Tip 1: Start with a small mindfulness exercise
Are you scrolling through Instagram or Facebook? Then do a small mindfulness exercise. ‘Does what I’m doing on my phone right now make me feel good? What is my posture like? How is my breathing? Do I really want to look at my phone now?’ By becoming more aware of your behavior, you can change it more easily, Price believes.
Also immediately consider whether scrolling through those Instagram posts was really your own choice, or whether you were, so to speak, sucked into it. Ask yourself: what do I actually want to devote my attention to?
Tip 2: Take back control
Turn off all notifications that cause you to be guided in the choices you make. Mute all groups in WhatsApp and read them whenever you want. On most phones, you can set which important messages you do want to receive notifications for, for example by creating a VIP list of contacts.
Tip 3: Look at your phone use differently
Try to view your relationship with your phone in a different way. Don’t think: I’m missing something if I don’t look at my phone; instead, think: I’m missing something if I do look at my phone. After all, the time you spend on your phone is time you are not spending on other things you enjoy, such as spending time with friends or pursuing a hobby. Price: “By thinking about it in that way, it becomes easier to distance yourself from your smartphone.”
Tip 4: Start with a trial separation
Practice distancing yourself from your phone by, for example, leaving it at home when you go for a walk. Or leave your phone in your pocket during a train journey. “At first, you’ll be astonished by how powerful your craving for your phone is.” A mindfulness exercise is useful here too, Price discovered: “Pay attention to your desire for your phone. What is happening in your mind, and how does it feel in your body? Keep this up for a while and you’ll see that the desire slowly fades.”
Tip 5: Look at other people
When you see someone staring at their phone in the elevator or on the train, our natural reaction is to reach for our own phones too, writes Price. “Resist this urge and seize the moment to become aware of yourself. Take a deep breath, relax your shoulders and think about your own phone use.”
Tip 6: Set rules for yourself
Be your own mother and give yourself some rules about your phone use. No phone during meals, no phone in bed, and avoid ‘phubbing’. This is a combination of phone and snubbing, and refers to moments when looking at your phone is considered socially rude. For example: looking at your phone in the middle of a conversation (this happens more often than you think), staring at your phone at a party, or sending that quick message during dinner with family or friends. Price: “Only take out your phone if it genuinely contributes to the conversation, for example if you want to show a photo or check your calendar to schedule the next appointment.”
Tip 7: Put up barriers for yourself
Most of the times you look at your phone are what Price calls ‘zombie checks’. You have picked up your phone out of habit, and twenty minutes later you snap out of a mindless scrolling session on Instagram. “Zombie checks are almost always unsatisfying and leave you feeling that you are wasting your life,” says Price. A simple intervention such as putting a rubber band around your phone or using a screen lock with a warning—‘are you sure you want to check your phone?’—can help you counter zombie checking.
If none of this works, Price offers a last resort: think about what you would wish for on your deathbed. It probably isn’t: ‘I wish I had spent more time on Facebook’.
Source: de Volkskrant.