How to Take Control of Your Phone Before it Takes Control of You
Manage your daily smartphone usage with the following tricks
Do you find yourself aimlessly scrolling through Instagram ’til the wee hours of the morning? Are you often distracted from tasks due to having to fight the urge to check your phone every few minutes?
If either of these—or similar instances—ring a bell, then you’re probably addicted to your smartphone.
We’re more connected than ever
Anyone who’s ever owned a smartphone can tell you what great tools they are. They allow you to identify songs in an instant, speak any language (or at least translate it so you understand), and order transportation to pick you up from just about anywhere. There’s no denying their great power.
Since their introduction into mainstream society about 10 years ago, smartphones have transformed certain parts of our lives. From how we stay in touch with relatives living abroad, to how we do our weekly grocery shop, to how we manage our love lives. They offer convenience and accessibility that’s hard to keep away from.
However, as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. So, unless you’re being responsible with how you use your smartphone, it’s easy to spiral out of control.
Motivating behavior
Our fixation with our phones comes down to a chemical produced in our brains called dopamine. Dopamine releases the surge of relief and pleasure we feel when we receive a notification for a photo that’s been liked or for a tweet that has been retweeted. It’s what causes the feeling to be so great that we want to repeat it.
But it’s not the only thing that keeps us glued to our screens.
For the most part, it’s not the actual device that users become addicted to, it’s the apps it connects us to. And these apps are designed to encourage the addictive behavior that plagues so many of smartphone-users.
Former Mozilla and Jawbone employee, Aza Raskin, explained to the BBC’s Panorama programme how social media apps are deliberately addictive. The apps are purposefully designed to be that way because of the business models. “In order to get the next round of funding, in order to get your stock price up, the amount of time that people spend on your app has to go up,” said Raskin.
Signs you may have an addiction to your smartphone
“These days we have Smartphones, Smartcars, Smartboards, Smarteverything, but consider this: if technology is getting smarter, does that mean humans are getting dumber?” — Rebecca McNutt
Humans have a natural tendency for distraction and procrastination, and smartphones are a great haven for distraction. Whether it’s online shopping, keeping up-to-date with the latest news and current affairs, or ensuring your Sims character doesn’t die, there are many things that can steer your attention towards your phone. And if you’re not careful, it may take up too much of your attention.
TechTarget describes smartphone addiction as “a disorder involving compulsive overuse of the mobile devices, usually quantified as the number of times users access their devices and/or the total amount of time they are online over a specified period.”
While there isn’t a concrete amount of hours that indicate whether or not you’re addicted to your smartphone, there are signs and symptoms that can help to determine:
- You forgo spending time with friends and family to spend time on your phone
- Your productivity diminishes at work or school due to the amount of time you spend looking at your phone
- You hide your phone usage from your friends and family (whether it’s how long you’re on your phone or what you do on it)
- You feel anxious when you’ve left your phone at home or when it isn’t in sight of where you are
5 tips on how to take control of your phone
1. Get an alarm clock
For many people, the reason they take their phones into their bedroom is because their phone is what wakes them up in the morning. Having an alarm clock instead allows you to leave your phone outside of your bedroom.
This means you won’t be as prone to scrolling through it before bedtime. Avoiding the blue light from devices an hour before sleep can give you a better quality of sleep.
2. Don’t take it into the bathroom
Establish smartphone-free zones in your house. There are various areas within your home that don’t really require you using your smartphone. In fact, you might even benefit from not having them on you in rooms such as the bathroom and bedroom, for example.
Not using your smartphone in the bathroom means you won’t be in there for so long. And as mentioned in the previous section, not using your smartphone — or any other device with a blue light — can offer you a better quality of sleep, which is why it shouldn’t be used in the bedroom.
3. Change your lock screen
Setting an image as your lock screen background that says something like “do you really need to be on your phone?” can serve as a reminder to stay away from your smartphone whenever you have compulsion to check it. You’ll think twice about whether or not you truly need to use it which can help to reduce the amount of time you spend on your phone.
4. Reorganize your apps
As previously mentioned, it’s not the actual smartphone that distracts us, it’s the apps installed in them. Do a cull of the apps on your phone and get rid of the ones you no longer use. Get rid of your social media apps as they’re the most distracting. If you desperately need to check Facebook or Twitter, you can access it via a web browser.
Once you’ve gotten rid of the apps you find takes most of your attention, reorganize the ones you have left. I would keep the least distracting ones on the first screen, and whichever distracting apps you couldn’t let go of should be kept on the second or third screen. That way you won’t be so compelled to use them.
5. Engage in a new hobby
Many of us reach for our phones when we feel bored or have some time to kill. Taking up a new hobby can keep us busy and prevent us from using our phones when we don’t need to.
Joining a sports team is a great idea as it’ll keep you active and allow you to meet new people. If you wanted to do something more indoorsy, then try knitting, learning card tricks, or boosting your baking skills. You could even bring the best of both worlds and try hobby horsing (it’s a big thing in Finland!).
Smartphones weren’t invented to burden us, but to enrich our lives and make things easier. But if we’re not careful, such convenience and accessibility can be detrimental as it can steal our attention away from important moments in real life.
By being conscious with how we use our phones in our daily lives, we can ensure our usage doesn’t get out of hand. Remember, you’re supposed to control your phone, not the other way around.
Cheers,
Dinnie and the Zenkit Team
