Addicted to your smartphone? Here's how to break your addiction
What's the story
At a time when hectic work schedules and complicated relationships are rampant, smartphones help people manage unpleasant moods and deal with negative emotions. However, excessive use of smartphones can lead to addiction and cause depression, and anxiety over time while affecting your eyesight. According to studies, a typical smartphone user touches their phone 2,617 times daily! Here's how you can cope with smartphone addiction.
Tracking
Monitor and track your cell phone use
According to a study, college students spend at least eight-10 hours daily on their smartphones. If you want to put an end to your addiction and increase your awareness about the problem, track your smartphone use like how many times per hour you check your phone. You can download smartphone usage tracker applications like QualityTime, Checky, etc. to set a specific goal.
Mood-boosting activities
Engage in other mood-boosting activities
Scrolling through social media on your smartphone boosts your mood which triggers you to use it frequently. Therefore, instead of relying on your smartphone for feeling better, you can engage in other mood-boosting activities like exercise, dance, or sports, or even creative things like writing or painting. You can also try a new hobby like playing a musical instrument and be more productive.
Schedule
Set a schedule and stick to it
To cope with your smartphone addiction, you can set alarms on your phone that will specify how often you can check it. You can start with every 15 minutes and gradually move on to every 30 minutes. Then start setting alarms every 45 minutes or one hour. Spend a minute checking your phone once the alarm sounds and then again reset the timer.
Distractions
Turn off your notifications
Notifications are the main distractions that tempt you in using your smartphone and lead to doom scrolling, tweeting, texting, etc. Turning off your notifications or muting them for a certain period of time can help tackle your addiction and help you finish your work on time. Use "do not disturb" mode or turn off notifications of most-used apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
Bedtime
Avoid using your phone at night
Scrolling through social media apps on your smartphone at night is not a rare phenomenon. It is common among most people but definitely worrisome and a sign of smartphone addiction. Therefore, put your phone away at night before bedtime. This will help you sleep better and also improve your eyesight. You can also put your phone to charge overnight in a different room.