Am I spending too much time on the phone? How many times do you check your phone a day? With the growing concerns around increasing device usage, smartphone addiction and social media impacting on mental health, Apple introduced the Screen Time. If you realized you are addicted to your phone, you may try the Screen Time on iPhone which helped me reduced down my screen time by 51% last week.
And I do plan to limit my screen time to 1 hour per day next week.
Go to Settings > Screen Time, then turn on screen time if you haven’t already.
Tap App Limits, then tap Add Limit.
Select one or more app categories. Here you can set limits for individual apps or categories. If you select multiple categories or apps, the time limit you set applies to all of them.
Tap Next button, then set the amount of time allowed. To set an amount of time for each day, tap Customize Days, then set limits for specific days. When you finish setting limits, tap Add button at the upper right corner.
The idea behind Screen Time is to make you aware of the amount of time you are spending on your devices and what you are doing on them, so you can regain control instead of being controlled.
Why we’re addicted to our phone?
When we receive something interesting on our phones, such as a text from a loved one, Facebook likes, a reward called dopamine will be produced in our brain. Dopamine makes us happy. It feels good, so we keep hoping to get a little hit of it. Similar to gambling and drugs addiction.
Other methods, tricks to control our phone use
- Put the phone away from your body. Instead of your pocket, put it in your purse, briefcase, or even another room at home.
- Turn off notifications on the phone.
- Use a watch, real alarm clock instead of your phone.
- Turn your phone off during certain hours each day, for example, turn it off before you go to sleep.
- Find some alternative ways to feel happy and proud, music, sports, painting, cooking, etc.
- Stop worrying, calm your fears. Nothing New Under the Sun.
- Read more paper books, not e-books.
- Meet and talk with family and friends in real life, other than online chatting or phone calls.