Carol Vorderman claims an unusual phone habit has helped her avoid burnout – now science says she’s right

If you’re struggling with the demands of a modern digital lifestyle, the solution may have just arrived from an unlikely source.

TV presenter Carol Vorderman, 63, has revealed that she turns her smartphone off for 12 hours a day to help her avoid ‘burnout’ following a health scare. 

Turning the device off helps her mind disconnect from professional commitments, because she ‘can’t work seven days a week anymore’. 

Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, she said: ‘I now switch my phone off for 12 hours a day. Like physically off. Tends to be over the night time hours.

‘But it’s quite a good thing, you know when you just have it by the bed and you just reach out. I’ll just have a little look… Ahh, two hours later.’ 

So, does this ‘half-and-half’ method – 12 hours on and 12 hours off per day – really improve wellbeing?

As well as trying the method himself, MailOnline’s Jonathan Chadwick spoke to psychologists and smartphone addiction experts to find out. 

TV presenter Carol Vorderman has revealed that she turns her smartphone off for 12 hours a day to help her avoid ‘burnout’ following a health scare

‘Burnout’ is recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO) not as a medical condition but a ‘syndrome’ – a collection of health signs or symptoms.

It is a state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion that can occur when you experience long-term stress and feel under constant pressure.

It’s thought smartphone use can trigger burnout by exposing people to life’s excessive demands, such as work or parental responsibilities. 

Dr Jay Olson, a postdoctoral scholar at McGill University’s Department of Psychology in Canada, said there haven’t been any studies looking at Vorderman’s particular approach. 

It seems Vorderman herself has come up with the half-and-half method, although it’s unclear if it’s already popular with members of the public too. 

However, despite its lack of scientific scrutiny thus far, Dr Olson said he thinks it could actually work. 

‘Reducing smartphone use can indeed help with burnout,’ Dr Olson told MailOnline.

‘If you can keep the 12-hour schedule then it could be helpful but if it’s something that you try for a week and then stop, then it will likely have little effect long-term.’ 

Vorderman said her device tends to be off ‘over the night time hours’ rather than throughout the daytime – for example, from 6pm to 6am. 

Although this doesn’t tackle the issue of excessive smartphone use during the day, it does at least offer a realistic starting point to cut screen time. 

According to Dr Olson, switching it off overnight will also help break the common habit of starting and ending the day by checking the phone. 

‘I’d suggest timing the 12-hour window so that you avoid the phone for a couple hours before sleeping and a couple hours in the morning,’ he said.

What’s more, in the evenings it would reduce exposure to light from the phone screen, which has been linked with the inability to fall asleep.

Dr Olson led a study that identified 10 solutions for cutting back on screen time, including switching to ‘greyscale’ and disabling facial recognition. 

MailOnline’s verdict 

As a full-time commuter and parent of two, I admit I sometimes experience burnout symptoms, as listed by charity Mental Health UK, including exhaustion, feeling overwhelmed, and ‘persistent feelings of dread’. 

At 7pm I switch off my Samsung Flip phone for 12 hours – although the act of turning a phone off is a lot more laboured than I remember it!

I also feel like I’m spending more time on my smartphone than ever, so I decided to try out the half-and-half method for myself. 

I switch off my Samsung Flip phone from 7pm to 7am, which means no scrolling Instagram Reels on the sofa after the kids are asleep, and no checking news and social media on the morning train. 

I don’t turn my phone off very often at all – in fact, when I do it takes me a while to remember how exactly to do it.

Samsung doesn’t make it easy either – I have to simultaneously hold down the side key and the bottom half of the volume control button for two seconds before tapping ‘power off’ and then finally entering my PIN number!

Once the device is finally off, I stash it under my bed and try to forget about it – but it’s funny how often my subconscious mind won’t let me. 

Throughout the evening, I find that reaching for my smartphone has become an innate habit, as natural and instinctive as scratching an itch. 

Mostly, the trigger is when something random flits through my brain and I want to search Google for information – such as Thomas Tuchel’s managerial history or the location of the Orbit brewery whose beer I’m drinking. 

But is my temporary withdrawal reducing ‘burnout’? 

Dr Olson led a study that identified 10 solutions for cutting back on screen time, including switching to ‘greyscale’ (pictured) 

Walking to work the next morning, my mind definitely feels a lot clearer and fresher, although this could have been due to other factors, such as a good night’s sleep.

Admittedly, I turn my phone back on mere minutes past 7am – surely a sign that I’m a fully-fledged smartphone addict who has been desperately waiting for his next hit. 

However, I would be keen to continue this experiment for longer to see any longer-term physical and emotional benefits. 

Dr Heather Shaw, a psychology lecturer at Lancaster University, warned that there can be both positive and negative effects of ‘digital detoxes’ like this.  

People ‘don’t experience phone withdrawal symptoms’ in the same way someone would when detoxing from substances, she said, challenging the idea that technology use is an addiction. 

‘Carol Vorderman has found a way to use technology that suits herself,’ Dr Shaw told MailOnline. 

‘But we shouldn’t always view technology use as harmful.’