you can start slowly by doing things such as not taking your phone out during your lunch break, or leaving it off during dinner.
The world and smartphone companies may be making it harder and harder to introduce such self-protective timeouts, but it’s up to users to try and make the effort. Or we might be forced to purchase phones that carry health warnings, with tech companies hiding behind that old big tobacco defence: “We told you so … eventually … so not really our problem.”