The phone is no longer just a device for calling. It is an alarm clock, a navigator, a camera, a bank card, a work chat, a family group and an endless stream of news and social networks. In Bulgaria, over 80% of people have access to the internet, and there are more active mobile connections than the population - many of us have two SIM cards, a work and a personal phone. We increasingly hear sentences like "I'll write you in the chat", "send me a location", "don't call me, text me on WhatsApp".
All this is convenient - until at one point we feel that we are checking the phone out of habit, that conversations at the table are interrupted by notifications, that we scroll until midnight in the evening, and in the morning we wake up with a feeling of tension. Where does the line pass between modern convenience and addiction, which quietly destroys concentration, relationships and the taste for real time?
The Bulgarian and the screen: the figures behind the habit
Statistics on digital life in our country show how naturally the phone has entered everyday life. Over 5.5 million people in our country use the internet, and there are more active mobile connections than we have as a population. This means that a large part of Bulgarians are online not only from a computer, but mostly from their pocket.
The picture is even more vivid for children and teenagers. Surveys among Bulgarian students show that a huge percentage have a smartphone and use it daily for social networks, videos and games, while reading books remains in the background. With a similar dynamic, a whole generation is growing up, for whom "free time" often means "screen time".
Globally, people spend an average of over 3 hours a day on their phones, excluding calls - mainly on social networks, chats, videos. Although the exact figures for Bulgaria vary, it can be seen from the behavior around us that we are no exception - traveling on the subway, waiting in line, even the short pause at the traffic lights often turns into "a little more scrolling".
When the phone is just a convenient tool
It is important to start from the fact that the smartphone itself is not an "enemy". It can be:
- salvation for people who live far from their loved ones - family groups, video calls, shared photos;
- a tool for work and learning - online courses, access to information, quick communication with a team;
- an assistant in everyday life - banking, schedules, health applications, navigation, reminders;
- a source of inspiration - books, podcasts, music, educational videos.
The phone is a convenience when:
- we use it consciously - we know why we are taking it in our hands: to write, to check, to learn;
- we can put it aside when we are with people, when we are working or resting;
- it facilitates, and does not organize our whole day.
The problem begins when the device is no longer a tool, but becomes a background - the constant presence to which we return by inertia, without having decided what we want to do with it.
Signals that the phone is already taking away more than it gives
There is no universal number of minutes after which we are "addicted", but there are behavioral signals that it is good to catch in time:
- you grab the phone "for a second" and you realize that 20–30 minutes have passed in aimless scrolling;
- you check the notifications out of habit - without a sound or vibration, just because your hand is reaching out;
- during a conversation with relatives or colleagues, you think "let me see something quickly" and you disconnect from the person in front of you;
- you go to bed with your phone and often fall asleep later than you planned, because "one more video";
- you get up and the first thing is to open a chat, social network or mail, before you even drank water;
- you feel nervous when the battery runs out, you don't have internet or you forget your phone at home.
Psychologists describe this as "interrupted concentration" - the brain gets used to constant short stimuli and it becomes increasingly difficult for it to stay in one task or conversation for a long time. As a result, attention "skips" - from mail to chat, from chat to news, from news to video - and the feeling of internal fatigue grows, even if we have not done anything physically heavy.
How the phone changes relationships and the perception of time
In many Bulgarian families and friendship companies, it is already normal to have more phones on the table than glasses. We sit down to see each other, order, take pictures of the food, check a few chats, respond to a work message - and at the end of the evening the feeling is that we were "together", but somehow diagonally.
Several ways in which excessive phone use erodes relationships:
- "double presence" - you are physically with the person, but your mind is on the screen; partners and children often share the feeling that they are not truly heard;
- comparisons on social networks - the constant viewing of "perfect" foreign relationships, bodies, travels creates the feeling that our life is less valuable;
- displacement of gestures - instead of calling a friend, we send an emoji; instead of asking how a person is, we write a short "ok?" between two chats.
Time also begins to be felt differently. One hour at a cafe passes differently if we have looked at the person in front of us, compared to an hour "with one eye" on the phone. Children grow up, while we often watch a screen instead of them. Memories of "live" moments are fewer, and of "videos and stories" – more.
When it's time to say "enough" - and what we can actually do
If you recognize yourself in what is described, this does not mean that "something is wrong with you". Phones and applications are made to keep our attention as long as possible - this is part of their business model. But that is why it takes a conscious effort to regain control. Some practical steps:
- Small rules at home – for example, no phone on the table, no screen in the first and last hour of the day, no scrolling in bed. Better three clear rules than a list of 20 that you won't follow.
- Phone-free zones – define places that are "screen-free": for example, the bedroom, the children's room, the dining table. This way the brain associates these spaces with rest and presence.
- Notifications turned off – leave only the most important ones active (for example, for calls and messages from certain people). Everything else can be seen when you decide, not when the phone asks.
- Planned "offline time" – one afternoon a week without social networks, a walk without a phone or with the phone in airplane mode. At first it may be strange, but it quickly turns into a breath of fresh air.
- Attention to children – not only how much time they spend in front of a screen, but also how much time they see us with a phone in our hands. The model we give them weighs more than any prohibition.
In short: we don't need to run to the mountains without a signal (although it sometimes sounds tempting) to reduce addiction. It is enough to regain our opinion - when and what we use the phone for, and when we leave it aside to be in our own lives.
For the Bulgarian, the phone is both a connection to the world and a gateway to escape from it. It is a convenience when it helps us live more fully. It becomes a problem when it starts to live instead of us. The line is thin, but we draw it - with every taking and leaving of the device on the table.