Let’s just state the obvious here … everyone goes on their phones whether it’s using it for your alarm, mindlessly scrolling through social media, looking stuff up, or just pressing the home button to count down the minutes you have left in a boring class with the professor talking your ear off. Our phones provide a safe haven and comfort because we won’t get judged, we can be anonymous, and we can educate ourselves on celebrity drama or something relevant to our class. But, using technology too much can create problems such as needing glasses, decreasing human interaction, and just wasting valuable time.
Use a Different Type of Alarm
One way to use your phone less is to buy an alarm clock. Yes, I am talking about the olden day device that most of you probably haven’t used one since the mid 2000s, with the sound of a rooster. Instead of pulling out your phone to scroll through what you missed in the past six hours while you were sleeping, you can use an alarm clock to prevent this from happening. Journal what you hope to accomplish throughout the day, and even do morning stretches or meditate (without your phone) to help clear your head instead of looking at what the current tea is with Jeffree Star as soon as you wake up.
Set Personal Limits
Another way to use your phone less is to set limits on your phone. By setting limits on apps, you limit yourself from mindlessly scrolling on social media and can actually get work done. I’m sure that all of you at some point in your school career get one assignment done and then take a 2-hour break staring at your phone. Instead of letting this constant habit of procrastination occur, let your phone die and don’t charge it until you finish your assignments and then reward yourself by giving yourself limited time on your phone because the truth there is always something for school that could get done and will just pile up on us if we don’t finish early.
Limit Comparison & Drama
The third way to use your phone less is to decrease our addiction. We all compare ourselves to celebrities and create an ideal image in our heads. A classic example is being tall, skinny, and having a six-pack of abs. This image doesn’t define beauty so we shouldn’t spend all our time staring at our phones wishing we could be something that is unattainable and focus on the good qualities that we have and accepting that we all won’t look like Gigi Hadid but that doesn’t make us ugly either. Our phones also provide a safe haven that gives us the ability to watch celebrity drama and get invested in it rather than knowing about the current news in the world unless a celebrity tweets about it. We spend all day staring at a screen probably only processing about 1% of what we actually look at for about 10 hours a day.
We think that using our phones provides protection because we won’t be judged behind a screen and talking to a new person can be awkward and nerve working. I even had a friend say she felt naked without her phone. It becomes a part of us that we never want to lose and give too much attention towards. Obviously, it’s not easy to just lock up your phone and use it once a week but hopefully, these tips will help decrease your addiction and help you appreciate simple things like family, friends, your education, etc. and help give you a balance between a healthy amount of technology and a life without it.
HCXO