3 Quick habits to a healthier relationship with your smartphone

Lately, I’ve been craving simplicity in my digital life. Have you ever felt that nostalgic yearning for a simpler time? Well, what was simpler about it?

A: Technology (obviously this isn’t everything, but it’s a big one)

Q: At what point did tech creep up on us and suck us into its six-pack millionaire neighbourhood with constant war, narcissism and gossip on every street, and every corner a new product for you to buy and lifestyle to achieve?

A: I have a longing for the time when people were connected, but not like they are today. Generation 1 smartphones – text, call, calculator, music, app store and a basic browser, before Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and WhatsApp (yes, WhatsApp) took off. I’m talking of the humble world of 2009-2011. In my opinion, the perfect balance of connectivity and simple living occurred during this time.

So. How do we go back so many years without technologically alienating ourselves?

Here’s how to slash that screen time…

Habit 1) App tidy

Our first port of call is the app tidy – for this it might be handy to look at your screen time and delete accordingly.
If you need any for work/business/study then keep them – iPhone have a great feature where you can just hide them instead of deleting them, this means you have to actively want to open the app (as opposed to mindlessly clicking apps to get that dopamine hit).
Social media is a great time and esteem sucker, its also great for imposing sad/annoying news stories or posts on your life that wouldn’t have affected you otherwise – you’re taking on other peoples burdens and they are usually unfixable, this is literal psychological torture.
Games – more forgiving than social media, but nonetheless a distraction and some are specifically designed to be addictive (not mentioning any candy related apps).
Dating apps – much like the game apps, they operate on an addictive “slot machine type system and encourages superficial judgement of others.
Internet browsers – okay, in my ideal 2010 smartphone world we did have browsers, sometimes you need to check something that you may not know and if you cannot access it directly from a library, book or friend then you may google. In iPhone you can block Safari through “content and privacy restrictions”. Note – this is as easily undone as is applied.
I have deleted apps that I just plain don’t use, deleted social media and WhatsApp (WhatsApp made me feel like all my friends were in the room with me at all times and I need my space). My current home screen consists of: text, call, mail and mobile banking.

Habit 2) Greyscale

Phones these days, particularly apps are made to be as aesthetically pleasing as possible, we like looking at nice things after all. By turning your phone black and white you make your phone screen less appealing than a newspaper.
One strange but welcomed side effect of this is that I seem to appreciate natural colours much more than usual.

Habit 3) Notifications

Switch all notifications off that will actively take your attention away from whatever you are doing.
The only exception to this is letting the “red bubble” remain – this helps by preventing you compulsively opening “messages” to see if anyone has texted you.
Calls are your discretion, do not disturb is nice at night but may be important to you based on your situation I.e. you’re an on-call doctor who could be contacted at any time.
Mail – ALL notifications are off, including the red bubble. Seeing 33,432 new emails was not great. I added important emailers to my VIP list and I check my emails daily for these starred contacts.
Unsubscribe from mail that you don’t care about – new wines for spring, some distant acquaintance’s mum’s birthday, dominoes’ extortionate budget pizza deals etc.

Conclusion

There are pros and cons to doing this; the main reason for me to make this change is just to make my life a little simpler and to dial back the influx of new information bombarding me on a seemingly minute-by-minute basis.

You will need to bear in mind the potential strain on your relationships after cutting socials and limiting messaging to the old fashioned text and calls.

So far, there has been a minimal impact on my social life and a massive increase in wellbeing – I no longer feel guilty around using my phone, it is now a utility and not a dopamine-releasing slot machine full of irrelevant and psychologically manipulating software.