How to Help Teens Overcome Phone Addiction (in 5 Powerful Steps)

After having coached thousands of teens in our revolutionary Extraordinary Purpose Life Coaching Program for Teens, Erin and I have had the privilege to work with so many amazing children, parents, and families, helping them navigate their challenges and create meaningful goals and inspiring futures. In this article we are going to highlight how phone addiction is currently the #1 challenge that holds teens back, and unveil the proven steps that we help them take to overcome phone addiction in 2025, so that teens can get clarity on their goals, become more motivated and purposeful, and have their best year ever.

Let's do this! 

In our amazing teen coaching group, we kicked-off the New Year by first reflecting on 2024. The teens in the group did an amazing job of sharing and celebrating their successes and wins, reflecting on what they had learned about themselves over the past 12-months, and also were incredibly honest about noticing the things that held them back (i.e. their distractions, challenges, and unhelpful behaviors). We do this exercise so that the teens that we coach recognize all of the positive steps and growth that they achieved over the year, important things that many of our children don't recognize or see in themselves on a daily basis. We also do this exercise so that teens can begin to notice their distractions or the things that prevent them from being their best and achieving their goals. When asked in the group what their #1 distraction in 2024 was - each of them said the same answer - their phones! 

Because phone addiction is such a huge problem that almost very teen faces, Erin and I want to share with you our breakthrough 5-step process that we take teens through to help them navigate phone addiction and move towards their goals.  

So here it is...Our 5 Steps to Help Teens Navigate Phone Addiction in 2025!

1. Help Teens Become More Mindful, Present, and Focused

    One of the very first things that we help teens with when we first start working with them is how to get some control back over their choices and lives. Most teens aren't aware that they give so much control of their choices and decisions to their thoughts, feelings, and outside influences. When left unchecked this leads to teens making choices in the moment that are motivated by short-term gratification, avoidance, and peer pressure. We help teens learn the important ritual of "checking-in with themselves," which is essentially them starting to notice all of the "stuff" that is showing-up throughout their day and trying to hold them back, drain their energy, and pull them away from what's important (their goals, family, homework, etc.). Just by doing this the teens learn how to become more present, disconnect from some of their unhelpful thoughts and feelings, and put them into a position to make a different choice about what to focus on next.        

2. Help Teens Identify and Align With Their Values and Signature ingredients

   We want teens to begin to see themselves for who they really are! Because directly behind all of that teen angst, attitude, and anger is an amazing person, who is unique, different, and one-of-a-kind. When teens see themselves this way everything begins to change. To kick-start this process, we help teens learn their values, which we call their "signature ingredients.". Their values are at the core of who they are: they are what's really meaningful to them, what they stand for, and what they believe in. The more teens begin to see their values, they also begin to notice when they are in alignment with their values and when they aren't. This is why in order to overcome challenges like phone addiction and to make different choices, they first must know who they really are, and what's important to them.  

   To read more about how knowing their values will help teens, please click here.

3. Help Teens Get Clarity on What's Really Important to Them

   Once a teen learns more about themselves, and gains the ability to become more present throughout their day, they effectively create an opportunity to make different choices. Choices like  studying for school, doing an important chore or activity, learning something new about themselves, or taking simple steps towards their future all become clear and possible. All because they notice not why those things are important to others, but why it is important to them. This intention and purpose becomes their pull forward towards what's really meaningful to them, and away from unhelpful choices and behaviors like spending too much time on their phone or with friends. Overcoming phone addiction becomes a real possibility once teens get clarity on who they are, what's important to them, and the ability to navigate all of the distractions (like phone addiction) that show up along the way.  

4. Help Teens Learn Daily Rituals to Help Them Become More Mindful, Present, and Intentional 

   A Ritual is simply something that your teen can do every day (a behavior or action) that has a deeper meaning and purpose attached to it, and is specifically designed to help them feel good and move forward towards meaningful goals. Rituals help accomplish this by giving teens energy, helping them stay grounded and balanced throughout the day, helping them be more present, aware, and mindful, helping improve focus and productivity in school, sports, etc., helping ignite creativity and expressiveness, improving motivation and mood, and overall helping them make positive and empowering choices. In other words, Rituals are what makes it possible for teens to overcome challenges like phone addiction, move forward, and accomplish their goals. Learn more here how rituals can change your teen's (and families) life 

5. Help Teens Upgrade Their Environments to Support Their Happiness 

A teen’s environment plays a critical role in their happiness, progress, and success. It affects how they feel, what they believe, and what they do (or don't do). We help teens become aware and mindful of their environments and check in with themselves to find out what in their environment is working for them and supporting them, and what’s holding them back. This requires the process of getting perspective on the people, places, things, and behaviors in their life. And have teens notice if those things are supporting them and their vision/goals/values, giving them energy, lifting them up, empowering them, and bringing out their best version of themselves? Or is their environment draining their energy and bringing negativity into their life in various ways? Like it or not phones are a big part of a teen's environment. They typically have it with them almost 24-hours per day, and have a constant pull towards it.  In order for a teen to overcome phone addiction, we have to help them create environments without distractions (like phones and friends) so that they are able to focus on what's important to them. Not only does doing this help them overcome their distractions, but the single-focus aspect of the experience helps them increase productivity and results. This also creates a process where a teen will learn how to become more intentional about phone use, so that they are more in control of the types of positive uses phones can have, and the time limits to impose on their technology use.    

Summary: 

When teens integrate and practice these 5 amazing steps (becoming more mindful and present, aligning with their values, getting clarity on what's important, upgrading their environments, and adopting positive and supportive rituals to their lifestyles, they are able to successful navigate phone addiction, and learn how to focus on what's important (their goals, values, family, important relationships, grades, sports, and their exciting futures.). And this is the experience that we want for every single teen, because of the positive impact that it can make on their life - and of those around them. By learning how to change their relationship with their phone. they effectively will change their relationship with themself, and forever change the course of their life. 

If you would like to learn more about how we can support you, help your teen overcome phone addiction, and improve every aspect of their life in the process, then schedule a discovery call with us today. We can't wait to meet you, learn more about your child, and help them step into their exciting potential and future.