Have you ever left the house without your cell phone and gone completely crazy about it?
This is a scary good blog… I especially loved #5 Practice trial separations!
Read the entire article by following the link at the bottom. Thanks to Himanshi Shukla and her blog The Caged Bird Sings.
Here’s a checklist to give you something to think about.
- Reframe the way you think about it: Most of us think that mobile phones are status symbols, cool, trending, a pleasure gaining or time pass machine. After a tiresome, boring day at the office, you think that phone lets you relax. When you don’t give enough time to your phone, anxiety surrounds you. All you need to feed now onwards is “spending more time on my life”, instead of “spending less time with my phone”.
- Ask yourself what you want to pay attention to. The people who design apps desperately want your attention. Have you ever wondered, why so many social media apps are free? It’s because the advertisers are the customers, and it is your attention that is being sold. Now ask yourself, what’s your priority in life and where do you want to direct your attention.
- Know that you’re a master and not a slave: A master is one who can have complete control over his instincts, while a slave is controlled by his instincts. If you can understand this difference, you’ll not waste time on social media, despite having apt data services and all the apps on your phone. Remember you have to use your phone and not get used to it or by it.
- Create speed bumps: It’s amazing how we often pick up our phones “just to check”, then look up 20 minutes later wondering how time flies. One solution is to create “speed bumps” which are some obstacles that you’ll create yourself that’ll feed your subconscious mind and ensure that whenever you pick up your phone, it is a result of a conscious choice. A good example is setting a lock screen that reminds you.
- Practice trial separations: Leave your phone at home while going on a walk. Stare out of the window while commuting, instead of using your phone. Pay attention to your craving. What does it feel like in your body? Keep checking and observing it. Slowly, it’ll fade away by its own.
- Use technology to protect yourself from technology: Time cracking apps like Moment, Quality, OFFTIME, etc measure how much time you’re spending on your screen. Results might surprise you!
- Use the sight of other people on their phones as a reminder: Believe it or not, just like yawns, the habit of using the phone is contagious too. Whenever you see someone else using their phones, you can use it as a cue to take a deep breath and relax, and know that you’re a master!
- Get existential about it: If all else fails, consider your own mortality. How many people you think are going to grieve on their deathbeds that if only they’d spent some more time using their phones? Keep on asking this question again and again to yourself. This is your life. How much of it do you want to spend on your phone?
Thanks,
