When you are starting to think of that cell phone or smartphone as a natural extension of your hand, then you are beginning to have a problem. If you find yourself at this point, you are addicted to that piece of technology and need some useful tips for curbing smartphone use.
Limit Yourself to a Certain Amount of Tech Time Helps for Curbing Smartphone Use
Our phones are important, but not when you allow them to dominate your life. They can cripple our actual interactions with others in doing so in place of face to face conversations. Constantly focusing on checking our phones, relationships and family time can suffer. What can be more frustrating than when several phones start ringing at the dinner table? Therefore, we owe it to ourselves to keep track of how much time we spend on our phones and set a limit.
In fact, some people can become so dependent on their phones that they feel uncomfortable interacting at all with others. Still, others, especially young children and teenagers may also never develop proper social communication skills necessary for a happy life.
Some people will make an excuse that their jobs demand constant communication and that they always must be reachable. No one is that important except for those in medical or emergency positions where life and death are at sake.
Curbing smartphone use will be harder for some than others, but there is always an app that can help you see the truth in your phone usage. An app can let you see those hours spent for a realistic picture of how much time you have allocated to it when you could be doing other things or relaxing.
Staying Safe When Driving Means Curbing Smartphone Use
Driving and texting or talking on cell phones or smartphones is breaking the law. Some 16 states ban using hand-held cell phones while driving. Furthermore, 47 states consider it illegal to text when driving as well. If you don’t want to risk a ticket or a car accident, curbing smartphone use in the car is especially valuable to your well-being. The best course of action is retiring your phone from where you normally keep it such as in your handbag in a less convenient place in your car where you can’t reach it. Try moving the phone to the backseat or the trunk through your commute until you reach your destination. As simple as this sounds, this change of your phone’s location could save your life.
Keep Your Distance From Your Phone at Night for Curbing Smartphone Use
Learn how to separate more wisely from your phone at night and allow yourself to relax. Turn if off at least an hour before bedtime and lock it away in a room to charge in the far part of your home over your bedroom. Keeping that phone in the bedroom where you want to rest is a bad idea if you hope to sleep. Seeing that smartphone only offers temptation and is just as distracting for stress levels as seeing clutter or a briefcase to get your mind worrying about what you left behind to do at work.
Eliminate Games From Your Screen Helps in Curbing Smartphone Use
What else helps in curbing smartphone use is getting rid of all the games you loaded on your phone. The fewer of them you see every day, the more that you will be able to use your phone for what it was originally intended for.
There is nothing wrong with playing games on your phone, but keep the number to a minimum. What you may want to try is saving the ones you want in a separate folder on another screen that will take you longer to access. Trying to monitor your game playing time can help keep you more focused.
Stop Notifications for Curbing Smartphone Use
Another easy trick for curbing smartphone use is unsubscribing from text messages notifications from any app that you use.
Hobbies Are a Handy Aid for Curbing Smartphone Use
When you think about all the time that you talk, text or browse on your smartphone and can’t let it go, you should ask is this the best thing that I can be doing? Hobbies often can help give you a better way to fill that void of smartphone dependence. You might find that you don’t miss cutting some ties with that phone once you gain a new interest or meet new friends.
Give some serious thought to the role that phone does play in your life and ask is it worth the price compared to curbing smartphone use? After all, you are exposed to cell phone radiation. According to the FDA, the low levels of radiofrequency energy (RF) emitted cause tissue damage and increase body temperatures, especially in the areas of the eyes and testes. However, who is to say how much damage can be inflicted since each of us are different with unique body chemistry. This is yet another reason why curbing smartphone use is beneficial.
It’s crazy how a post like this is so relevant. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as guilty as anyone else of excessive tablet use.
I am a dinosaur. I actually dont use a cellphone. We do have one- between hubby and myself. He is always after me to take it when I go somewhere and he isnt along. I most usually forget. We got one after he had a heart attack and cancer… to call relatives and such since cellphones you can call easier.
This is a great post so many will use them and ignore the world around them.