A little while ago I got a brand new phone. I was so excited for it because my last phone had been shattered and I was in desperate need of a new one. I didn’t know I would be purchasing a phone when I went into the Verizon store, so I didn’t have a phone case on hand. This led me to walking around for about a week without a phone case, which is an extremely bad scenario for someone like me who, on average, drops my phone at least once a day.
Then, as you may be able to imagine, my phone had a crack before the week was over. Luckily, I know myself pretty well and purchased insurance on the phone. Unfortunately, this insurance included me sending my phone away for about five days with no replacement phone. During this time I came to realize just how codependent I am with my phone. I use it constantly for music, directions, to view my calendar, contact people, and for social media. While some of these uses are valid, some of them (*cough cough* social media) are not. So I decided I wanted to research and find good ways to reduce my screen time and here is what I found.
One way to track screen time is simply to track it. I know whenever I see the Sunday notification of my screen time or I accidentally swipe over and see how much time I have spent on my device, I feel quite guilty and want to change my habits. The more we look at how much time we spend on devices, the less we want to use it. So once a day, try to see how much time you have spent on your phone to hopefully prevent more use or download an app to track your time.
Another great solution is to set limits on the apps you find yourself using the most. For example, setting a 30 minute timer for Instagram and TikTok could save you so much time throughout the day if you usually spend multiple hours on these apps. For Androids and iPhones, there is a built-in feature where you can set a timer and it will alert you to leave the app once you have been on it for the amount of time set. This is good, but a way to make it stronger is to add a password that only a friend or parent knows. This way you can’t get on it even if you really want to and it will force you to do something else.
If these don’t work for you or you are looking for something more creative, try turning off color and viewing your phone in grayscale or black and white. This works because it makes your phone more boring and without color, and your brain does not receive the same gratification as it would from viewing your phone with color. A study found people who turned color off reduced their screen time by 40 minutes on average per day.
I plan on trying grayscale to reduce my screen time. Instead of just blocking me for using my phone or shaming me it simply makes me not want to be on my phone and makes it boring for me. I hope I have inspired you to join my journey to improve screen time!