10 Ways to be Mindful of Your Screen Time
Over the past few years, I’ve become very aware of my computer and phone habits. I’ve tried to decrease my unproductive time as much as possible and it has brought a lot of value to my life. My goal is to add a level of mindfulness to my tech usage and spend more time with friends, offline making art, exercising, or playing. I’m a bit of a Chrome extension nerd so I wanted to share a few extensions and tips that have made this transition easier!
- Breathe chrome extension: This is a new favorite. When you open a new tab, a graphic prompts you to breathe in, hold it for a few seconds, and breathe out. This is the exact type of tool I love. It is prompting a new behavior of becoming aware of what I am doing on the computer and brings me back into my body and not just my head and hands.
2. Greyscale & blue light blockers: This is a classic tip, but very helpful. I use a chrome extension for the internet called Greyscale and a Mac app called Iris. Greyscale is great for customizing which tabs I want in Greyscale and Iris is great for a “Health” setting that takes away the blue light. They also have tons of customizable settings like “e-reading” which turns your entire computer black and white. I try to use that one at the end of the day. If I ever want to stop watching Netflix, I just turn on Greyscale and immediately become less interested since color is so addicting. When I switch to Greyscale I feel more in control of my browsing habits. Flux is also a great product for this, it subtly shifts your screen towards the night and gives you reminds of how many hours until you wake up.
Links:
3. Deleting News Feeds: I unfollowed every single friend and group I am in on Facebook and Twitter. On Instagram, I only follow 30 people, 10 of which are my closest friends and 20 are art or zero waste inspiration. I only can use my social media as a tool for communication or inspiration. I can’t even scroll on my Instagram feed for more than a minute because there isn’t enough content. I have saved so much time and mental energy in this process. I used to compare myself to so many people on Facebook or Instagram and now I find myself feeling inspired when I go on these platforms now. I used a chrome extension called Nudge to unfollow any old friends and auto-unfollow any new friends. It also hides any extra content and stops auto-play on Youtube. I turned off the feature that pops up a new tab because I prefer my Breathe extension. If you want an alternative to getting rid of your news feed I would recommend News Feed Eradicator. I prefer Nudge because it prevents a news feed on mobile as well though.
4. Turn off auto-play on Netflix: I think auto-play is such a horrible creation. It is only designed to keep us sedentary and hooked on Netflix or Youtube. They are optimizing for their benefit, not ours. When I turned off auto-play I realized how much less TV I watched. Even having the quiet in between an episode lets me pause and decide if I want more, but with auto-play, that decision is out of your hands. You have to opt-out instead of opt-in.
5. Limiting tabs: I cap my tabs at 10 to make sure I don’t get out of control when browsing. I noticed that I used to spin into an endless rabbit hole of tabs that could even crash my browser. Now I am aware of how much information I am absorbing and try to really focus before opening a new tab. I made the setting to prevent any new tabs from popping up once I hit 10. I tried just doing max 2 tabs for a week and found this was ideal for personal browsing but when I needed to get work done it was too restricting. I got the idea for just 2 tabs when my computer broke and I tried to work just from my phone for a week. With my android, I could open 2 windows simultaneously, but that was it. I found that I focused better when I had fewer options for distraction and wanted to apply the same principle to my computer.
6. Stretch Breaks: I am testing out this new Chrome extension that sends you little alerts of when to stand up to stretch, drink water, check your posture, and even blink. These are all things that sound so simple but are often neglected when I’m in a flow state. I care just as much as my physical health as I do my productivity and this is a great step towards bringing balance in my life.
- Healthy Browsing
7. Turn off buzzing notifications: I only have notifications for my communications apps (text, calls, and facebook). This way I don’t check my email every time I receive a new email, I look every few hours and take care of them all at once. The buzzing or sounds alerts have such an addictive quality that are hard to resist, so taking away that trigger makes it easier to live in the present moment and not feel so attached to my phone.
8. Digital Detoxes: I do these at random times, sometimes once a week (at my best) or every few months I’ll go on a weekend retreat where I don’t have internet access. Taking time fully away from my screens is a great reset. I love the idea of Screenless Sundays, but since I’ve been traveling it is not practical because I often need my phone to get around. I feel my best when I do a digital detox every night before I go to sleep, for about an hour. I try to read, draw, or journal.
9. Less is more: I only have about 10 apps on my home screen. I try to move any apps that I consider a distraction (Instagram and email are my only ones) to a separate screen. I only keep apps that serve as tools and eliminate everything else.
Here is my home screen:
10. Mindfulness & letting go of guilt: I used to feel guilty if I watched Netflix. I would stop watching TV for months at a time, but always end up watching my favorite shows every once in a while (aka Parks and Rec + The Office). I realized that the only problem with watching Netflix was the guilt I felt for watching it. While traveling, I actually realized that watching TV shows brought me a sense of stability and joy. These characters have been constant in my life for years when my entire world is changing around me. I choose to only watch shows that make me laugh when access to live comedy is not available. This on-demand laughter is actually quite a nice boost to my mental health. In moderation, there’s nothing wrong with watching TV as long as I also make time for my healthy habits. This applies to my computer and phone use as well. I use my phone much less than your average American because of all these habits I have described above, but I still became extreme with myself at times. Feeling guilty that I was using it at all. I went through phases when I wanted to fully break this addiction and live off the grid. But I realize that this is not possible, especially with the kind of work I enjoy doing. Instead of feeling shame for using my phone, I now focus on trying to just be aware that I am using my phone. Coming back to my breath, even as an I am browsing the internet. My tech mantra is “Breathing in, I know I am using my phone. Breathing out, I am grateful for this technology.” With this awareness, I foster a sense of mindfulness and gratitude to my daily activities instead of frustration and guilt.
I hope you find these helpful! I always am looking for new ways to add more mindfulness to my tech usage so feel free to email me at nicolek13@gmail.com or comment with any tips you know :)
