Have you ever looked around at a restaurant or on a city bus and noticed how many people around you are staring into their smart phones with a lost, blank look on their face? Have you ever just zoned out then all of a sudden “come to” and realized you are mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest?
I am definitely raising my hand here. Smart phones are game changers in how we relate to the world around us, but if we aren’t super intentional about how we are using our phones, they begin to use us.
I’m sure you’ve read an alarming statistic or two about how much time people are spending on their phones these days. In 2017, the average person spent 3.3hrs/day on their phone, which is a massive increase from the good ol days in 2008 where people spent an average of .3 hrs/ day on their phone.
My own personal statistics are less than stellar, but ARE better than the average and are improving every day. Based on the numbers in my screen time app, I spend an average of 2.5 hrs per day on my phone and pick up/ unlock my phone 80 times a day. My most commonly used apps are Instagram, Kakao maps ( navigation), my camera (surprised by that one), and Kakao talk ( social messaging in S. Korea).
2.5 hours a day add ups to 17.5 hours a week, which exceeds the amount of waking hours in a day. That means I spend essentially an entire day once a week starting in the abyss of my phone. That is completely absurd.
I think we can all agree, we would like to spend more time actually living our lives and less time mindlessly scrolling through Instagram watching other people live theirs.
These are some of the strategies that have worked for me as I continually try to reduce my screen time.
#1 Check out your screen time usage
Don’t they always say that awareness is half of the battle? The first step towards building a new relationship with your smart phone is to shine a light on how much you are actually using that thing. If you have an iPhone all you have to do is go into settings and select the screen time menu option. This will give you a break down of your screen time usage for the current day and the past 7 days.
Don’t be afraid. Just open it up and have a look. This is your starting point. It is only going to get better from here. Plus think of how many minutes and hours of each day you are going to get back once you get this under control.
#2 Change the pass code on the reg
Obviously face and fingerprint recognition are super cool to geek out about. I mean how amazing is it that you can glance down at your phone and it magically unlocks? But I think this is actually a huge problem. In my experience that little feature makes it way too easy to mindlessly unlock your phone and end up down a rabbit hole of zombie scrolling.
One of the most successful tricks I have done so far to reduce my screen time is to disable fingerprint recognition and enable a pass code. Then I change the pass code once every one to two weeks. Yes, this is annoying, but that is the whole point.
Whenever I create a new pass code it creates some friction to opening my phone. Each time I type in the new pass code I actually have to think about it. This creates an intentional pause where I can stop and ask myself “wait… why am I unlocking my phone, what do I actually need to do?” If I can’t answer that question, then I can just stop right there and put my phone down. Whenever my pass code gets too familiar and the muscle memory can take over, it is time to change it up and start over again!
#3 Disable notifications
This has also been a game changer for me. Over the years, my smart little fingers have been trained to gravitate towards those tiny red circles indicating a new match on tinder or DM on Instagram. Even worse are the notifications that pop up when your phone is locked, or ding so that you can hear them from across the room.
Do you really need to know right away if someone comments on your latest Instagram post? Is it necessary for you to be immediately aware if one of your parents friends sends you a Facebook friend request?
Most of us are such slaves to our notifications and it is time we claim our lives, time and attention span back. I went radical and disabled ALL of my notifications from ALL my social media apps. The only one I kept was What’s app because that is how I communicate with my family. Once I did this, I was clicking on the apps significantly less. If there is nothing to visually trigger you to open the app, you are much less likely to do it.
#4 Stop sleeping with your phone
Most of us treat our smart phones like teddy bears and snuggle up next to them at night for comfort. Trust me, I have been there as well. This is a hard habit to break and one that I am still inconsistent with. But I think a huge chunk of my 2.5 hours / day of screen time occurs right before I go to sleep and in the morning when I am procrastinating getting out of bed. What a crappy way to start and end the day.
I always feel so much happier, peaceful and well rested when I plug my phone in somewhere out of reach from my bed. This removes any temptation to just “check it real quick”. It allows me to drift off to sleep without my mind buzzing from all of the social media I just consumed. It allows me to start my day with intention instead of reacting to whatever is thrown at me on my phone.
#5 Delete email from your phone entirely
I know. This seems like crazy talk. I got this idea from Jenna Kutcher and implementing it has freed up so much mental space. I mean, think about it, do you ever really write quality emails from your phone? Or are you more often just opening up emails, thinking about a response, stressing over a response and then closing out the app to do it later. This isn’t productive. It just wastes time and takes up so much brain space.
Do yourself a favor and give this a try. Delete gmail, or apple mail or whatever e-mail app you use from your phone entirely. Then make it a habit to log into your inbox regularly from your computer when you actually have time to properly sift through and respond. This way you are only seeing each email once and you don’t have the extra stress of unanswered emails hanging over your head.
So there you have it. These are the top 5 methods that have worked best for me in my quest to limit screen time. If you are looking for ways to reduce your screen time as well, pick one of these methods and give it a try.
Is there anything you do that has worked well in helping you put the phone down? I’d love to know your ideas. Comment below and share your best tips and tricks.
