Resist smartphone addiction.
Are you glued to your phone? When you check your phone too often in the office, or anywhere for that matter, you kill your focus and productivity.
You might think a peak here and there at Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and other apps isn’t harming anything, but those interruptions cost you more time than you think to resume a task or project.
You can break the habit, but it’s not easy. One study found that people check their smartphone on average approximately 80 times per day. That’s every 12 minutes! One in 10 people can’t even make it five minutes without checking their phone.
One of the reasons our phones are so additive is that we get a hit of dopamine (a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward) every time we pick them up and start scrolling. This causes us to reach for our phones when we have unoccupied moments…even as short as sitting at a red light in our car.
Here are a few tips to resist picking up our devices:
Stow your phone away- when your phone is out of sight, it is out of mind.
Check your phone at set times only- schedule them into your day when you are transitioning from one task to another.
Turn off alerts- notifications are distracting. The minute you hear that bing or feel that buzz, you are tempted to check who is messaging you. Avoid this temptation entirely by eliminating the bing or buzz.
Log out- log out of your personal email, social media and unrelated work accounts while working. Having to log in will make your checking these apps less automatic and more mindful.
Hide or remove apps- that’s right, make it difficult to access your favorite apps, so again you’ll have to make a conscious choice to check them rather than mindlessly perusing them.
Block yourself- Believe it or not, there are apps that you can download (Anti-Social, SelfControl, etc.) to block you from your favorite apps during certain times.
Set your phone on do not disturb- Many of us do this when we drive (thankfully!), however we fail to recognize other times when it may be appropriate like attending an important meeting, spending quality time with family, etc.
Doing these things is difficult at first, however setting healthy boundaries for ourselves is key in resisting unnecessary phone usage.
If you are struggling outside of work, start small. Consider putting your phone aside for half a day per week when you are off work and work your way up to a whole day. If you’re in need of something more hardlined, consider taking a 30-day break from social media or resetting your phone usage to only calls and text messages for the same time duration instead. It is amazing how much time and mental space you’ll recoup!
Another practice I’ve seen recently is putting a rubber band or hair band around your phone- right smack in the middle. The reason most people have their phone available at all times is that they are afraid something will happen, and they won’t be able to be reached. By putting the band around your phone, you’ll still be able to answer calls easily, but you’ll have to consciously remove the band to use other functions on your phone. Old school, yet highly effective!
Learning to use our smartphones effectively may just be the most important lesson of our time. We should be able to take advantage of their many benefits without it adversely affecting our downtime, mental health, relationships and ability to take part in everyday life. Committing to conscious phone usage is a great place to start!