Am I Addicted to My Phone?

About this quiz

The Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version (SAS-SV) was developed by Kwon et al. and published in PLOS ONE in 2013. It has since been translated and validated in over a dozen languages and used in hundreds of academic studies. The cutoff scores below are from the original validation study: 31 for men, 33 for women. This quiz uses a unified 31+ threshold for clarity.

Note: “smartphone addiction” is not currently a formal diagnosis in the DSM-5. Researchers more often use the term problematic smartphone use (PSU). The SAS-SV is a screening tool, not a clinical diagnosis.

The 10 questions (SAS-SV)

Each item is rated 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). Total score ranges 10-60.

1. Missing things because of your phone. I have missed work, study, or planned activities because I was on my phone.
2. Hard to concentrate. I cannot stay focused on a task because I keep checking my phone.
3. Physical discomfort. I get physical discomfort (neck, wrists, eyes) from how much I use my phone.
4. Can't imagine being without it. The thought of being without my phone for a day feels intolerable.
5. Restless when out of reach. I feel restless or anxious when my phone is out of reach.
6. Thinking about it when not using it. When I am not using my phone, I am still thinking about checking it.
7. Cannot reduce despite consequences. Even when my phone use is clearly hurting other parts of my life, I cannot reduce it.
8. Constant social media checking. I check social media constantly so I do not miss anything.
9. Using longer than intended. I sit down to check one thing and end up on the phone for an hour.
10. Others have told you. My family, partner, friends, or coworkers have told me I'm on my phone too much.

Scoring bands

• 10-19 (Low risk). Your phone use is well within normal range.
• 20-30 (Moderate use). Above ideal but not yet problematic. Small interventions usually move you back to low risk.
• 31-39 (At risk of problematic use). The validated clinical cutoff from Kwon et al. 2013. Concrete intervention warranted.
• 40-60 (High risk). Significant impact on life. Structured intervention is warranted.

What actually works

The interventions, ranked by what the research actually supports:

1. Friction at the trigger point (high evidence). Adding a pause or breathing exercise before opening a distracting app reduced app opens by 57% on average (Grüning et al., PNAS 2023, n = 280, peer-reviewed).
2. Removing the app from your home screen (high evidence). Visual triggers drive a meaningful percentage of compulsive opens. Hide the app in a folder or delete it.
3. Greyscale mode (moderate evidence). iOS Settings → Accessibility → Color Filters. Many users report 20-30% drops in screen time from this single change.
4. Hard blocking (mixed evidence). Software blockers fail because the user disables them. NFC hardware blockers (Brick, Unpluq) solve this at the hardware layer.
5. Phone-free zones and times. Bedroom, bathroom, dinner table, first hour after waking, last hour before sleep.
6. Replacement behaviors (high evidence). The reward system needs an alternative. Reading, walks, cooking, exercise, real conversation.
7. Behavioral interventions for urge moments (high evidence). Tools like Rewire are designed for the moment when a craving hits. Twelve research-cited interventions (PMR + DBT TIPP, Marlatt’s MBRP, Verbruggen and Logan inhibitory control training).

What does not work

• Willpower alone (your phone has a team of engineers working against you)
• Apple’s built-in Screen Time on its own (one tap to ignore the limit)
• One-off “digital detox weekends” without any follow-up plan
• Beating yourself up for screen time numbers

Why this is harder than just “putting the phone down”

The mechanism is intentional. Variable-ratio reinforcement (the same psychological principle behind slot machines) is built into pull-to-refresh, infinite scroll, autoplay, and notification batching. Every swipe is a slot machine pull. The brain learns this within days and rewires accordingly.

Chronic exposure to high-stimulation stimuli downregulates D2 receptor availability in your reward system (Volkow et al., PNAS 2011). You become less sensitive to ordinary rewards. Books feel boring. Conversations feel slow. The only thing that feels good is the phone.

Breaking the loop requires both removing the trigger (or adding friction to it) and giving the reward system time to recalibrate. Both layers matter.

Frequently asked questions

Is this quiz a clinical diagnosis?

No. The SAS-SV is a validated screening tool, not a clinical diagnosis. If your results concern you and your phone use is causing real damage, talk to a qualified mental health professional.

What’s the cutoff for problematic phone use?

Kwon et al. 2013 set the cutoff at 31 for men and 33 for women on the 60-point scale. This quiz uses a unified 31+ threshold. A score of 40+ indicates a high-severity pattern.

Where is my data sent?

Your individual answers stay in your browser. When you finish, we record only your total score and result band, anonymously and without cookies. No email, no signup.

What’s the single most effective intervention?

Removing the visual trigger (deleting or hiding the worst offending app) is the highest-leverage move. Adding a breathing-pause friction layer is the most peer-reviewed: 57% reduction in app opens (Grüning et al., PNAS 2023).

Sources

• Kwon, M., Kim, D. J., Cho, H., & Yang, S. (2013). The Smartphone Addiction Scale: Development and validation of a short version for adolescents. PLOS ONE, 8(12), e83558.
• Grüning, D. J., Riedel, F., & Lorenz-Spreen, P. (2023). Directing smartphone use through the self-nudge app one sec. PNAS, 120(8).
• Volkow, N. D., et al. (2011). Addiction: beyond dopamine reward circuitry. PNAS, 108(37).
• Harris, T. (2016). How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds. Center for Humane Technology.