Technology has made it easier than ever before to track your health and fitness. However, overusing electronics can be detrimental to a healthy lifestyle. Constantly looking at a smartphone screen can result in bad eyesight, poor posture, and even increase anxiety.
Furthermore, we check our phones 96 times per day, or once every ten minutes, according to recent surveys! However, if you want to create a healthy relationship with your technology, you don’t have to give it up completely.
We have compiled a list of simple ways to stop room scrolling and spend less time online. Hopefully, these tips will help you break your screen addiction and unplug more often.
- Keep track of how much time you spend watching screens.
The majority of today’s phones let you see how much screen time you’re spending each day. A simple glance at the numbers can be a powerful motivation to get control of your time again and to stop aimlessly using your phone for no reason. - Take daily phone breaks.
Keep your phone out of reach during a designated “phone-free” time, when you don’t plan to use it. There are also many phones that offer the option to limit your screen time so that you can take control of your schedule. - Don’t make yourself available 24/7. You need this if you want to have phone-free time without worrying about what you’re missing. If you have a healthy family/work/life balance, no one should expect you to be available 24/7. Tell the people close to you that you’re trying to unplug a little to manage expectations better. You’ll soon discover that you don’t have to respond to every message right away.
- Don’t read everything before responding.
Have you ever tried out a restaurant without reading reviews, or visited a museum without knowing what to expect? Don’t Google everything right away, and you’ll rely on your phone less (and maybe even a little more spontaneity!). - Make use of productivity apps.
Using technology to stop using your phone so much sounds counter-intuitive, but there are tons of productivity apps that can help you cut back on distractions and use your tech more mindfully-whether you’re making a smarter to-do list or scheduling a time to focus on one activity. - Disable a few notifications.
We tend to get sucked into a cycle of unconsciously scrolling through notifications on our phone screens, and this makes us lose focus. If you don’t need any app notifications, turning them off will prevent you from mindlessly reaching for it. - Make sure ‘Do Not Disturb’ is enabled.
You should be able to select ‘Do Not Disturb’ from your settings. It is ideal for times when you prefer not to be distracted by your phone and receive notifications and calls without sounds or alerts. It’s possible to schedule ‘Do Not Disturb’ on a regular basis or manually. The best time to set it is about 30 minutes before bedtime and 15 minutes before your alarm goes off. - Keep your phone away from your bed.
Do you find yourself staring at your phone screen a lot during the night when you should be sleeping? Move your charger. If you are going to bed, keep your phone across the room so you won’t stay up looking at memes. Even better, if you use your phone as an alarm clock, it’s the perfect motivation to get out of bed in the morning instead of hitting the snooze button. - Avoid checking your phone before breakfast.
When you don’t scroll through social media in bed before getting up, this step is a lot easier. Brush your teeth before you browse the web to get your day started on the right foot. Need more motivation? Before you pick up your phone, try setting aside a few minutes for mindfulness.
- Wrap the rubber band around it.
Do you find yourself mindlessly browsing Instagram before you even realize you have picked up your phone? Try putting a rubber band around your phone. By doing so, you create a physical barrier that you must remove before you can use your phone again. What a great way to make tech usage more mindful! - Play a game.
Make your next lunch date a competition by placing your phones in the middle of the table when you sit down with friends who are also trying to reduce their screen time. Whoever grabs their phone first pays the bill.
No one eats before the meal is over if no one succumbs to temptation. It’s a win-win scenario. You get to spend time connecting with your friends, and you get a free meal while you’re at it!
Invest more time in IRL activities that you enjoy in 2022 by setting healthier online habits. You have to break your internet addiction to be able to make the most of your technology.