How to Reduce Screen Time

Living in the rise of technology and our digital age makes it hard to not be on your phone. Most of us rely on our phones for school, work, or keeping up with friends. It has become such an important part of our daily lives, especially with social distancing due to COVID-19. For many people during quarantine, the only social interaction they had was online. On average, Gen Z and Millennials spend between 4 and 5.7 hours per day on their phones. It is easy to lose track of how much time you spend on your phone, which often leads to heavily depending on it. Here are some tips on how to help change your behavior with your phone and lower your usage. 

Turn Off as Many Notifications as Possible

By turning off notifications on your phone, you won’t be constantly lured into checking it for every little notification that pops up. When we see our phone notifying us about something usually, we immediately want to check it. If we don’t have notifications on, there will be a higher chance of forgetting about our phones for a while since there was nothing to remind us to go back to it. 

If you don’t want to turn off all notifications entirely, then you can just choose the apps that you don’t want notifications from. For example, you can start by silencing all your social media apps, and then maybe text messages too. You can leave phone calls on for emergencies. You can manage notifications by going into the settings on your phone. 

Keep Phone in Bag while Socializing

If you are socializing with friends or family, try putting your phone away somewhere you can’t see it, or feel it if it vibrates for a notification. You can even challenge your friends to do the same and you can bet on who can go the longest without their phone!

If you need to keep track of the time, then invest in a watch. That way you will be able to see the time by looking at your wrist and you won’t need to check your phone as often. 

Keep Phone Away Before Bed and When You Wake Up

For a lot of people their phone is the last thing they see before going to sleep and the first thing they see when they wake up. Try putting it away from your bed and silence it so you don’t hear or see any notifications that may wake you up. If you use your phone as an alarm, try getting an alarm that isn’t on a phone. 

Delete Social Media Apps Temporarily

Go to your phone settings to see your phone usage percentage, and it can show you how much time you spend on each app. Check which apps are used the most and delete them off your phone temporarily. Try this for a few days or even weeks, and you will see how much time you can reduce on your phone!

Work with Phone Away from Desk

Whenever you are at your desk, whether it be for school or work, put your phone somewhere far away so you won’t look at it if you get a notification and you won’t be able to hear it if anyone texts or calls. You will also be less inclined to reach for it and get distracted on it if it is further away. This way you will lower your phone percentage and be more productive with your work as well!

If you want to lower your phone percentage and change your digital behavior, then join us by clicking the link below and signing up for our 21 Day Digital Wellness Challenge!

https://www.icanhelp.net/21-day-digital-wellness-challenge