How to Spend Less Time on Your Phone
Can you remember a time before smartphones? When you didn’t spend downtime scrolling mindlessly through apps? Have you ever gone to write a text message and found yourself 20 minutes later buried in an app? Can you remember a time when you were waiting with others and not on your phones? Hard to remember isn’t it? If you’re anything like us, we’re guessing you too wish you spent less time glued to your phone. Today we are talking about strategies for spending less time on your phone (and social media).
Go Analog
Try taking some of your habits offline. Instead of plugging into your apps, go back to pen and paper. There’s certainly a place for digital calendars, but you know how we feel about a planner you can hold in your hands! Try capturing photos with a dedicated camera. Instead of scrolling the news on your phone, pick up the Sunday edition of the newspaper. Take a trip to your local bookstore and pick out a new summer read. If you have a record player, get it spinning with some music. Unplugging from your phone for a little while will feel really invigorating.
Shift Habits During Downtime
Do you find yourself mindlessly scrolling when you have downtime? While waiting in the pick up line or for the oil change? Try sticking your phone somewhere else and replace your scrolling with some journaling or reading. If you work in a creative field and have recently experienced a rut, shifting your habits away from your phone may open up your creative pathways.
Digital Break
If you find yourself escaping onto social media apps for hours a day, it might be time for an extended break. A digital reset can be a great way to break some bad habits. If you’re ready to go all in, consider deleting some apps for a little while. Maybe a week will be sufficient, maybe a month. If going cold turkey feels too hard, choose one day a week (or a few) to stay off apps.
Be Deliberate
But what if you use social media for your business? It can be really hard to commit to a break or complete deletion of apps, especially when you utilize social media to promote your business. Get really deliberate with your phone time. Schedule time to be on apps for business purposes. You can set a timer or set up automatic timers to close the app at the time you select. Stick to your schedule! The longer you can stay consistent with your schedule, the easier it will be to make this new phone routine a habit.
What Can You Add?
So you’ve successfully created some boundaries around your phone time. What has opened up in your day? You may now find yourself with a surplus of time. Is there something you’ve wanted to learn but haven’t had time for? Something you’ve wanted to volunteer for? Now is the time to try something new! Dig into the stack of books you’ve wanted to read, write and journal in your planner or notebook. Schedule real life hangouts with friends. Join a club or host friends for a fun gathering.
Living Without Documenting
Imagine going somewhere new and not posting about it on social media. What would happen if you celebrated a big life event and didn’t post about it on social media? What about taking a trip and not sharing photos? Seems foreign in our world where it’s more common to share every detail of our lives. Consider documenting for yourself and family and leaving it there. Print photos for an album and keep the photos off social media. You may find the process really freeing. Some moments in life are best savored on their own without a phone in front of your face trying to capture every detail. At the next big family event or performance, consider turning your phone off and immerse yourself in the experience.
Assess How You Feel
What does social media and time on your phone bring to your life? How do you feel after scrolling social media? Do certain accounts make you feel strong feelings, good or bad? We recommend taking a pass through accounts you follow and unfollow any that bring negative feelings. Take some time to assess how social media is impacting your life. Make a list of pros and cons and go through line by line and decide how you can benefit from the pros without detriment or adding more cons to the list. Assess your cons and weigh whether they overpower the benefits you draw from spending more time on social media. Maybe less time on your phone will bring some balance and peace to your life.
We want to hear from you! What strategies have you found that help you manage your phone time?