Facebook seemed easy to quit, but Instagram was harder. I kept telling myself that Twitter was a source of news, and I won’t lie, it was easier to let go of it once I thought about having fewer constant negative headlines in my life. For me, this was a point where I said: I’m either serious about this or not. If you say this to your kids, they will laugh at you, maybe even plot against your well being.
Trick yourself into a mindfulness practice. This got me thinking about all of things that I could be doing instead (like writing this blog), getting out in nature more, etc.ĭay 3: Start paying attention to your own habits (For those friends of mine reading, please call me and I will explain what a feeling is.) The book has you answer some thoughtful questions and then imagine yourself in a world where you are not an addict. Write down your likes, dislikes and “feelings” about your smartphone. If you weren’t already serious about limiting your phone time, this might just scare you into it.
I like Moment because it rewards you for “good” behavior – you’ll see some of my screenshots from the app in this post.
( Here’s a guide.) If you have an Android, you can download the beta of “Digital WellBeing”, which will be a standard feature of Android phones soon.
If you have an iPhone, and you’ve upgraded to the latest iOS software (iOS 12) you can turn the “Screen Time” feature on in Settings and track your usage that way.
I choose Moment, which tracks your daily use of your crack pipe (uh… I mean… smart phone). The first week is all about triage: figuring out what, exactly, you spend time on your phone doing – and how much time you’re actually spending doing those things.
So, here’s the plan I followed to get to 30 days phone sober – modified from the excellent book How to Break Up With Your Phone – which you should really buy.īy the way, if you don’t want to read my whole plan, here’s a cheat tip: Delete social media apps off your phone, and you’ve won most of the battle. But I too have to practice what I preach, and I’m not going to lie: it’s tough. I’ve talked a lot about why I think it’s a good idea for everyone. I’ve talked a lot about phone addiction, and why I’m trying to break mine. It’s the cigarette of our day, the metaphorical bottle of alcohol we all go back to.
It’s time to fast (phast!) from the biggest addiction we have: our phones.