Some Smart Tips to Use Your Phone Less

It’s a brand new year again! And 2018 seems to be a perfect opportunity to change some of the habits and try to live a more productive and happy life.

Scanning the phone as a first thing in the morning after waking up and last thing before hitting the sack, constantly checking notifications, getting engulfed in web of social media, answering texts or calls while having food with family or friends, being available 24 hours, getting uncomfortable when the phone is out of sight– all these are subtle signs that our digital life is killing our real life.  

The social media boom has happened and is   driving the pace of our lives beyond our capacity to cope. There is a reason why every child wants to grab their parent’s phone. By observing us, they are getting a sense of how important a mobile phone is. It’s high time we stand up again this addiction and try to create a healthier relationship with technology.

So, here I am sharing some simple and smart tricks which helped me immensely in maintaining self control and beating my phone addiction:   

1.Not using phone in the bed- Removing all gadgets  out of the bedroom is the ideal situation as electronic devices such as laptop and phones emit blue light which can trick our brain into thinking that it’s still daytime and making it tougher for us to fall asleep. If cannot do that then like me, at least stop sleeping within arm’s length of them as it helps kicking the temptation to check the screen. And using the good old alarm clock for waking up is not a bad option.

2.  Deleting unnecessary apps - Our smartphone would be useless without having any apps but too many of them can also be problematic. Personally I like  declutter  my   phone every month by removing anything either  I rarely use or had completely forgotten about .This not only free up space on my  phone but  also improves  the  handset’s battery life and enable me to get a tighter grip on my personal data.

3.Turn off notifications-For me sometimes checking a single notification turned out into a half-hour session of phone browsing. I am sure that I am not alone! It’s all too easy to get sucked into the social media world through one alert. Disabling all unnecessary notifications and muting most of the Whatsapp groups have helped me ending that impulse to check my phone whenever it chirps.

4.Phone Free Periods in a day-At our home both my husband and me try our level best that we don’t use our phone at the dinner table,   while playing with our son or reading a book. Putting the phone on Airplane Mode can really help in getting some quality  family time

    5.Monitor the phone usage- If all the above mentioned steps seem to be failing then some hard statistics are surely going to help you. Apps like ‘Moment’, ‘Quality Time’ and ‘Space’   helps in letting you know about the smartphone usage habits. And my experience tells that the brutal truth can be really tough to acknowledge, but definitely serves as a good warning.

Let 2018 be a starting point to kick your phone addiction and aim towards a healthy mind and soul.