{"id":131163,"date":"2024-03-22T08:29:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T12:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/?p=131163"},"modified":"2024-04-03T11:44:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T15:44:40","slug":"how-to-break-dependence-on-the-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/22\/how-to-break-dependence-on-the-phone\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Break Dependence on the Phone"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">By <a href=\"http:\/\/leobabauta.com\/\">Leo Babauta<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>On average, people spend more than 3 hours on their phones each day, picking up their phones nearly 60 times a day \u2026 with some people spending closer to 4 hours.<\/p>\n<p>These numbers aren\u2019t meant to be judgments \u2014 it\u2019s not a bad thing to look at your phone \u2014 but instead are meant to bring some awareness to our phone usage.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of people I talk to want to decrease their usage of phones \u2014 not necessarily decreasing to zero, but decreasing impulsive usage of their phones.<\/p>\n<p>Many of us tend to grab our phones anytime there\u2019s a lull, and once you get on your phone it can lead to mindless scrolling.<\/p>\n<p>So how can we develop more mindful use of our phones, and become less dependent on them?<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s explore together.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Becoming More Mindful of Phone Usage<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t have awareness, you can\u2019t change something. So the most important first step is to start to bring mindfulness to your phone usage.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s how:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Get a small notebook or scrap of paper, and each time you reach for your phone, make a tally mark on the paper. This will bring awareness to reaching for your phone.<\/li>\n<li>Notice what you\u2019re feeling when you reach for the phone. Write that down on the paper or notebook as well. Boredom, anxiety, overwhelm, sadness, loneliness, fear, frustration. This is the reason you\u2019re reaching for the phone \u2014 in hopes of dealing with this emotion (hint: it doesn\u2019t work).<\/li>\n<li>Take three breaths before you actually unlock the phone. You have the phone in your hand \u2026 pause for a moment and take three breaths. Notice the feeling you\u2019re feeling that makes you want to reach for the phone. Do the breaths help with the feeling?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Commit to doing this for a week. You\u2019ll develop beautiful mindfulness around your phone usage, even if you don\u2019t stop using the phone.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Breaking the Habit of Phone Dependence<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At this point, your mindful practice has set you up for success to break the habit.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at how to change the habit:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Understand your Why<\/strong>: Before you start, ask yourself why you want to make this change. Is it important, or is it a \u201cthis would be nice\u201d kind of thing? If it\u2019s just going to be \u201cnice\u201d to make the change, you won\u2019t stick with it, because it\u2019s not more important than your urges. You need a more meaningful reason: it\u2019s going to lead to better mental health, better relationships, better productivity with your meaningful work, or whatever would be meaningful for you. Write this reason down and have it somewhere you\u2019ll see it each day.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Set an intention<\/strong>: Commit yourself to making this change. Is your intention to not look at social media or certain apps on your phone? Is it to only use those apps twice a day for 30 minutes each session? Is it to never use your phone except for reading or music? Set a clear intention, and commit yourself to it for a certain amount of time (let\u2019s say 4 weeks).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lock screen reminder<\/strong>: Make your phone lock screen something that will remind you of your intention. A nature scene, a quote, a photo of your kids, whatever it takes. This will help you bring awareness whenever the urge comes up.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Find other meaningful activities<\/strong>: What do you want to do instead of look at your phone? It should be something that 1) addresses the emotions you identified in the \u201cmindful\u201d section above and 2) you enjoy or find meaningful. For example, if you reach for your phone when you feel overwhelmed or anxious \u2026 maybe sitting in meditation, doing a few yoga poses, or going for a short walk will help you deal with those emotions, and lead to greater health or mental clarity. Other ideas: connect with a friend, do some stretches or pushups, drink a cup of tea, do some breathing exercises, or write someone a love note.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pause practice<\/strong>: When you are about to use your phone, practice taking a short pause. Breathe. Notice your emotions. Tend to them. Consider your meaningful Why and your intention. If you can\u2019t avoid using the phone after this pause, don\u2019t beat yourself up. Just introducing the pause is a huge, huge step. Celebrate any progress.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Be willing to be with all of life<\/strong>: We most often use our phones because there are things we don\u2019t want to feel or experience. It\u2019s an avoidance mechanism. But what if we train ourselves to open up to all experiences, all parts of life? We don\u2019t need our coping mechanisms anymore. So each time you reach for the phone, practice being with and opening to the experience you want to avoid. This is a training, and with practice, you\u2019ll increase your capacity to experience and love every experience that life has to offer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Daily review<\/strong>: At the end of each day, before you go to sleep, set a reminder to do a short review. How did you do with your intention? What got in the way? What feelings did you resist being with? What can you improve tomorrow? Be compassionate with yourself. But use this daily review for continual learning and improvement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is not an easy habit to change, but it\u2019s changeable \u2026 if you commit yourself, and find a meaningful reason. And if you let yourself continue to learn and grow in this process.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/zenhabits.net\/break-phone-dependence\/\">How to Break Dependence on the Phone<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/zenhabits.net\">zen habits<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Leo Babauta On average, people spend more than 3 hours on their phones each day, picking up their phones [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177,175,176],"tags":[180,178,179],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131164,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131163\/revisions\/131164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yorbestlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}