It’s with us wherever we go, in a pocket or in our bags. We find ourselves checking it in spare moments, in the middle of conversations with friends, while we are on the toilet.
Yeah, you’ve guessed it, it’s our phones.
When you consider how phones have changed over the years, it’s perhaps not so surprising that we have become dependent on them for almost everything. They are a lifeline to everything from our social life to our bank balances.
Indeed, the smartphone is now so culturally ingrained, it’s difficult to remember how we ever found a new place without the SatNav or browsed through the menus of 10 takeouts before finally placing the same order you did last week at the tap of a button.
But when a smartphone is always there at the centre of our lives, how can we bring it back under your control?
Edit Your Apps
Health and wellbeing apps are everywhere but if you really want to master the art of self-care, it’s probably not going to come in a neatly packaged box. You still have to put some effort in yourself.
Instead of buying app after app and clogging up your data usage with excessive information, you should think carefully about editing and curating your apps. Rather than using app after app to monitor and track yourself, consider what the value you get back is. Do you really need to monitor all that information to live well? Probably not.
While you can find a range of free apps for meditation and wellbeing that really do help. As a general rule, the fewer apps you have, the fewer notifications you have to deal with. By editing your app selection, you can make the most of your time on your phone rather than endlessly scrolling through irrelevant information.
Indeed, in this vein, you might consider deleting your social media apps and only accessing them on your laptop so that you waste a little less time. Alternatively, you can set a time limit for each app you use on your phone so that you can only use it for a certain amount of time per day.
Break Your Bad Habits
Checking your phone is a habit that everyone has. In the middle of meetings, halfway through dinner or even while you should be concentrating on the road – we’ve all picked up this nasty habit.
Breaking the habit of checking your phone all the time is tough but it is possible. ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is a good principle to stick with. Try putting your phone in the glove compartment while you drive so that you can’t even see the screen light up or keep your phone in your handbag rather than on your work desk.
Another good trick is to simply turn off all but essential notifications. You don’t really need to see every single ‘like’ a status gets or have the news flashing up at you all the time. If you want to reduce your connection to your phone, give it fewer chances to connect with you.
One last bad habit is keeping your phone by your bed. 90% of 18-29 year-olds sleep with their phones by their bed, 95% of people do something on their phone just before going to sleep and – shockingly – 1 in 3 people would rather give up sex than their phone! Blue light can play havoc with your sleeping pattern, keeping you awake much longer than you should be.
Switch It Off!
This is perhaps the hardest lesson to learn but think about it: you’ve not had a text for a good half an hour – would it really have made a big difference to switch your phone off and actually concentrate on what you are doing in that time?
Your phone is one of your greatest assets at work but all too often, it gets in the way. How many meetings have been disturbed this week alone because of an unexpected phone call? Though it might sound strange, switching your phone off can have a few unexpected benefits. When you aren’t constantly being interrupted, you’ll find that your concentration improves, your social life is more fulfilling (because you’ll actually be there!) and you will be less stressed too.
Having a phone in your pocket is a great asset but it is vital that it is working for you and not the other way around. Just being sensible with your screen time and thinking carefully about what you are using your phone for can have a big impact on your quality of life. You need to be as smart as your smart phone.