Learning how to cut down on your screen time can help you embrace a healthier relationship with your phone. As negative as some of the effects of it can be when it comes to smartphone addiction, smartphones are still very versatile and useful tools when used right.
Deliberate Usage
One of the more paradoxical approaches might be to identify exactly how you can use your phone in the most convenient manner. Instead of scrolling mindlessly every time you pick it up, you’re looking to fulfill a specific purpose. To this end, you might think of excluding social media unless you set a timer (more on that later) or if you’re talking to someone in particular through apps like WhatsApp or Messenger.
Finding what kinds of uses these have can help you create a consistent structure. If you’ve got some time you’d like to set aside for gaming, you can use your phone to play jackpot games through online casinos that you can access wherever you are. When it comes to exercise, you might find that using an app isn’t entirely necessary once you’ve gotten to grips with your routine, so understanding where to draw that line is important.
Set Timers and Restrictions
If you try to put your phone down, away from you, you might quickly notice how habitually your brain tells you to pick it back up and check it again. Therefore, to break this cycle, you might have to put some hurdles in your way. Just putting it further away can be effective, but it might also help to put a rubber band across your screen so that it’s more difficult and less enjoyable to use when you do pick it up. Beyond that, you might like to identify the apps that you spend the most time on and set timers so that you’re only allowed a certain amount of usage per day. This can feel awkward at first and even frustrating when you enjoy the apps you’re restricting, but it can be helpful for reaching your targets.
Become Aware of Issues
It could also be the case that you’re struggling to cut down on your phone usage because you don’t have enough incentive. You might feel as though you look at your own phone too much, but making yourself more aware of the symptoms and issues associated with phone addiction might encourage you to change your own habits. This isn’t something that you have to do if you’re happy with your current routine or don’t feel as though you have a problem here, but there are health concerns that can arise from using your phone too much – especially in regard to your eyes and your mental health.
feature image by Samuel Cruz on Unsplash
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