In today’s day and age we live and breathe through our phones and tablets. It’s easy to say some people are addicted to social media. Did you know that on average you spend ninety minutes every day on your phone? That is some serious time dedicated just to browsing through Facebook, Snapchat, Groupon, and the other apps you have downloaded. If you don’t believe that you spend that much time on your phone, download Moment, an app that tracks your screen time.
With the holidays around the corner, now more than ever you and your family should be putting down the electronics and encouraging face-to-face conversation. Here are a few tips you can use to encourage yourself and others to take a time-out on technology.
Unset all your notifications
This is probably the easiest “trick” to using your phone less. Your notifications will still be waiting for you, but you won’t get notified every time you get an e-mail or a Facebook Like.
Set up phone-free times—and stick to them!
Going out for the afternoon with your family or friends? Have everyone agree to NOT USE their phone. If you openly talk about wanting more face-to-face time with your loved ones, they will probably agree and put away their phones too. With good activities and conversations, you won’t even be thinking about checking your phone.
Read a book
Commit to reading that book that you haven’t gotten around to. Set a deadline for when you will finish it. This way, when you’re aimlessly looking through your phone, you will want to pick up that book and finish it.
