Quick takeaway

Social media addiction isn’t yet a formal diagnosis, but compulsive scrolling follows the same pattern as other behavioural addictions: loss of control, carrying on despite the harm, and restlessness when you can’t check your phone. The clearest warning signs are losing hours without meaning to, reaching for your phone to escape difficult feelings, repeated failed attempts to cut down, and your sleep, work or relationships starting to suffer. I’m Peter J Davies of Addiction Care, and I offer confidential one-to-one therapy in Guildford and online.

You pick up your phone to answer one message, and when you next look at the clock forty minutes have gone. You’ve deleted the app, reinstalled it a few days later, and still find yourself scrolling in bed long after you meant to be asleep.

I’m Peter J Davies, and I’ve worked as an addiction specialist in Guildford for more than 20 years. Compulsive scrolling follows patterns I recognise from the behavioural addictions I treat. Here I’ll explain what the evidence says, the signs I look for, and how one-to-one therapy can help you take back your time.

Does social media addiction exist?

Yes, in the way that matters for you, although it isn’t listed as a separate condition. Neither the World Health Organization’s ICD-11 nor the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5-TR includes “social media addiction” as a formal diagnosis. ICD-11 does recognise gaming disorder and gambling disorder, both driven by the same cycle of anticipation, unpredictable reward and relief.

In my 21 years of experience I’ve seen the pattern, whatever label it carries: a behaviour you can’t control, that continues despite the harm, and that you turn to when feelings become uncomfortable. Each like or new video is a small, unpredictable reward, and most feeds have no natural end point, which makes stopping hard.

How much time on social media is too much?

There’s no number that marks the line. Ofcom’s Online Nation 2025 report found UK adults now spend an average of four and a half hours online a day, most of it on a smartphone, so heavy use is common. What matters more is what the scrolling does for you and what it costs you.

This isn’t confined to young people. The BBC recently spoke to adults in their sixties who struggle to put their phones down, citing a 2026 YouGov poll showing that more than half of over-55s use social media at least once a week. If you’re a parent or grandparent, you may recognise the habit in yourself as much as in the younger people around you.

Is my phone use a behavioural addiction?

It may be if your use has become compulsive rather than chosen. These are the signs I look for when someone tells me they’re worried about their phone:

• Regularly spending far longer scrolling than you intended
• Checking social media first thing in the morning, last thing at night, or when you wake in the night
• Reaching for your phone when you feel anxious, lonely, bored or low
• Feeling irritable or restless when you can’t check it
• Trying to cut down and slipping back within days
• Playing down how much time you spend online to the people around you
• Neglecting sleep, work, or the people in the room with you
• Feeling worse about yourself after scrolling, and scrolling anyway

One or two of these might describe a habit worth adjusting. Several together, persisting despite your efforts to stop, describe a compulsive pattern similar to the internet and computer game addictions I treat, and it rarely responds to willpower alone.

Steps you can try on your own

Cutting down does help. A 2018 University of Pennsylvania study found that limiting social media to about 30 minutes a day for three weeks led to significant reductions in loneliness and depression. These are practical places to start:

• Turn off notifications for every social media app
• Charge your phone outside the bedroom overnight
• Set daily limits in your phone’s screentime settings, and notice how often you override them
• Remove the app you use most for a fortnight, logging in only from a computer
• Before you open an app, name what you’re looking for: a message, a distraction, or company

If these changes don’t hold, the scrolling is probably doing an emotional job, such as numbing stress or filling loneliness, and that needs attention in its own right.

Finding one-to-one therapy for social media addiction in Guildford

When self-help hasn’t worked, talking to someone who understands compulsive behaviour is the next step.

Support	What it offers	How to access
Addiction Care, Guildford	Confidential one-to-one therapy with a specialist addiction counsellor, face to face in Surrey	Call 01483 533808
Addiction Care Family Programme	Support for partners, parents and adult children worried about a loved one	Call 01483 533808
Your GP	Support for related anxiety, low mood or sleep problems, and NHS referrals	Book an appointment

I run Addiction Care from central Guildford. We begin with a confidential assessment: an honest conversation about how you use your phone, what it gives you, and what it’s taking away. From there we work one-to-one on the feelings underneath the habit and on boundaries you can keep.

If it’s someone else’s scrolling that worries you, my Family Programme can help, and a script for talking to a loved one gives you a way to open the conversation calmly.

Taking the first step

Recognising that scrolling has taken over is the hardest part, and you’ve already started that acknowledgement by reading this far. With the right support, you can use your phone on your own terms again and give that time back to the people and things you care about.

If you would like to talk, either for yourself or for a loved one, please call 01483 533808 or get in touch online to book a confidential assessment so we can talk it through.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to give up social media completely to recover?

Not always. For many people the aim is intentional use with clear boundaries, although some find that leaving one or two platforms entirely works better. We agree the right approach for you in therapy.

Can older adults become addicted to social media?

Yes. Compulsive scrolling can develop at any age, and adults in their fifties and sixties describe the same pull as younger users. The signs and the treatment are the same whatever your age.

Where can I find one-to-one therapy for phone addiction in Surrey?

At Addiction Care I offer face-to-face, one-to-one therapy for social media and phone addiction from consulting rooms in central Guildford (GU1 4PB), covering Surrey and the surrounding area. Call 01483 533808 to arrange a confidential assessment.