It’s the first thing you grab when you wake up and the last thing you look at night. You reach for it countless times in between and panic if you leave it at home. Can you guess what I’m, talking about? Apparently, it’s your phone! If you suffer from phone addiction, trust me you’re not the only one.
Earl Miller, Ph.D., a professor of neuroscience at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT says –
“You can become psychologically addicted to almost anything—including, and maybe even especially, your phone.”
Our smartphones are basically our mini dopamine factory. It continually lets out hits of the feel-good brain chemical as a reward when you get likes on social media or relieve boredom by scrolling Twitter.
Elyssa Barbash, Ph.D., of DoctorElyssa.com, says that the average American ends up reaching for their phone 80 times a day. Being attached to your phone (even if you’re not looking at it) can impair mental functions, sapping your working memory and your ability to perform tasks.
It’s time to snap out of it! Even though that’s way easier said than done, here are a few steps that can help get this process started.
Delete Apps After You Use Them
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Okay, I love Insta, Snapchat, and Twitter just as much as the next girl. So, obviously trying to get rid of them for good just isn’t happening. However, after using them try deleting the app so that you don’t have the shortcut constantly tempting you to click it. Once the app is deleted in order to go back on social media you’ll have to put in an effort to re-download the app which will inevitably cut back on how often you use social media apps.
Change your habits
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Depending on your daily routine, you’ve probably gotten in the habit of checking your phone at specific times throughout the day. By becoming more aware of these habitual reflexes, and taking action to change them, you can reduce your phone time. Consider trying these habits one at a time, gradually weaning yourself off your pocket companion. The best way to go about this is by choosing specific hours during the day you’re going to challenge yourself not to look at your phone.
Download To Detox
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If plans A and B don’t work, there’s always a plan C. If that phone isn’t leaving your hand and you’re too far gone, try these 3 apps. These apps were designed to actually help halt the endless scrolling
- Space: A quiz first diagnoses how you use your phone (how often you are lured in and for what purpose). You then set better goals, and Space tracks how closely you stick to them. Free oniOS and Androids
- Moment: Enter the amount of time you want to spend on your phone each day and Moment will notify you when you have hit your limit. It will also log your use by apps, to help you ID your biggest time sucks. Free on iOS.
- Freedom: You can set it up to block apps, websites, or the entire internet for set periods of time. Override it if you must—unless you use the “locked mode,” which keeps you offline no matter what. $7 per month or $29 a year on iOS.
It’s time you regain power by turning off your notifications completely or keeping your phone on silent or airplane mode. By simply implementing these little hacks and changes into your daily routine, you’ll be sure to notice a difference.
