Health

Inside the growing backlash against the birth control pill

Recent concerns about hormonal contraception have led people to ask: Is birth control bad for you? We asked experts to unpack the issue.

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Photo: Well+Good Creative
Published Jan 13, 2020

Written by 

Colleen De Bellefonds

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The creation of the birth control pill in 1950 is largely considered a watershed moment for female reproductive freedom. For the first time in human history, there was a reliable, relatively safe contraceptive method that allowed people to have more control over when they got pregnant and with whom. While some at the time clutched their pearls about the implications of being able to have sex without the consequence of pregnancy (gasp!), usage of the Pill (and later, other forms of hormonal contraception) became widespread and highly accepted… until, it seems, right now.

The number of women using hormonal birth control pills is on the decline—per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 12.6 percent of women using contraception were on the Pill between 2015 and 2017, compared to 18.9 percent of women in 2002. While some of the decrease can be explained by increased use of other hormonal contraceptive methods (including a rise in IUD use from 1.3 percent to 7.9 percent, and an increase in implant and patch use from 0.8 to 3.5 percent), there is a small but growing movement of women (currently representing 5.4 percent of women using contraception, per CDC data) who are shunning hormonal contraceptive options altogether in favor of more “natural,” hormone-free options.

Among them is Ashley*, who was 17 when her doctor diagnosed her with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and wrote her a prescription for birth control pills—a common treatment for the hormonal disorder to help regulate periods and hormone levels. After about eight years on a low-dose pill without any noticeable side effects, a new OB/GYN hypothesized that Ashley may not actually have PCOS. At the same time, a specialist in Arvigo abdominal therapy (a type of bodywork focused on improving reproductive and digestive health) with strong opinions against hormonal birth control encouraged Ashley to learn more about her cycle. So, at age 26, Ashely decided to stop taking the Pill.

“If I did have PCOS, I wanted to find out early enough in my fertile window to make any necessary adjustments,” she says. Her new OB/GYN supported the decision, and determined once her period came back that she had indeed been misdiagnosed. Ashley, now 34 and a clothing designer in San Francisco, says quitting birth control has helped her to feel more connected to her natural cycle. “I feel like I can use my period as another indicator of my body’s health. I notice changes in cycle length, duration, bleeding color, and consistency,” she says.

While Ashley’s decision to stop taking the Pill was carefully considered (and has so far worked for her), there is a vocal and highly visible segment of this movement that relies on fear and extreme views to convince women to make this highly personal choice—and that can make it difficult for the average person to see where the facts end and the fear-mongering begins. When that happens, people may miss out on the very real potential benefits of hormonal birth control.

The history of the birth control backlash

A lot of the current conversation about the Pill is shaped by an influential 2013 book, Sweetening the Pill: Or, How We Got Hooked On Hormonal Birth Control. The book’s author, Holly-Grigg Spall, makes dubious claims that the Pill is an “addictive” drug that supports patriarchal capitalism and is comparable to “female castration.” (It should be noted that she is a consultant for several natural fertility-tracking technologies.) Another early leading proponent of the anti-Pill movement, holistic psychiatrist Kelly Brogan, MD, argued that the Pill can cause depression in women and has voiced fringe opinions on other health topics, including vaccine skepticism and an (incorrect and dangerous) belief that the HIV virus does not lead to AIDS.

This Pill skepticism didn’t stay confined to the distant corners of wellness. In 2016, the hashtag #MyPillStory lit up social media, with people sharing stories about the side effects they say they’ve experienced, including low libido, breakthrough bleeding on the pill, anxiety, depression, and brain fog. Cycle-tracking apps flooded the market, many marketed as effective, hormone-free alternatives, and in 2017, Natural Cycles became the first natural family planning app certified by the European Union as a form of birth control.

The debate over the Pill has since reached the mainstream: In 2019, articles in media outlets such as The Washington Post and New York magazine featured women voicing concerns about the side effects of hormonal birth control and claiming that many are even dropping birth control altogether. A 2018 online survey of more than 2,000 women by Cosmopolitan found that over 70 percent who have used the Pill said they stopped using it or thought about quitting in the past three years.

“I think what’s happening is women are walking away from the birth control pill because of what they don’t know about it.” —Sarah Hill, PhD

Of course, the Pill has been around for nearly 60 years—so why are people turning their backs on it now? “I think what’s happening is women are walking away from the birth control pill because of what they don’t know about it,” says Sarah Hill, PhD, an evolutionary psychologist, professor at the Texas Christian University College of Science and Engineering, and author of the recent book This Is Your Brain on Birth Control. “Women are more in tune with their health and are becoming increasingly wary about putting things in their body they don’t understand.”

“My patients are more informed about their choices and more involved in the decision-making about what type of contraception is right for them,” says OB/GYN Nora Doty, MD, who is on the faculty at Hackensack Meridian Health Jersey Shore University Medical Center and a spokesperson for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). “They ask really good questions about their health and how birth control may impact it, which I think is due to greater availability of accessible medical information as well as a culture shift that empowers women to be advocates for their own health.”

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The legitimate concerns about birth control

While the claims of fringe health experts can be extreme and overblown, there is some truth to the cautionary tales regarding hormonal birth control such as the Pill. “These are real concerns based in evidence. It’s just that the evidence isn’t consistent and can’t help guide us in a neatly organized way to make changes,” says Marra Ackerman, MD, the director of NYU Langone Health’s reproductive psychiatry program.

Part of the challenge in understanding the effects birth control pills can have on patients is that there isn’t just one uniform type that everyone takes. There are many different formulations that have different amounts and combinations of synthetic progesterone and estrogen (which work to stop ovulation and thus prevent pregnancy). Because of this variety, the Pill can affect everyone who takes it a little differently, says Gillian Dean, MD, Senior Director of Medical Services at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. This can explain why some people experience side effects like headaches, spotting, and decreased sex drive—or even the more anecdotal, less-understood side effects like mood swings and brain fog—while others don’t.

Additionally, the same hormones used in the Pill and other forms of hormonal contraception are also signaling software that your brain uses for numerous mind and body functions, says Dr. Hill—which means that altering them may impact how your body and brain behave. She says she experienced this after she quit birth control in 2011 after her husband had a vasectomy and noticed a dramatic change in her mood. “It felt like I woke up, like I crawled off a two-dimensional page in a black and white drawing. I felt more vibrant and alive,” says Dr. Hill. This experience, and a subsequent deep-dive into the research about the effects of birth control on women’s psychological functioning, led her to write her book.

“When we look at the data, there aren’t clear guidelines about how to choose birth control based on how it will affect mood, because there’s so much individual variability. It’s more individual trial and error, and that’s frustrating.” —Marra Ackerman, MD

However, the actual research into the effects of hormonal birth control on mood is less than clear. A large 2016 study made waves for linking birth control to depression, but the actual increase in new diagnoses of depression and new antidepressant prescriptions among women taking birth control was very small, notes Dr. Dean. Other research, including a 2016 review of all studies on hormonal contraception use and mood over the past 30 years, found that most women on the Pill experience no changes or a positive effect on mood, she says. “Mood changes and depression are highly prevalent in women, and it is difficult to identify a causative factor in these types of population-based studies,” adds Dr. Doty.

“When we look at the data, there aren’t clear guidelines about how to choose birth control based on how it will affect mood, because there’s so much individual variability,” says Dr. Ackerman. “It’s more individual trial and error, and that’s frustrating.”

Other research has found that birth control may decrease sex drive in some women, because the estrogen in the Pill can alter testosterone levels in the body, says Dr. Dean. “There is some subset of women who have diminished libido and increased pain with sex. We have seen that discontinuing birth control will get rid of the problem. It’s a genuine concern,” says Alyssa Dweck, MD, an OB/GYN in New York and assisting clinical professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

As for more vague concerns about hormonal birth control “messing up” your hormones or future chances of having children, Dr. Dweck says changes in fertility after birth control pill use are linked to age (which is the biggest factor in infertility) or other conditions birth control might be being used to treat, like endometriosis or PCOS—not the use of synthetic hormones itself.

Sorting fact from fiction

Like any medication, there are certainly legitimate potential drawbacks of the Pill for some people. But experts caution not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. “I think that the birth control pill is getting a bad rap right now,” says Dr. Dweck. “For medical problems and gynecological concerns, the Pill is a godsend for my patients.”

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Further complicating matters is our current political climate, where access to contraception and abortion is increasingly at risk. The Trump administration and certain federal judges have proved hostile to the birth control mandate in the Affordable Care Act, which could affect people’s future access to affordable contraception; the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to Louisiana’s restrictive abortion ban this year that may shape the future of Roe v Wade, the landmark ruling that established abortion as a constitutional right; and women’s health centers that provide contraception and reproductive health services are closing because of proposed draconian abortion bans. Could this backlash against the Pill—only some of which is rooted in truth—make accessing safe, effective birth control even harder for people?

Several experts interviewed for this story are concerned that the current skepticism about the Pill presents information (only some of which is credible) out of context—which could cause legitimate confusion for patients. Dr. Dweck says that the question of whether birth control is right for any one person is extremely subjective and can only be determined by an individual and their healthcare provider. “[Doctors] have to be treat people as individuals and put the risks versus benefits side by side. It will become clear who will benefit and who will not,” she says. “This is a weighing game, and it’s not a black or white answer.”

Dr. Hill, on the other hand, sees her place as simply educating patients about their options. “I’m giving women more information to make more informed decisions,” she says. “I think giving access to information might bring women back to the Pill in many cases. It gives women an explanation about things they’re experiencing.”

What everyone interviewed for this story can agree upon: While hormonal birth control methods, including the Pill, patch, and ring, have been studied for over 30 years, bigger and better studies are needed to answer the questions that patients and practitioners have. “We really need more data to help guide us,” says Dr. Ackerman. For example, Dr. Hill says that most birth control studies don’t separate out the type of Pill women are using—and, as discussed, different formulations can have significantly different effects on the brain. But we may be waiting a while. Scientific research is highly competitive and funding is limited, explains Dr. Hill; there is a well-documented gender gap in research today benefitting men, who are easier and cheaper to study than women because their hormonal systems are less complex (and thus easier to control for in a study).

For now, doctors and patients are left fumbling with a rather unscientific personal experiment to find a solution that works. “These are common questions that come up and women face. These choices can be very impactful, and we’re in the realm of trial and error,” says Dr. Ackerman. Right now, that means testing out the many different kinds of contraceptive methods until a person finds what works for them. Hardly an ideal system, which potentially requires several different OB/GYN appointments in a year for consultations and prescriptions—which can get costly, fast. Regardless of some of the hype and overblown critiques of hormonal birth control—particularly the Pill—it’s clear that people with uteruses deserve more answers, and more options, when it comes to safely preventing pregnancy.

*Name was changed to protect the privacy of the source.

Speaking of birth control, here’s why the IUD suddenly became the queen of the contraceptive world. And for more intel about fertility, hormones, and everything in between, you should probably check out the biggest questions about fertility answered by OB/GYNs.

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HealthHealth Conditions

‘It’s Amazing How It’s All Connected.’ Here’s How Trauma Can Affect Your Pelvic Floor

Trauma and your pelvic floor are connected. Here's how trauma affects your pelvic floor, according to health experts.

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Photo: Stocksy/Marija Savic
Published Feb 2, 2025

Written by 

Heather Mayer Irvine

Content warning: This story contains references to suicide and physical and emotional trauma, which may be upsetting or triggering for some readers.

Experts in This Article

Alexandra T. Milspaw

an international consultant and educator for chronic pelvic and sexual pain

Lauren Garges

a women’s clinical specialist and the director of the pelvic health rehab program at St. Lukes University Health Network

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The only thing that stopped Zoe* from taking her own life was the love she had for her two children. But the indescribable chronic pain she was experiencing was all-encompassing. And none of her doctors—nearly a dozen—knew what was wrong. Worse, perhaps, they wrote her off, condescended her, passed her around from physician to physician. “They washed their hands of me,” Zoe, now 48, tells Well+Good.

After a year of medication and doctor visits and dismissed cries for help, for what was first suspected (never confirmed) to be a urinary tract infection that morphed into excruciating pelvic pain, Zoe found herself speaking with a pelvic floor physical therapist. She was diagnosed with a hypertonic—tight, overactive—pelvic floor. Now, the healing and treatment could begin.

What is the pelvic floor?

The pelvic floor is made of important muscles and tissues that hold pelvic organs, including the bladder, bowel, and uterus. Lauren Garges, PT, DPT, a women’s clinical specialist and the director of the pelvic health rehab program at St. Lukes University Health Network, likens the pelvic floor to a hammock of muscles. And, like the muscles in your neck, legs, or back, they can be too weak or too tight. But when a person experiences trauma, acute or over an extended period of time, it can lead to pelvic floor dysfunction, explains Garges.

Pelvic floor dysfunction is an umbrella term that refers to a host of issues, including urinary incontinence, pain during intercourse, constipation, and urinary frequency and urgency, Garges says. If left untreated, pelvic floor dysfunction can lead to chronic conditions, including back and hip pain. It can be hard to diagnose at this point because the root of the problem, in the pelvic floor, presents itself in the hip and back.

How trauma can affect the pelvic floor

Not only does the pelvic floor hold numerous organs, but it’s also where the vagal nerves are rooted. These nerves are part of the autonomic nervous system, which controls digestion, heart rate, and immune system, explains Alexandra T. Milspaw, PhD, an international consultant and educator for chronic pelvic and sexual pain.

The human fight-or-flight response to stress is linked to the autonomic nervous system, which means it’s impossible for a person to experience fight-or-flight without the pelvic floor tightening, Milspaw says.

Garges, who frequently refers her physical therapy clients to mental health professionals, says that trauma is incredibly individualized and subjective. Giving birth, for example, falls into the realm of trauma.

“Birth trauma would be the physical things that need to heal—torn muscles, stitches, nerve damage,” Garges says. “Some people recover quickly, in three to six months, but for others, it can persist for much longer, and that’s when you should see someone who can treat it.” Birth trauma can also be emotional, if, say, a woman’s healthcare team didn’t listen to her wishes, or the labor and delivery were traumatic.

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Garges also treats patients who have suffered from sexual assault or abuse, and she describes vaginismus, a type of dysfunction, as a protective mechanism—the body is literally closing itself off. (This can happen after other forms of trauma, too.)

But not all trauma, Garges explains, has to be physical for the pelvic floor to experience distress. “Emotional trauma presents physically in the body, tightness in the muscles,” she says, reiterating that the pelvic floor is made up of muscles. Someone who’s stressed or anxious might have tension in their shoulders and neck, others in their pelvic floor muscles.

Physical tension and stress create a cycle of inflammation that isn’t typically visible on imaging or through bloodwork, Milspaw says, which can make diagnosing these complaints and concerns incredibly challenging. “Anxiety or stress or a head injury can lead to a tight pelvic floor, which can cause [gastrointestinal] upset, which creates inflammation, which can be felt in the brain, and then we’re trapped in this cycle until we can turn off the switch at both ends at the same time,” Milspaw explains.

Eventually, Zoe started working with a pelvic floor physical therapist, who told her, “Your brain has learned this pattern [of pain],” Zoe recalls. “It goes far beyond the acute symptoms, which have resolved. Now your neurons are remembering this pain pattern.”

So in addition to pelvic floor physical therapy, which includes manual therapy, exercises, and breathing techniques, Zoe started seeing Milspaw for counseling. She says although she was surprised at the connection between mental health and pelvic floor dysfunction, “ultimately it made sense. If your nervous system is in constant fight-or-flight mode, it’s bound to have physical effects.”

What happens if trauma goes unchecked

The body is designed to protect itself, sometimes at all costs. This became apparent to Dianna B., 55, when she found herself begrudgingly speaking to a therapist at the request of her husband who was seeing a sex therapist. The couple, who had four children, had stopped having sex when Dianna was 43 and her sister was diagnosed with breast cancer.

On top of that, Dianna had a traumatic second birth, one that required 75 internal stitches. For years, she experienced unidentified pain near her where her stitches had been and bathroom accidents—bowel movement and incontinence. She was sure she had an anal fissure (tests showed she didn’t). “I sat there crossing my arms, saying, ‘I don’t have a mental health issue. I have a physical issue,” Dianna recalls.

Eventually, Dianna started to open up. She recalled being held down by her legs when she was 10 years old while doctors took bone marrow from her hips to give to her older sister who had leukemia. “She was going to die unless she got a bone marrow transplant,” Dianna tells Well+Good. “I was her donor.”

These repressed memories, Dianna says, came flooding back during therapy, and she started to see the correlation: She held trauma in her legs from her childhood and was retraumatized during her second delivery as an adult. “It’s amazing how it’s all connected.”

Milspaw, who has been working with Dianna for years, explains that if a person experiences intense stress, anxiety, or depression for a period of just 10 days, the hardware of the brain starts to change. For example, a 2021 study1 published in Translational Psychiatry, found that trauma exposure during childhood could contribute to structural changes in the developing brain. “It can shrink and deteriorate,” Milspaw says. “This hardware is specifically related to emotional regulation, memory, executive function, and communication.”

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Milspaw says this trauma is cumulative, that “the body keeps score.” She explains that people assume if there is pelvic or sexual pain, it has to be related to sex-related trauma, but that’s just not true. “People forget the nervous system is one whole system,” she says. “The pelvis is the center of the wheel.”

“People forget the nervous system is one whole system. The pelvis is the center of the wheel.” —Alexandra T. Milspaw, PhD

What to do if you have trauma that’s affected your pelvic floor

Once people know where to turn, trauma to your pelvic floor is treatable. But there are more than a few barriers to treatment, Milspaw says. “People don’t want to touch pelvic pain with a 10-foot pole,” she says. “There is a lot going on in the pelvis, and no one wants to be responsible for it.” The example she gives is the reality Zoe faced: See a gynecologist who sends you to a urologist, who passes you to a gastroenterologist, who kicks you back to a urologist.

Part of this problem, Milspaw says, is that most healthcare professionals are not trained in pelvic health. Another part of the problem is the taboo around sexual health and pelvic pain. People, especially women, do not want to discuss their concerns—Zoe and Dianna are examples of how even when they did try to seek help, they were treated like petulant children with no obvious illness or problem. “The shame piece is huge,” Milspaw says. “You can’t talk about how your vagina hurts as easily as you can talk about how your head hurts.”

Some women think what they’re experiencing is normal because they don’t know anything else. Milspaw gives an example of a high school girl who had incredibly heavy periods—soaking through five pads an hour. She was told, “It’s your period. Get over it.”

Savannah T., 25, suspected what she was experiencing was not normal. She was diagnosed with endometriosis in her late teens and has been through a pharmacy full of medications to manage her symptoms, including debilitating pain. Savannah, a nurse, slipped into a deep depression in 2021 because of her worsening health and working in the COVID-19 intensive care unit. She had to take a leave of absence.

She searched for a pelvic floor physical therapist—something not many people know to do. “My pelvic floor physical therapist educated me on what the floor is and what it does. She validated all of the symptoms I was having,” Savannah tells Well+Good.

Pelvic floor physical therapists provide treatment that can be a mix of exercises, stretches, breathing techniques, and manual tissue release. “When it comes to manual therapy, we have to be mindful of that trauma and maintain an alliance with the patient,” Garges says, noting that a physical therapist will follow a patient’s lead, and hands-on work might not happen for weeks or months.

Garges will prescribe yoga stretches that focus on the lower back to relieve tension, and pelvic exercises like lunges, squats, and hip work. Garges and Milspaw guide their patients through breathing techniques as well.

Milspaw teaches her clients a variety of tools, including emotional freedom techniques—a type of tapping that can assist with anxiety relief—bilateral stimulation music2 to help balance brain activity between the two hemispheres, and pendulation, which can help regulate the nervous system by alternating, or pendulating, between feelings of safety and discomfort.

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Once Milspaw establishes balance and a feeling of safety in her clients, then more traditional forms of therapy, including talk therapy, she says, are more effective.

Savannah didn’t realize how much her depression, stress, and anxiety connected straight to her pelvic floor. Whenever she had feelings of distress, they could be directly correlated to an increase in her pelvic symptoms. “With the combination of pelvic floor physical therapy and working with Dr. Milspaw, I’ve seen a huge difference,” Savannah says. She still takes medications for her endometriosis, but she knows what her life looks like without her physical and mental therapies. It’s dark.

There are brighter days ahead for Savannah, Zoe, and Dianna. They encourage others to advocate for themselves, even if a doctor—or doctors—is dismissive. They knew something wasn’t right and wouldn’t quit until someone took them seriously. “It’s been a journey,” Zoe says. “I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve rebuilt myself from the ground up, from the floor up.”

Dianna, who resented her husband for insisting she see a therapist because they weren’t having sex, now says it was the best gift he could have given her. They’re not quite on the same page yet, but Dianna says there’s hope. “That’s what I’m striving for.”

*Names have been changed, where indicated, to protect privacy.

  1. Jeong, H.J., Durham, E.L., Moore, T.M. et al. The association between latent trauma and brain structure in children. Transl Psychiatry 11, 240 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01357-z

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  2. Amano T, Toichi M. The Role of Alternating Bilateral Stimulation in Establishing Positive Cognition in EMDR Therapy: A Multi-Channel Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study. PLoS One. 2016 Oct 12;11(10):e0162735. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0162735. PMID: 27732592; PMCID: PMC5061320.

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HealthMental Health

Phone-Free February Calls for Breaking Up With Your Screen—Here’s Why You Should Try the Trend

Phone-Free February encourages you to spend less time on your phone. Here are the benefits of less screen time and tips to stay off it. %

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Photo: Stocksy / Tanya Yatsenko
Published Jan 31, 2025

Written by 

Korin Miller

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If you’ve ever left the house without your phone, you know how naked it can make you feel in those moments before you race back to reclaim your screen. But you’re not the only one experiencing phone dependency: One survey found that we spend up to 40 hours a week on our phones, and 40 percent of adults say they’re online almost constantly, per the Pew Research Center. Does that number surprise you? Then you may be one of those people wondering if it’s a good idea to spend less time on your phone. Enter Phone-Free February.

Experts in This Article

Aaron Brinen

assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Jaime Zuckerman

a licensed clinical psychologist based in Pennsylvania

John Mayer

clinical psychologist and author of Family Fit: Find Your Balance in Life

Thea Gallagher

clinical psychologist and co-host of the Mind In View podcast

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This nonprofit campaign encourages people to use their screens less for 28 days, with the ultimate goal of interacting more with the real world. Doing Phone-Free February doesn’t mean you have to completely ditch your phone—that would be impossible for most people with jobs, anyway. But it encourages being on screens less. Here’s what the challenge involves, plus why psychologists say this trend is actually worth considering.

What is Phone-Free February, anyway? 

Phone-Free February is a campaign that was co-created by the Global Solidarity Foundation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on social issues like climate justice, smartphone usage, and sustainability. Phone-Free February kicks off on February 1 and lasts for the entire month.

The overarching goal is to “promote healthier smartphone use by challenging you to go without your phone for the month of February,” according to the Phone-Free February website. Participants can choose from two levels: PhoneFlex, which challenges followers to use their phones less and be mindful about their usage, and Phone-Free, which involves putting your phone in a box for a month. (FYI, the creators of Phone-Free February admit on the challenge’s website that this second category is “radical” and “advanced.”)

If you want to do Phone-Free February the way the challenge was intended, you’ll need to sign up for a level online. But technically, you can just try to spend the month of February being more mindful about your phone usage.

Benefits of reducing your screen time

There is a lot of data to show that our phone usage isn’t exactly healthy. That said, lowering your screen time can offer some useful benefits.

Lowers risk of health conditions

Research shows that excessive screen time is linked with a higher risk of obesity, mental health concerns like anxiety and depression, and sleep complications. And unfortunately, obesity, mental health conditions, and sleep issues can all be related. “If you’re on your phone and scrolling, you usually don’t realize that you’re mindlessly snacking,” says Jaime Zuckerman, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist based in Pennsylvania.

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Eating more than your body needs can raise your risk of obesity, obesity can then cause sleep disorders like sleep apnea, and not getting enough sleep can worsen your mental health. See the cycle? Cutting back on your screen usage can lower your risk of these health conditions and improve your overall quality of life. “Less screen time could improve your weight and, ultimately, your health,” Dr. Zuckerman adds.

Increases self-awareness

Less time for the phone = more time for you. “A big pro is that you can allow yourself to be with your thoughts when you’re not on your phone,” says Thea Gallagher, PsyD, a clinical assistant professor at NYU Langone Health and a cohost of the Mind in View podcast. “That can be powerful, and you can get to know yourself, building self-awareness of your thoughts, feelings, creative urges, dreams, and imagination.”

Improves relationships

Could your phone affect your relationships? Turns out, yes. Going screenless may also improve your relationships, says psychologist John Mayer, Ph.D., author of Family Fit: Find Your Balance in Life. “I have seen so many relationships being poisoned by one or both partners spending inordinate amounts of time on their phone and not engaging in conversation and activities with their partner,” he says. Without the excess phone usage, you may get some time back to spend with your loved ones and see them beyond the screen.

Boosts mental health

Limiting screen time also means you’re likely to be on social media less—and that can give your mental health a boost, Dr. Zuckerman says.“It reduces the self-comparison that people tend to do on social media and can improve your self-image,” she explains.

Aaron P. Brinen, PsyD, assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, agrees that a lot of phone use is tied to social media. “Many of the things we are doing are algorithm-based,” he says. “Essentially it’s a digital slot machine. Just like any type of behavior on a reinforcement schedule, it’s good to step away. If you’re in Vegas, there’s value in stepping away from the gambling tables. ”When you can make intentional time to take a break, Brinen says you’ll likely notice that your anxiety goes down.

Allows you to become more present

Overall, Dr. Gallagher says that spending less time on your phone allows you to be more present in everyday life. “Phones have a tendency to pull us out of the moment,” she says. “When you remove that, you’re allowing yourself to focus on the people in your life and what’s happening around you.”

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How to spend less time on your phone

Experts say there are a few things you can do to make it easier to spend less time on your phone. Consider these tips:

  • Curb your app use: Disabling push notifications for apps you don’t need, like social media platforms, can go a long way. You can even delete the apps if you have trouble controlling your use, Dr. Gallagher says. “There are timers and reminders on the phones—you can use them,” Dr. Brinen adds. (He points out that he has a timer on his phone for YouTube and has found it to help limit his use.) Apps that limit screen time are also something you can try if the feature isn’t already embedded in your phone.
  • Designate screen-free times during the day: Dr. Gallagher suggests setting aside time when your phone is put away, like from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. (You can also hide your apps from your phone during certain times of the day, Dr. Brinen explains.) The best time frame to choose is ultimately what fits best with your work and home life schedule. If you’re a heavy phone user, Dr. Gallagher suggests going slow. “Start with 20 minutes, then 30 minutes, and note how you feel before and after,” she says. “It can give you an opportunity to see that those breaks are possible and beneficial.”
  • Put your phone to “bed” for the night: Many people use their phone as an alarm, but you don’t have to go this route. Instead, consider investing in an analog alarm clock and putting your phone away in another room for the night at a designated time, like an hour or half hour before you plan to go to sleep. If you’re worried about getting a call about a family emergency, you can put your phone on “do not disturb” but allow certain contacts to still get through.
  • Don’t feel the need to respond immediately: “A lot of us feel like we have to respond right away if somebody texts us,” Dr. Gallagher explains. “But you don’t have to do that.” Instead, she suggests setting a new precedent with yourself where you only respond to texts within a certain window of time or simply don’t feel pressure to get back to people right away. “People should not feel like they need to be constantly contactable,” she says.

What to do when you’re not on your phone

Have the health benefits of reducing screen time convinced you to try the challenge? We’re rooting for you! But, going without a phone (for short or long periods of time) can still be challenging in this day of age. If you’re seeking ideas of what to do with the newly-founded time in your schedule, look no further. Here’s what our experts recommend to maximize your screenless time:

  • Focus on things you enjoy: If you have certain hobbies in place already, Dr. Zuckerman recommends focusing on them more. But she also stresses that you don’t need to spend time doing something during your screenless time because you feel obligated to do it. “If exercising isn’t something you enjoy, don’t do it during that time,” she says. “You have to make sure these are things you enjoy.”
  • Try to spend time outside: Research has linked outdoor time to better mental health, but Dr. Zuckerman says it’s important to get out in a way that feels natural to you. “You don’t need to go on a hike,” she says. “You can just sit on a bench during a lunch break or take a quick walk outside.”
  • Have conversations with other people: It sounds simple, but Dr. Gallagher explains that you’ll be surprised at how much better conversations flow when you’re not distracted by your phone. Dr. Mayer agrees. “Talk to your partner, your kids. Let’s get back to good conversations,” he adds.
  • Start reading: It’s not for everyone, but Dr. Gallagher points out that reading a good book can be a nice substitution for time you would have otherwise spent scrolling. Don’t love books? Try a magazine, comic book, or poetry. Reading shouldn’t be a chore, so find something that actually piques your interest.
  • Spend time with your thoughts: You don’t have to be doing something, physically or mentally, at all hours of the day, Dr. Gallagher says. Taking time to sit, think, and reflect can help you become more mindful and maybe even learn a few things about yourself along the way.

The bottom line

Phone-Free February challenges you to be more mindful about your phone usage. If you feel like you’re probably picking up your phone too often or doomscrolling even though you didn’t even want to, you’re not alone. But, here’s your chance to be more proactive about your habits.

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Doing your best to cut down on your screen time can help boost your mental and physical health, and even improve your relationships with loved ones. Just be honest with yourself about when you need to use your phone, and when you don’t, and take things from there. It’s not always easy to give up the devices in our technology-driven world, but be kind to yourself and don’t judge too hard if you still need to be on your phone from time to time. When in doubt, remember what Dr. Gallagher says:  “Have compassion for yourself.”

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