How to Start Using Your Mobile Phone Less and Pay More Attention to Your Surroundings

It cannot be denied that mobile phones have managed to become one of the most versatile objects that we possess and use regularly; If a few decades ago they had told us that these electronic devices would become a kind of miniature computers with an integrated video camera, we surely would not have believed it.

However, this also has its drawbacks, especially considering that several applications and digital platforms have become very good at offering us a constant bombardment of content that fits our tastes and interests. That is why many people ask themselves the following question: How can I start using my mobile phone less and pay more attention to what life offers me? In fact, there are those who perceive their problem as if it were an addiction.

Nowadays, there are more and more people who realize that they use their cell phones excessively on a daily basis and who propose to reduce the use of the phone in their daily lives to live a more conscious life focused on the stimuli that we receive. They come from the physical world, the one with which we interact in a more authentic way.

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Tips to use your smartphone less and pay attention to what’s around you

If you also want to make this lifestyle change a reality, below we present the main tips you can follow to start using your mobile phone less and start paying more attention to your surroundings.

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1. Include in your schedule activities designed to be incompatible with mobile phones

The first thing we must learn to be able to use our cell phone less is that We are the ones who should control technology, and not the other way around. This means that, whenever we have doubts about whether or not we are capable of controlling the need to manipulate our cell phone, we should try to do all kinds of leisure activities that make things easier for us; Instead of focusing on repressing the urge to look at our smartphone screen in search of something that the digital world can offer us, it is better to focus on doing other activities that, while motivating, are incompatible with looking. the mobile.

For example, if you notice that when you go to the gym you find it difficult to resist the urge to use your cell phone while you exercise on the stationary bike, change this exercise for the elliptical, which will keep your hands busy. If you have realized that you spend most of your free time in bed using WhatsApp, include in your schedule hobbies that force you to give all your attention to other things: painting on a canvas, restoring old furniture in your house, go for a run, etc.

Some of the plans that we can make without our cell phone are: playing sports, reading, going to the movies, meeting friends, walking, playing sports, going out to dinner or taking excursions in the countryside.

2. Leave your cell phone at home from time to time

Leave your cell phone at home from time to time, as long as you are not expecting an urgent call or message, too. It will help you prove that living without being glued to your smartphone is possible.

It is likely that the first few days you will find it difficult to leave it at home, due to the need that we have developed to constantly have our cell phone with us; However, this process is part of a normal “disengagement” progress.

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3. Leave your cell phone with another person nearby

Leaving your cell phone with a friend, trusted family member or partner is also one of the tests you can take to discover if you are capable of disconnecting from the phone for a few hours.

Being for a few hours without this device, knowing that someone else has it will allow us to fully live our lives for several hours and focus more on the real world around us, and at the same time We make sure that if we are notified of an emergency we will be available.

4. Boost your social life based on in-person meetings

The best way to forget about your cell phone is to focus your attention on other things and social life can be one of the great supports we have to get rid of the ties of mobile technology.

Go out and meet other people, forgetting about the tyranny of screens It will make us live more peacefully and calmly and will allow us to enjoy a higher quality of life.

5. Call instead of writing

Starting to call instead of writing through instant messaging will allow us to reduce the time in which we are connected to the mobile phone and will also serve to that communications are shorter and more fluid moving away from the dreaded FOMO generated by waiting for someone to write back to us.

Although it may seem tiring or exhausting, getting into the habit of calling to directly say what we want to share will help us depend less and less on our cell phone.

6. Turn off notifications

In this period of change it is also time to consider deactivating mobile phone notifications, especially those accessories that are not so important such as social networks that we rarely use or other applications.

This will help us to be much calmer and will prevent us from having to be aware at all times of when our mobile device rings.

7. Remove useless apps

Deleting useless applications that we do not need will also help us reduce as much as possible the number of distractions that our device may have.

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The ideal is to leave the mobile phone without any accessory application that could waste our time excessively, such as photo, game, hobby or photo apps. All this will leave us free time to enjoy our lives in the real world.

8. Look for other alternative devices

If we use our mobile phone to listen to music, read books or play video games, It may be a good idea to “assign” these tasks to other products such as an e-book reader or paper book, a conventional game console, a smart watch, etc.

9. Use night mode

When going to sleep it is important to avoid any contact with the mobile phone and in general all types of electronic devices that can keep us awake or disturb us.

That is why it is of great importance to activate the night mode before going to sleep. so that no noise from notifications or calls can disturb us during sleep.

10. Put your cell phone away when you work

When we work or do any important activity that requires our full attention, it is important to move the phone away as much as possible and put it face down. This applies both when working and studying, being in a work meeting or in any type of important project.

11. Set personal challenges

Taking on personal challenges about disconnecting from the mobile phone will allow us to improve ourselves and beat your own time records without looking at your phone.

For example, we can propose to spend 3 or 4 hours without looking at it and the next day increase our mark.

12. Turn off your work phone at the end of your day

When we finish our work or when we go to dinner we can turn off our cell phone and dedicate the rest of the day to enjoying a quiet time alone or with our family.

This is important to be practiced by both adults and adolescents and young children.