We can’t imagine life without a smartphone. Just look around and see that everyone, young and old, is devoted to their smartphone. Unfortunately, the use of the smartphone has adverse consequences, like stress, sleeping problems, “whatsapp finger” and traffic accidents. Therefore it is smart to decrease your smartphone use. In this blog I will give you useful tips to spend less time on your phone.

Without is not possible

There are people who choose to not use a smartphone at all. But that is not feasible for most of us. We use our phones for “fun” but also for functional tasks. Think about it: when was the last time you found your way to a new destination purely by your sense of direction and by reading the signs?

Tips

A more feasible solution is to reduce the use of your smartphone. You will succeed with these tips:

1. Measure it! It is useful to find out how much time you actually spend on your smartphone. There are apps that can help you. Examples are: QualityTime, BreakFree, Screen Time, YourHour, My Phone Time and StayFree.
2. Once you have an idea of ??how much time you really spend on your smartphone, it is smart to decide if you want to reduce this time. 9 out of 10 times the answer is “Yes” and you can proceed to the next tip.
3. Consider what a feasible goal is for you. If you have many relatives living abroad and you use Whatsapp to stay in touch with them, I can imagine that you “have to” spend more time on your phone than someone whose entire family lives in the same village.
4. Think about how you will fill in the time that has become available. When I started to spend less time on my phone, I noticed that I often had moments when I had nothing to do. At those moments I quickly grabbed my phone again. I noticed that I started scrolling on Instagram out of boredom and not so much because I enjoyed what I saw. I choose to read a book at those moments.

You can fill in you time as you wish. Do you want to use that time to do nothing? Do you want to spend more time with family? Do you want to pick up a hobby? It is useful to think in advance here, because that is motivating.

1. Do not forget to talk about your new plans with your environment. Sometimes we are so enthusiastic about something that we want to dive into it right away, but most of us do not live in social isolation. Your decision to “disconnect” more often will affect your loved ones. It is wise to manage expectations about your availability from the start.
2. There are useful apps that help limit your screen time, such as Moment (iOS) from AppDetox (Android). For example, you will receive a notification if you have been on your phone for too long.
3. Put your phone out of sight and in a place where you can not reach it easily. If you are reading a book on the couch, put your phone on the other side of the room and not in front of you on the coffee table.
4. Limit the amount of social media apps you are active on. For example, do you have Instagram and Youtube and Snapchat and Twitter and Facebook and WhatsApp and Pinterest and Reddit? Check if you really enjoy using these apps. Which tip will you use to reduce your smartphone use? Share it with your coach in the NiceDay app.