Our smartphones are a huge part of all of our lives and although they are great for keeping us constantly connected with each other, they can definitely prove to be pretty problematic for our psyche. In honour of mental health awareness month and this week being screen-free week, here are our 4 main tips to turn off your screens and turn on life…
1. Scrap the morning scroll
For many of us our phones are the first thing we reach for when we open our eyes in the morning (guilty!) where we begin the morning scroll, whether that be looking through emails or catching up on your socials. This habit can quickly make us feel overwhelmed, demotivated and start our day off on a sour note. Instead of letting the morning scroll dictate your frame of mind, prioritise taking care of YOU by cooking yourself a hearty breakfast, stretching, going on a walk or journaling. Our marketing manager Blanca makes avoiding the morning scroll that bit easier by having a completely tech-free bedroom! Whichever way you try to disconnect, try having a little more you-time in the mornings for a week and see how you feel; we think this will be sure to set you up for more positive and productive days ahead!
2. Turn off your notifications
The never-ending influx of notifications our phones are always updating us with are usually pretty trivial. However non-urgent the majority of our notifications seem to be, the frequent ‘pinging’ sounds definitely draws us in. Whether the notifications consist of someone you’ve never met liking one of your pictures or unsolicited sales email from a brand you most likely won’t ever purchase from, they can mostly wait. To cut down your screen time, try turning off your non-urgent notifications in settings and come back to them when you’re in a headspace to do so. Our director Grant puts his phone into ‘greyscale’ (a mode that reduces bluelight) and reduces his notifications from 10.30pm to 7.30am every night for a more relaxed, uninterrupted sleep.
3. Have a social media cull
Many of us admit to having a love-hate relationship with social media. While it can be great to provide inspiration, keep up to date with pop-culture and stay connected with our loved ones, it can equally have us comparing our down-days to people’s highlight reels, leaving us feeling pretty down in the dumps after a scrolling session. Unfollowing any accounts that make you feel ‘less-than’ is a necessary step to establishing healthy boundaries with your phone and in our eyes, a form of self-care. Our top tips for culling your socials is to start by going through your following and asking yourself why do I follow this account, how do they make me feel and do they spark positive emotions. If the answer to the above question isn’t an immediate yes then you know what to do.
4. Create a cut-off time
Our last tip is a simple yet effective one; decide on a time in the evening where you commit to stop scrolling and turn off your phone. Staring at your phone until late at night, can for many of us make it extremely difficult for our minds to fully switch off, which could be contributed to our minds being over-stimulated or the blue-light our phones give off. We recommend turning your phone off at a reasonable hour and putting it out of reach to avoid temptation and the dreaded morning scroll. Implementing this tip into your evening routine should mean you sleep longer and better, what sounds better than that? (definitely not mindless scrolling!). An additional trick Grant recommends is going the extra mile and setting boundaries on Sunday’s. He is sure to set his phone to airplane mode after 12pm on the day of rest to ensure he soaks up all the quality time with his family with no interruptions.
We hope our tips have given you some food for thought on your own relationship with your phone and how to hopefully build a better one. To make sure you don’t miss any of our future blog posts, sign up to our monthly newsletter here!
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