How to use your cell phone every day and have a healthy relationship with it – 03/31/2024 – Balance

A few years ago, a Google employee sent an email to thousands of her colleagues: What if, for six weeks straight, you spent one night a week without technology?

The email was from Laura Mae Martin, Google’s executive productivity advisor, a role created, among other things, to help employees develop healthier relationships with their devices and apps.

After sending the note, Martin was inundated with responses from colleagues eager for a break from some of the products they helped build. Thousands of employees have since participated in the annual “Tech-Free Tuesday Night” challenge [No-Tech Tuesday Night Challenge, em inglês]says the executive, author of the book “Uptime: A Practical Guide for Personal Productivity and Well-Being”.

The problem she was trying to solve is not unique to Google workers. A survey found that the majority of Americans say they spend too much time on their phones. But drastic solutions — a digital detox, cutting back on your phone, or quitting social media altogether — can seem impractical.

Is it possible to have a healthy relationship with technology while still using it daily? Fortunately, according to experts, the answer is a resounding yes.

START WITH A SIMPLE QUESTION

You know that urge to pick up your phone without realizing it? And then before you know it, you’re an hour into a social media marathon?

If you want to live peacefully with technology, you need to control these impulses. Start by noticing when you feel like reaching for your phone or opening social media in your browser, says Richard J. Davidson, founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

By becoming aware of what you’re about to do, you’re interrupting automatic behavior and awakening the part of your brain that governs self-control, he said. As one research article suggests, awareness of your actions can help control bad habits.

“When you notice the urge, simply ask yourself, ‘Do I really need to do this right now?'” says Davidson.

Asking this question can help you pause, reflect, and resist the temptation to check your device. And let’s be real: Sometimes you can decide to allow yourself screen time. But by being aware of your urges, you can maintain your habits more intentionally, argues Davidson.

REMOVE “MOBILE” FROM YOUR MOBILE DEVICES

Anna Lembke, a professor of psychiatry and addiction medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, says one of the biggest problems with smartphones is what she calls “texting while running to catch a bus.” Using our devices while we’re on the move — going from meeting to meeting, taking a child to school or catching a bus — keeps us from being more involved in our lives, says Lembke.

“We are missing a wealth of information and signals from the world around us, and also depriving ourselves of the opportunity to process and interpret what we experience,” he says.

One way to create harmony with your technology is to limit your phone use when you’re on the go. Going for a walk? Turn off your notifications. Going to get a coffee? Leave your phone on the table. If you’re feeling brave, try turning off your phone while you’re on the go, says Lembke, who wrote “Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence.” It won’t vibrate with notifications, texts or phone calls, which it says could help you focus on the world around you.

SCHEDULE SHORT TECHNOLOGY BREAKS

An extended vacation from your devices may not be possible. But if you’re trying to spend less time looking at your screens, 10- or 15-minute breaks may be a more practical option, says Adam Gazzaley, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco and author of “The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a World of High Technology” [The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World, em inglês]. You can go for a quick walk, close your eyes, work on a puzzle, or read a book.

Another trick: Build tech breaks into your schedule, says Gazzaley. It might seem strange to schedule something like “going for a phone-free walk,” but it shouldn’t if it’s a priority, she says.

CONTROL YOUR ENVIRONMENT

Don’t rely solely on your willpower to reduce screen time, says James A. Roberts, a consumer behavior expert at Baylor University. Instead, adjust your environment.

“Anything you can do to create an environment that makes it as easy as possible to step away from your phone will be helpful,” says Roberts, who wrote “The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World.” [Too Much of a Good Thing: Are You Addicted to Your Smartphone?, em inglês].

Here are some things you can try:

HAVE AN ALARM CLOCK A phone alarm forces you to pick up your device when you wake up, making it really easy to start reading emails and alerts, says Roberts. But a standalone alarm clock lets you leave your phone untouched until you decide it’s time to take the plunge.

APPOINT AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER Roberts suggests asking a family member or friend to remind you to put down your device when you’ve been using it for too long, when someone is trying to talk to you, or at other times when it’s disrupting life in the offline world.

DELETE SOCIAL NETWORKS FROM YOUR CELL PHONE To manage your social media use without abandoning it completely, you’ll need to make it less accessible, says Roberts. One tip he suggested is to delete them from your phone but keep them on your computer so you can still use them for work or to keep in touch with family and friends.

MAKE TECHNOLOGY WORK FOR YOU One thing the experts agreed on: To establish a healthy relationship with technology, you need to be in control of it, not the other way around. Think of your devices as tools that you decide how to use.

“Make it work for you, not against you,” says Martin, Google’s productivity expert. “Whether it’s an email program or your dishwasher, the intention behind how you use it is what really makes the big difference.”