5 tips to beat your phone

Remember those summer holidays as a kid, when some days felt endlessly long, and you had absolutely nothing to do?

What did you do if nobody came to play with you? You probably played by yourself, with your imaginary friends, or came up with something new.

You used your imagination.

What do you do nowadays if you have a moment of nothingness? You probably grab your mobile device and start to consume what others have created to the great World Wide Web. Empty moments of stillness and observation are nothing but a blast from the past.

Being bored is extinct.

The satisfying blink has taken control

Instead of relaxing, and maybe even creating something on our own, we fill our minds with clutter from our phones in every imaginable situation. It is understandable, as those satisfying peeps and blinks in our phones give us a nice dopamine burst and reinforces our addiction to them.

Unfortunately, after spending too much time staring our gadgets, we feel anxious and frustrated — especially if we would have had something more important to do.

The never-ending grumbling of not having enough time

After randomly browsing an hour on your phone, what do you remember afterward? What did you learn? Every now and then it is something inspirational or beneficial, but more often, it’s not.

If you’d replace even a slice of that time with something more enjoyable or beneficial instead, what would happen? Maybe you could start a project or a hobby that you never had time for yet. If you started today, you’d be quite far with it in a year. Or, you can just continue browsing.

Let that thought sink in for a moment.

When was the last time you left your phone home?

Regardless of the dopamine high, constantly checking our phones creates more harm than happiness. The endless number of notifications are training our brains to be in a constant state of stress. In the worst case, just a glimpse of your phone can trigger a stress reaction.

Clearly, less is definitely more. Letting our mind wander without filling it up with the impulses from our gadgets can calm us down, and reduce the sense of constant rush — and even wake up the forgotten creativity and imagination.

How often do you let your mind wander around freely?

My 5 favorite tips to win the battle

1. Disable notifications. You can do it from the settings.
2. Use “do not disturb mode.” See the instructions for Android and IOS.
3. Change your background image to something that reminds you of disconnecting.
4. Hide the most disturbing apps in the back so that they’re not the first icons to click when you grab your phone.
5. Leave your phone home or to another room at least once a day, every day.

I’ve tried them all. And yes, they work. I see colors again.

Thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed reading this, you’ll find more wellness and stress-related articles on my profile and INME Health Publication. Oh, and a couple of claps make me always happy! Feel free to comment, discuss or disagree — interaction is where the learning happens.

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