Smartphone Sober - Learning to curb your digital addiction
Narcotics. Alcohol. Phones. They are all additive. Smartphone addiction, like a food addiction, can never actually be removed from your life.
If you will pardon the pun, here is a sobering fact: your smartphone is intentionally designed to be addictive. Mobile phones and apps are engineered to capture and hold your attention. Indefinitely. That is how the tech industry makes its money, and that is why many of us simply can’t put them down.
Apps like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram, to name a few, embrace features like pull to refresh, infinite scrolling and autoplay to keep us engaged. Bright colours, bubbles and deliberately eye-catching images are designed to maximise our sensory input. This, while seemingly unlimited notifications have trained us, like Pavlov’s dogs, to seek out that dopamine hit.
The cost of addition to us is as high as it is as profitable for them. Frequent interruptions from never-ending notifications rob us of our productivity. Constantly staring at our device screens emitting loads of blue light causes eye strain, insomnia and headaches among many other modern-day ailments. Unlimited access to simultaneously curated and questionable content can wrap our self-perceptions and human awareness.
“The cost of addition to us is as high as it is as profitable for them.”
My Own Addictions
I speak from experience. I found myself addicted, victim to the very device I advocate for daily. I found myself staring at my screen for upwards of five hours a day and fooling myself that the time was work-related. It’s funny, I finally saw the light about the blue light!
I learned that in spite of the intentional manipulation of well-researched strategies crafted to keep us hooked … err, I believe the tech term is ‘engaged’ … ultimately, we are in, or we can regain control.
Control. We can’t eliminate smartphone use; we can control it. As the saying goes, “all good things in moderation.” Whether you are ready to go all out or just make a few tweaks, here are some strategies to follow:
Tweak
Schedule notifications to appear at specific times.
Edit home screen to bury social media apps
Install and use screen time helper apps
Set time limits for social media use
All Out
Remove all notifications except text messages and calendar. This includes all system generated notifications.
Delete all social media apps from your smartphone and access only via computer
Go grayscale
Delete useless social media accounts all together
Pick a path – all out, tweak or hybrid – follow it for 30 days and then let me know how great it feels to have more time to actually to live your life instead of scrolling through someone elses.
