HOW I DITCHED MY PHONE ADDICTION
recently I’ve been working on making my relationship with technology healthier. i was completely addicted to my phone for a really long time, and it was making me miserable. i’d spend 4-7+ hours on my phone everyday, just scrolling through tiktoks or instagram. i never had time to do what i wanted, and it was really impacting my mental health.
so i decided to make a change. now i’ve cut my screentime down by 85%, and i feel so much better. my laundry actually gets folded and put away now, i’m finishing projects in a day that used to take a week, and i’m actually reading again (i’ve read three books in the past couple weeks! it’s been years since i’ve finished a book).
so here’s what finally worked for me!
at first i thought about just buying a flip phone and calling it a day, but then i realized there was a lot of legitimate stuff i used my phone for. texting/facetiming friends, getting directions, listening to music, checking the weather, ordering takeout, etc.
after a couple days, i found out that getting my average weekly screentime (iphones track this automatically) to around an hour was a doable goal. an hour might still seem like a lot, but spread across the whole day it feels like a good amount. i’m only ever using it for a minute or two at a time to search something or reply to a text.
by measuring my progress by the week instead of the day, i was able to not feel too bad if i went over by a little one day. i’d just make up for it the next day.
if i can keep it up for 2 months (i’m almost there!), then i’ll buy myself something i’ve been wanting for a while as a reward.
figure out what it is that makes your phone so addicting, and come up with alternatives. i realized for me, it was just wanting something to do with my hands. i found a few things to keep me busy: reading, crossword puzzles, jewelry making, even just fidgeting with something. i also got a digital clock for my room so i wasn’t picking it up to check the time so often.
using other tech might not fit with your goals, but my google home has helped a lot. if i have a quick question that’s bugging me i can just ask, instead of getting pulled into a research rabbit hole.
if your goal is to cut out tech completely, you’ll need to come up with alternatives for the more practical stuff, too.
give yourself physical reminders
1- changing my wallpaper (it had been the same for a year) made me more aware that i was checking my phone at all. before i’d just mindlessly pick it up without really noticing, but having it look different than i’m used to helps remind me what i’m doing and to keep it quick.
2- some people say to keep your phone in another room. personally if i’m walking somewhere to get my phone i’m going to use it for a while to make it worth the effort. instead, i keep it just slightly out of reach. somewhere that i have to bend to a weird position to reach, but not actually get up. this way i’m not mindlessly grabbing it, but don’t feel like i need to check everything at once to make it “worth” the effort of getting it.
apple has a built in feature called that will alert you when you’ve spent x amount of time on your phone or a certain app. i tried this for a while and it made absolutely no difference - i’d just dismiss it and keep scrolling.
i personally didn’t want to just delete the apps i was spending too much time on. i have a couple friends whose main form of communitcation is sending me tiktoks, and i keep up with college friends through instagram. i did have luck with deleting the reddit and facebook apps, though, since those added absolutely nothing to my life.
focus apps actually made me check my phone more. there’s one where you grow trees by not using your phone, and i was constantly looking to see how cute my little forest was which totally defeated the purpose.
now i can use my phone to make my life easier, but don’t feel like i’m completely dependent on it. that’s been huge for my mental health and overall wellbeing, so i really hope you give it a try!!
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