How many of us have clicked an icon on our phones to check an email and then looked up an hour later, wondering where the time went? Or felt the urge to check our social media every 5 minutes? We might not be as tech-savvy as we think when it comes to our phones and other digital devices.
Despite all of technology’s benefits, your smartphone should not be your sole companion and social partner. Phone addiction is similar to alcoholism, drug addiction, and gambling addiction. Of course, it won’t damage your health the way alcohol does, but its “toxicity” has an effect on human consciousness and relationships with the rest of the planet.
Here are some tips you can follow to keep your screen addiction at bay:
1. Except for those from important people, turn off all notifications. Notifications are useful because they alert you to the fact that something important demands your attention. However, computers, not humans, send the majority of notifications. They’re even made to entice you to engage with an app you may otherwise overlook.
2. Grayscale is the way to go. What’s with all the bright apps? They’re made to make you feel good by stimulating your brain’s reward system. Cutting off this trigger could help you check your phone less. Most phones enable you to select muted colors. You can go absolute grayscale on iPhones.
3. Keep the number of applications on your home screen to a minimum. Keep only your email, maps, calendar, and everything else you use on a regular basis in the foreground. Place all other apps, such as games and social media, in folders. You’ll be less likely to use them if you don’t see them right away.
4. To find apps, start typing. It’s easy enough that we often do it without even thinking about it. However, if you have to stop and type the app’s name, it gives your brain a chance to decide whether you still need to play another round of Candy Crush.
5. Charge your cell outside of your bedroom. It’s all too tempting to turn over, press snooze on your ringing phone, and dive straight into the latest news or varieties of Instagram reels, that seem to go on forever. Is this, however, the addiction you want to form? Holding a phone next to the bed is often known to trigger sleep issues. Invest in a vintage alarm clock and move phones away from sleeping bodies at night.
6. Remove all social media apps from your device. If you just use Facebook and Instagram on a computer, you’ll probably be more deliberate about when and where you use them. If you’re a frequent user of social media, you might be surprised to learn how much time you spend on these sites. Remember where the impulse to add them back to your phone comes from when you feel compelled to do so.
Text by: Ipsita Ghosh, IBTN9
Follow IBTN9
Facebook:
