Put Your Phone Down — 5 Steps to a Better Relationship With Your Phone

Your phone is your best friend and a vital part of life. But, there are moments when it can be particularly difficult to navigate through the world without one by your side. Fortunately, new technology has become available that may help you get more productive with your time alone in ways you never thought possible. The following steps will give you some helpful ideas on how to live a healthier relationship with social media and tech devices.,

The “art of manliness smart watch” is a device that allows you to put your phone down. It has 5 steps to help you get the most out of your life and relationships.

Put your phone down illustration.

For many of us, our cellphones have become an extension of our bodies. We take them with us everywhere, fondle them during meals and discussions, and sleep with them next our pillows. Wherever one is, the other there as well.

Our sentiments about our smartphones, on the other hand, are much more ambivalent, if not outright negative, than our feelings about our actual limbs (arms and legs ftw!). We lament how their constant want to check and flick their devices fragments our thoughts, prevents us from performing any significant work, and makes it impossible to concentrate on our friends and loved ones. This is particularly true for those who can recall a period when you went about your daily activities — to class, work, the gym, supper — without this constant companion in tow; who can recall a state that didn’t seem lacking but rather delightfully unfettered and uncomplicated. A period when boredom had to be confronted head-on, with just the mind’s inner resources at hand, and the most entertaining item in the room was a friend’s face. There was a time before the itch.

There are several things you can do to lessen your grip on this electronic connection, such as removing or banning particular applications on your phone, which we go over in depth here. These strategies, in my experience, are incredibly successful in minimizing your phone’s appeal and, as a result, the number of times you check it.

However, using applications to block other apps may seem to be a band-aid solution, and depending on external blockers does not fundamentally alter your connection with your phone.

To change your connection with your phone, you’ll need to adopt some real habits — a set of more embodied actions — that actually move your phone away from the center of your existence.

Here are five that we’ve tried in the field and highly recommend:

1. Checking your phone first thing in the morning is a bad habit.

It’s been said that how you start anything determines how you end it, and this couldn’t be more true than when it comes to what you do first thing when you get up. You are definitely, completely setting yourself up for a day of distraction if you check your phone first thing in the morning.

Many individuals are woken up in the morning by their phone’s alarm, and the first thing they do when they open their eyes is unlock the screen. To get awakened and get moving, you grow reliant on the light of this fake dawn — and the way it triggers the drip-drip-drip of dopamine release. However, by providing that hit as your brain’s first reward of the day, you condition it to seek out more of the same throughout the day.

If you want to set yourself up for a day of concentration rather than distraction, try not to glance at your phone for at least 15 minutes after you get up – the longer the better. Even better if you start your day with the polar opposite of smartphone surfing – anything that needs attention, such as prayer or meditation.

It’s clearly beneficial to not have your phone beside your bed, or even in your room, in order to maintain this habit, thus, as we’ll discuss below, don’t sleep with it at night. You’ll need to acquire a standard “old school” alarm clock instead. There are numerous that provide sounds beyond the obnoxious beep-beep-beep you may associate with these gadgets, even those which resemble a dawn, softly awakening you with a dazzling glow of light, but without an associated temptation to instantly check Instagram.

DON’T CHECK YOUR PHONE FIRST Tip IN THE MORNING! This habit makes a major impact in how your day goes, therefore if you just practice one thing from this article, DON’T CHECK YOUR PHONE FIRST THING IN THE MORNING!

2. Don’t use your phone while driving or doing errands.

When you carry your phone with you on the go, you check it at red lights in the vehicle, while waiting in line at the grocery store, and maybe even while driving, despite the fact that you know this is very hazardous.

Even if you leave your phone in the vehicle while doing something like going for a run, you’ll check it shortly before you start and right after you finish, bookending that mind-clearing moment with a plunge into noise and distraction.

So, while you’re out and about, leave your phone at home (or, if you’re going to work and may need it, keep it in your briefcase in the backseat or in your glove box). I understand that this may seem severe; after all, don’t people need to be able to contact you? However, as someone who grew up before mobile phones, I remember people doing just OK without being available at all times. When was the last time you received a message that needed to be responded right then and then when you were out doing errands or working out? Unless you work in a high-pressure environment, it’s an extremely rare occurrence. Instead, you usually check your texts and emails while you’re gone… and then respond afterwards! If you’re being honest with yourself, the need to carry your phone with you everywhere you go stems from a want to keep in touch with the stimuli it sends you.

Of course, I understand that people use their phones to listen to music and podcasts in the car and while exercising, so this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule; rather, it’s an encouragement to treat as many of your short trips as possible as pockets of tech detox, where you can re-calibrate your itch for your device and better manage it. I would suggest, though, that you try listening to Sirius XM in your vehicle as an occasional alternative to phone-generated music, and that you attempt a silent exercise every now and then; it’s a great way to practice the spiritual discipline of silence.

3. Put your phone in your pocket when eating or conversing.

Individuals’s discussions are inhibited even when a phone is visible and switched off, according to studies; instinctively afraid of being interrupted by the gadget, people stick to simpler themes. So, even if you aren’t actively checking your phone, don’t leave it on the table during a meal or have it in your hand while conversing with others. Keep it hidden away in your pocket or backpack, and concentrate only on people around you.

4. Put your phone aside while you’re working, reading, or watching TV.

Researchers discovered that participants ate more candy when it was put in a transparent jar on their desks, but less candy when it was stored in an opaque jar, and even less still when the opaque jar was positioned six feet away from them, in a study on diets and food consumption. The result is intuitive: the closer something is in your line of sight and the more easily accessible it is, the more you’ll think about it, and the more you think about it, the greater the temptation becomes, and the greater the temptation becomes, the greater the chance you’ll eventually give in to it (it’s difficult to say no over and over).

Smartphones are similar to sweets. Even if your phone is switched off, if it is visible on your desk, your mind will be preoccupied with the need to check it. Even if you’re not aware of the urge, it will nag at you in your mind, constantly clashing with your impulse control, and the two forces will battle back and forth. Even if you manage to hold off for a time, the conflict waging between check and don’t-check will imperceptibly eat up your mental bandwidth and impair your attention.

To avoid the Pavlovian need to check your phone, keep it entirely concealed whether you’re working, reading, or watching TV – after all, if it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind. Even hiding your phone behind your laptop, if that’s all you have right now, will help. However, the further away it is, the better: if you can place it across the room or across the house, do it; your mind files it away as “unavailable,” doesn’t want to expend the energy necessary to retrieve it, and quits thinking about it so you can focus on other things. When I place my phone in a separate area of the home, I find that putting it inside a drawer helps even more; it may seem foolish, but it appears to stimulate the brain to deep-six the thought of checking it.

5. Keep your phone away from your bed.

71 percent of Americans (90 percent among those aged 18 to 29) sleep with their phones in or near their beds. With all the blue light emitted and the possible impulse to check a notification that comes in the middle of the night, you’ve surely heard how detrimental this habit is for your sleep. But it’s also bad for developing a dependency on your phone; it’s weird to think that a bright screen is the last thing millions of people see before turning off their lights at night. Do you want your phone to be one of the most personal items you bring into your bedroom and bed? As a security blanket, to snuggle up to those frigid circuits?

Allow your relationship with your phone to end at the threshold of your bedroom door, rather than training your brain to think of it as an appendage that even nestles down between your sheets. Leave it to charge in the kitchen or living room, and instead bring a good paperbound book into bed with you to end the day.

Then, when you wake up in the morning, your phone won’t be there when you roll over, and you’ll be free to face the day without it.

Listen to our digital minimalism podcast with Cal Newport:

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The “top phones 2021” is a list of the top phones in 2021. The article will provide 5 steps that can help you to have a better relationship with your phone.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I improve my relationship with my phone?

A: There are a few things you can do to improve your relationship with your phone. First, give it time and space. It is important for both of you to find balance. Next, try not to be too attached or dependent on the device because that will only cause problems in the future when it no longer suits your needs as well as they once did

How do cell phones influence relationships?

A: Cell phones have the potential to impact how relationships are built. There is a study done by Kevin Chen, Hunter Bailie, and Ellen Langer that states cell phone use can influence feelings of loneliness or isolation because people may be more likely to answer texts/messages instead of speaking with their partner face-to-face.

How can I use my phone in a good way?

A: There are a lot of different ways you can use your phone to be productive, such as through the stock browser or on apps like Instagram that focus more on aesthetics.