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If you’re like most people, you probably carry your phone with you wherever you go. At any time of the day or night, your phone is within easy reach. But, as you might have guessed, that’s just not healthy and it’s certainly not good for your daily productivity. So, with that in mind, here are 5 tips for taking a break from your phone.
#1: Turn off notifications and alerts
Most mobile phone apps are all too willing to send you notifications, alerts, and notifications throughout the day and night. They are doing so under the guise of being helpful and useful, but we all know the real reason all those alerts and notifications exist – to get you to grab your phone and open their app. So do yourself a favor and turn off as many of those notifications and alerts as you can.
#2: Schedule periodic breaks
Many experts now recommend taking 10- to 15-minute breaks throughout the day, when you pledge not to use your phone. Use that break, instead, to catch up on a book you’ve been meaning to read, to go outside and take a brief walk, or to talk with people around you (and not on the phone). This does wonders in terms of clearing your mind and freeing you from unwanted distractions.
#3: Go old school analog
One of the best recommendations is to go old school analog in order to beat the digital blues. For example, you could buy an old-fashioned alarm clock to put by your bedside. This will help to overcome the classic excuse that many people who take their phones with them into the bedroom use, “Oh, I’m just using it as an alarm clock, so that I can get up on time.” With an old-fashioned alarm clock, you won’t be tempted to surreptitiously use your phone throughout the night to check emails or other messages.
#4: Reward yourself for fighting back impulses
We all get strange impulses to use our phones throughout the day. Sometimes we can positively swear that the phone is buzzing, chirping, or whirring in our pockets. Often, it’s not. It’s just your brain trying to trick you into thinking that you need to use your phone, in order to get the dopamine kick it craves. So give yourself a little reward every time you struggle with your impulses and win.
#5: Challenge yourself to cut back on social media
If all else fails, you can always challenge yourself to a social media challenge. For example, the employees at Google recently challenged themselves to spend at least 1 night per week without their phones, for a period of 6 weeks. No surprise here, but that’s actually a lot harder than it sounds. But by participating in a challenge with others, you will be holding yourself publicly accountable, and that might be enough to break the cycle of social media addiction.
Conclusion
So stop making excuses and start taking control of your phone, so that it doesn’t take control of you. By following the five steps above, you’ll be a lot closer to developing a healthy relationship with your phone.
