Social media and phone addiction is a real thing. Maybe it’s most prevalent in my generation, who grew up with a landline, then in high school or college got a cell phone, then as a new parent got a smartphone. The novelty of having information — or distraction — at our fingertips is enchanting.
But many of us truly want to break the time-sucking habit of mindless scrolling and notification checking. We realize we have an issue, as we yell at our kids for bothering us while responding to a Facebook comment, or when we look up at the clock and realize we’ve been on Instagram for an hour.
Many books and articles have been written on the subject in recent years, so I imagine you’ve probably already heard the ideas I’m going to mention. But maybe this will be the nudge you need to finally realize you (like me) have a problem, and take a step in the right direction.
Turn off notifications
This is one of those things that SO many articles tell you to start with, but it wasn’t until a month ago that I actually did it myself (and I’ve had a smartphone for… 8 years or so). It hasn’t eliminated my mindless scrolling completely, but it sure has slowed down the number of times a day that I even pick up my phone.
For the last couple of years I had already chosen to turn off lock-screen notifications for everything except phone calls and text messages. But I had still let those little red bubbles appear, and I kept the alert sounds on. So whenever I had a spare minute or would hear the little ding, I’d open my phone and see what was up.
(Side note: I love getting notifications. I love seeing that someone has interacted with me. It’s true about snail mail too. As soon as I see the mail truck coming, I sneakily watch out the window to make sure they stop at our house. Then I go outside immediately and see what’s there. I guess I have a thing for receiving stuff.)
This summer I finally decided to get real about breaking up with my phone, and I started with turning off all unnecessary notifications (I still allow phone calls and text messages to appear, since those are more time-sensitive than anything else). A couple of times a day I’ll actually sit down and check my email, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Do I get stuck scrolling again? Yes sometimes. (especially Instagram. I love Instagram.)
But I’m slowly realizing that by choosing when and where I will pick up my phone and check my apps, I’m working toward controlling my phone instead of letting my phone control me.
Get a watch
In this post I talked about how I purchased an actual alarm clock and stopped keeping my phone next to my bed. That’s been a game-changer for late-night scrolling (even my husband keeps his phone in the kitchen and we both read in bed at the end of the day).
But I’m a person who has a need to always know what time it is (that’s a personality discussion for another day…). I would keep my phone in my back pocket and pull it out multiple times during the day, to always be aware of how much time until our next activity.
I know it’s not good for my phone to keep it there constantly, and I’m pretty sure it’s not good for my body either. Plus with my phone easily accessible, it’s too easy to swipe and check for recent social media activity, when all I’d wanted to know was what time it was.
Invest in a watch. It can be cheap, it can be cute, it can be one with multiple bands to change to suit your mood. I actually recently bought a Fitbit — for multiple reasons, but one of which was to have a watch always on my wrist. When I’m home, I try to keep my phone next to the charger in the kitchen. When I’m out and about, I keep it hidden in my purse.
Go gray
Did you know you can change the colors on your phone screen to be grayscale instead of colorful? It’s not very appealing to look at, which hopefully discourages mindless scrolling.
For iPhones, go to: Settings — General — Accessibility — Display Accommodations — Color Filters. Then switch Color Filters on and select Grayscale. (Android should have similar options through Settings — Accessibility)
Photos that you take will still be saved in color. But what if you want to quickly switch back to a colored screen, to be able to easily see what you’re taking a photo of?
Go to: Settings — General — Accessibility — Accessibility Shortcut — Color Filters. Now you can just press the home button three times to enable or disable grayscale.
What other tips do you have for breaking up with your phone so that you can enjoy the people right in front of you? I’m always looking for new ideas! 🙂
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