5 simple tips to spend less time on your phone

There has been news that we’re spending more time on our phones than with our significant others. It’s apparent that it might be about time we think about reducing our screen time and there’s no better time than now!

New research shows that smartphone addiction is related to psychological characteristics and the more you use your phone the higher the risk of becoming addicted. The study’s average user spent 3.6 hours per pay on their phone, with 13% of participants described as “addicted.” The psychological characteristics of smartphone addiction, and its links to narcissism, are particularly worrying.

There is also a strong link between social media and time spent on smartphones. Too much social media or smartphone usage may be costing you more than just time; it may be stealing your happiness, stunting development in children and decreasing academic and social potential. Extended amounts of time spent on Facebook, shows to have increased feelings of loneliness and studies have linked tablet usage with stunted development in toddlers.

So how can we try and build those boundaries so that we spend less time on our phones? Here are some suggestions…

1. Turn off notifications
Does checking a single notification turn into a full hour of phone browsing? Don’t worry you’re not alone – it’s all too easy to get sucked into the social media world through one alert.

If you disable all unnecessary notifications, this is less likely to happen. Even muting your device to stop audio alerts can end the impulse we all have to check our phones whenever they chirp.

2. Find out how much you’re using your phone
If you’d like to shock yourself into reducing phone time, maybe some cold hard stats would help!

There are plenty of different apps, such as QualityTime for Android and Moment for iOS that monitor your phone usage and inform you just how many hours a day you’re spending staring at your screen.

These apps also allow you to set alerts to remind you if you are using your phone too much.

3. Set up phone-free periods every day

You really don’t need your phone at the dinner table, in the bathroom or while you’re watching a movie or reading a book!

Try to set up phone-free periods during the day. Schedule them when you’re busy doing something else, in order to make the break a bit easier. For example, you could put your phone on Airplane Mode for the first hour after you get home from work. Chances are you’ll be busy making dinner, spending time with your family or getting ready to go out, so you won’t feel the need to check in.

4. Don’t use your phone as an alarm clock
Don’t even take your phone into your bedroom. How many of us, as we set our alarms, check our phones just before we go to sleep? And then how many of us, once the alarm has gone off, check our phones first thing in the morning.

Removing your phone from the room can also remove the overall temptation.

5. Train yourself with “tech breaks”
If these tips don’t work for you and you’re still spending too much time on your phone than you’d like, then you may need to kick it up a notch.

One easy way to slowly train yourself is with tech breaks. Start off by looking at your phone for one minute and checking all forms of communication, including texts, calls and social media. Then turn it off, set the alarm for 15 minutes and place it face-down in plain sight. The upside-down phone reminds your brain to not release stress and anxiety neurotransmitters.

The next time it rings or beeps check it only for one minute. Keep doing that until it feels natural not to check in, and see that you didn't miss anything.

Try to increase your tech break by five minutes every week or so, and soon you will be able to not check in for an hour or more without getting anxious about what you may have missed. It’ll also train your friends, family and colleagues to not expect that immediate response!

Should we be worried about how much time we are spending on our phones? Well, it could be killing our social ability to interact with humans in real life. Now more than ever we must work hard to create a sense of balance and even a sense of boundary building when it comes to social media and smartphone usage.

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Written By: Christine Romans