SMART PHONE ADDICTION AND HOW TO IMPLEMENT BETTER BOUNDARIES
I stumbled across a Youtube video with Professor Cal Newport discussing his book – QUIT SOCIAL MEDIA and was inspired by his message (…and I do appreciate the irony that I am posting this on social media but I feel like it is so important to discuss).
He talked about how incredibly addicted we are to our devices and how this addiction stopping us from achieving our goals and is reducing our quality of life. As we have this constant source of distraction at our fingertips, we use it as a reward when we feel slightly bored. When we need to focus on something, the number of times we reach for our phones as a source of distraction when our attention wains is alarming when you because more conscious of it.
Professor Newport highlighted that our brains are in ‘input’ mode when we are talking to another human and when we are consuming content. Our brains need time out of ‘input’ mode to process the information we have consumed. Too often when we have any down time such as waiting at the traffic lights, waiting for public transport, or just relaxing - we reach for our phones on impulse. This means that we are never actually alone with our thoughts, and that we are depriving ourselves of the down time required slow the mind and ponder what we have absorbed from the day. I believe that this has a huge impact of the prevalence of anxiety in people today. So many of us do not allow ourselves a moment to process and ponder. The only time people may be getting this is before bed, but so many of us even fall asleep in input mode to TV shows.
Why are we so scared to sit in stillness? Why are we always reaching for this shiny distraction and struggle so much to be quiet with ourselves? This necessary solitude is deeply lacking in society today and is stopping us from being present with those in front of us. When we are socialising, we are reaching for a social pacifier with phones. When we are alone, we are reaching to connect with others through a black mirror.
What are some simple actions you can implement to create better boundaries around phones and social media?
- Put your phone on flight mode at 8pm each night and read a book.
- When you are with someone resist the urge to check your phone and focus on being completely present with that person. You might even make a new friend by chatting to someone over the counter instead of burying your head in your phone.
- If social media is a part of your business, treat it like you would anything else in your business. Schedule an amount of time each day or in your week to do what you need to do on your socials and utilise other software so you can automatically schedule your posts.
- Have set times to check your emails and any other apps throughout that day. Give yourself a quantifiable time in the day so you can stick to it. For example – check your emails once in the morning and once at the end of the day. It might even help to write at the bottom of your emails that your inbox is checked a particular amount of time daily.
Check out the full interview below: