Cell phone addiction is real; as much as it has been a boon, cell phones have also unnecessarily interfered with our ability to focus and resulted in wastage of time. Here are some simple tips to get over cell phone distraction. Turn off as many push notifications as you can An important way to reduce distraction is to turn down push notifications of as many apps as you can. You don’t want every Instagram post to distract you throughout the day. You just need to go to setting, and under notifications, only activate the notifications you actually need on a real-time basis. Drop those distracting apps from your home screen This is another easy fix as lots of cell phone usage is unconscious behavior. Always place the apps that you want to actively use on the home screen, such as e-book apps, etc. on the home screen and hide back the apps on second or third pages that you want to avoid wasting too much time on. Go ahead and even delete such distracting apps if you can. Try to schedule cell phone usage To lessen response anxiety and be accountable, inform your close friends or family members that you are consciously scheduling your cell phone usage and may not respond to messages on an instant basis. Then go ahead and set an alarm to schedule how often you want to use your cell phone. When the alarm rings, spend a couple of minutes browsing through notifications and reply as necessary; then set the timer again. This timer can be set at 30 minutes apart or as you seem comfortable. Place your cell phone far away from the bed You don’t want to see your cell phone last thing before sleeping and first thing upon waking. It unnecessarily distracts you and alsointerferes with a sound sleep or early morning freshness. Alternatively, keep your phone far away from the bed, probably charging, and use a regular alarm clock to wake you up. Switch to greyscale cell phone One of the ways to break this attraction and get over cellphone distraction is to make it lessglamorous or tempting. When you switch your cell phone to greyscale, you remove the glamour from apps such as Instagram, Facebook, etc. You even make the icons and home screen less visually appealing which may tempt you to pick it often or stay glued. Lastly, be accountable and keep a tab on your engagement levels to ensure you truly get over cell phone distraction.
