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Phone addiction test

Ten questions, about a minute. You will get a score, the arithmetic on what your screen time actually costs you in a year, and a plan you can start tomorrow morning.

This is a self-reflection tool, not a medical assessment — "phone addiction" is not a formal clinical diagnosis. It runs entirely in your browser; nothing you answer is sent to us or stored anywhere.

Question 1
1

I check my phone within a few minutes of waking up, before anything else.

Question 2
2

I pick up my phone without deciding to — my hand gets there before the thought does.

Question 3
3

I open an app meaning to do one thing and surface much later having done something else.

Question 4
4

Being without my phone, or on low battery, makes me uneasy.

Question 5
5

My phone pulls my attention away from people who are in the room with me.

Question 6
6

When I feel bored, anxious or low, reaching for my phone is the first thing I do.

Question 7
7

I need to scroll longer than I used to before it feels like enough.

Question 8
8

I have tried to cut back and gone back to my old pattern within a week or two.

Question 9
9

Time I meant to give to prayer, scripture or rest goes to my phone instead.

Question 10
10

I scroll in bed, and it pushes back when I actually fall asleep.

iPhone: Settings → Screen Time → See All Activity. Guessing is fine, but the real number is usually higher.

4 h

Answer all ten questions to see your result.

Questions about this test

Is phone addiction a real diagnosis?

No. "Phone addiction" is not a formal clinical diagnosis in the DSM-5 or ICD-11, and this test is not a medical assessment. It is a structured way to look honestly at your own habits, built around behavioural patterns that researchers commonly describe — salience, loss of control, withdrawal, tolerance and conflict with the rest of life. If your phone use is seriously affecting your work, relationships or mental health, talk to a doctor or counsellor rather than a web page.

How is this test scored?

Ten questions, each answered from Never (0) to Always (4), for a total between 0 and 40. Under 10 suggests your phone is mostly a tool you pick up on purpose; 10–19 that the reach has become habitual; 20–29 that it is compulsive in specific moments; 30 and above that it is setting the shape of your day. The bands are a reading aid, not a verdict.

How much time am I actually losing?

Enter your daily hours and the tool does the arithmetic: hours per week, per year, and the equivalent in full 24-hour days. Most people are more surprised by the pickup count than the hours. Check the real figure on iPhone under Settings → Screen Time → See All Activity, rather than guessing.

What does being a Christian change about this?

Mostly it changes what the time was for. Scripture says little about phones and a great deal about attention, rest and first things — being still, firstfruits, Sabbath. The practical approach is the same as anyone else would use; what differs is having somewhere better for the reach to land than simply "nothing", because nothing loses.

Does deleting apps fix it?

Rarely for long. Deleting removes the tool but not the trigger — the restlessness still arrives on schedule and eventually reinstalls what it needs, usually on a bad day, which adds guilt to the relapse. Friction plus a specific replacement holds up better than removal alone.