Caught yourself constantly texting, browsing, sending emails, using apps and playing games on your mobile phone? If you spend too much time and energy on this, you may be addicted to your cell phone. Excessive use of the phone often reduces the quality of interpersonal relationships and a person's productivity.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: How to limit your phone use
Step 1. Keep track of how often you use your phone
One study found that university students spend up to 8-10 hours with telephones. Try recording how many times you use your phone per hour to see how serious the problem is. Knowing the scale of the problem can help you start setting specific goals and finding possible solutions.
Install an application that will record how often you use your phone (for example, Checky). You will be able to use the information received by the application to set goals. It will be easier for you to understand how many times per hour or per day you can afford to use the phone
Step 2. Make a plan
Limit phone use to certain times only. Set a reminder on your phone to let you know that you are at your best. For example, you can only afford to use your phone from 6 to 7 pm. You can choose the time intervals when you will not use the phone at all (for example, when you are at work or school).
Write down your goals and plan to be more specific. Return to the list of goals from time to time to see which ones you have already achieved and which ones are yet to come
Step 3. Reward yourself for spending less time with your phone
This approach is called positive self-reinforcement and is used in psychotherapy to teach a person to respond positively through a reward system. For example, if you've managed to achieve your goal of limiting your phone use during the day, indulge yourself with a favorite food, purchase, or activity.
Step 4. Take your time
You should not give up the phone at once (sometimes it provokes anxiety). It's best to gradually reduce the amount of time you spend with your phone. For example, first limit use to once every half hour, then once every two hours, and so on.
- Keep track of how many times you look at your phone per hour.
- Use your phone only for essential communication and for emergencies.
Step 5. Move your phone to the side
Place your phone where you will not see it. At work, school, or elsewhere, set your phone to silent so it doesn't distract you.
Step 6. Discard the phone completely for a short time
Take a break from your phone and ditch it entirely, for example, for the weekend.
- Go on a trip or a hike where mobile communications will not work. This will prevent you from using your phone.
- Let your friends and loved ones know that you turn off your phone for a while. This can be done on social media.
Step 7. Change your phone settings
Most likely, you get alerts when a new letter arrives in your inbox or when something happens on social media. Disable these notifications. This will keep your phone vibrating or beeping less often, and you won't be alerted right away.
As a last resort, try switching to a data plan with limited minutes and network bandwidth. After your prepaid minutes and gigabytes run out, you won't be able to use your phone to its fullest until the next payment is made
Step 8. Reconsider your attitude to the phone
Thinking differently about your phone can help you adjust your reactions and behavior. In other words, if you start thinking differently about your phone, you will feel better without it and will use it less often.
- Remind yourself that whatever you want to watch on your phone doesn't really matter and can wait.
- Whenever you feel like looking at alerts on your phone, stop and consider whether you really need to write or call this person, or if you can do it later.
Step 9. Focus on the present moment
Self-awareness, the art of being aware of yourself, can help you focus and get rid of the urge to pick up your phone. To stay in the moment, focus on what's happening right now, including your thoughts and reactions.
Method 2 of 3: Mobile Phone Alternatives
Step 1. Understand what is provoking you to use your phone
Certain feelings and thoughts evoke certain desires (for example, to pick up a phone). Knowing why you want to use your phone can help you find alternatives.
- Are you using your phone because you have a strong urge to communicate and stay in touch with people? In this case, you can satisfy your desire by personal communication with people, which will be more useful to you.
- Are you bored? Boredom often triggers the development of addictions. If you're often bored, try finding a hobby or doing something that will keep you engaged.
Step 2. Find another source of good mood
The mobile phone improves mood, which reinforces dependence on it. Try replacing your phone with something else: sports and exercise, creative pursuits (write, draw).
Step 3. Keep yourself busy
If you have a scheduled every day and you take a responsible approach to your duties, you will not have time for the phone. Productivity and the ability to spend more time on your goals are an added bonus.
- If you are not working, look for a job or volunteer.
- Try to find a new hobby: knit, sew on a typewriter, learn to play a musical instrument.
- Spend more time on things that need to be completed, even if it's just chores or family dinner or a day.
Step 4. Redirect your attention and start doing something useful
The next time you feel like picking up your phone, do something useful. Think about your personal goals and tasks for the day. Make a list of things to do that doesn't require using your phone. When you feel the urge to use your phone, stop and mentally return to your duties.
Step 5. Satisfy the urge to communicate in other ways
In many ways, the desire to use a mobile phone is due to the desire to communicate with people. However, there are other ways of communication that will be more useful and enjoyable in the long run.
- Instead of texting someone on the internet, send them a real email or meet them for lunch or coffee.
- Don't post photos on Instagram, but invite a relative to your home and show the photos yourself. This communication will enhance the quality of your connections with others.
Step 6. Change your habits
Think about why you are using your phone (playing, texting, calling). Some interactions are necessary in work and family life (for example, work correspondence), but others often get in the way, especially if they replace face-to-face communication and distract you from business. Try to replace bad habits with good ones. This will allow you to be more productive and build more valuable relationships with people.
- If you spend too much time on mobile games, look for alternatives. Invite a friend home and invite him to play board games with you.
- If you often study the pages of other people on social networks, meet with close people or relatives and ask them to tell what is happening in their life (so as not to be limited to reading this news on the Internet).
Method 3 of 3: Psychological Assistance
Step 1. Tell others about your problem
Supporting others is an important part of mental health. Positive interactions with people create a sense of security and close connection. These elements are very important if you need to overcome phone addiction, since phone use is at least partially related to social activities (correspondence, social networking applications). We do not argue that the mobile phone evokes positive feelings, at the same time it limits us and deprives us of closer connections.
- Tell family and friends that you think you use your phone too often and plan to reduce the amount of time you spend on it. Alternatively, you can ask them for something specific if you want them to help you. For example, ask them to call and text you only at certain times.
- Ask for advice. Your family members know you personally, so they can help you come up with a specific plan.
Step 2. Ask people to be understanding
Explain to people that you may not always be able to answer messages, calls, or emails right away because you try to use the phone less often. If people know about your situation, they will be able to understand you and will not be offended.
Step 3. Schedule personal meetings
In order not to receive the bulk of communication from the Internet, it is important to regularly interact with people on a personal and more intimate level. This is only possible through personal contact.
Arrange meetings with friends and family. Spend time saved on using your phone to schedule events. This way you can focus your energies on more productive and rewarding things
Step 4. Give your phone to someone
This can be especially important when you feel the urge to pick up your phone: after school, after dinner, or on weekends.
Step 5. Consider psychotherapy
While cell phone addiction is not yet a generally accepted diagnosis, that doesn't mean you can't ask for help. Some psychologists are dealing with just this problem. If your phone addiction has become very severe and interferes with your normal life, it will be helpful for you to work with a specialist.
- Signs of a strong addiction include the following: inability to fulfill their duties (at school, work and home), serious problems in interpersonal relationships due to a mobile phone.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy is used to treat a range of disorders and addictions. It allows you to reorient or change your way of thinking, which makes it possible to influence feelings and behavior. You may be eligible for cognitive behavioral therapy if you choose to seek help.
Advice
- Use a landline phone or go to the Internet from a computer.
- Think about your personal affairs.
- Turn off Wi-Fi on your phone from time to time.
- Bring books with you wherever you go. Set a reminder on your phone that tells you to read books while using your phone.
- Try not to think about your phone. Leave him at home and go outside. Turn off Wi-Fi.
- Do not use mobile Internet, connect to the Internet from your phone only via Wi-Fi. This will help you spend less time on meaningless activities.
- Try to meet with your friends more often, not just talk to them on the phone.
- Limit the amount of time you use your phone. For example, promise yourself to use your phone for a maximum of an hour and a half a day.
- If you are a teenager, give your phone to your parents and only use it when necessary. Call, write and perform other basic tasks from your parents' phones.