8 Tips to ‘Take a Break’ from your Cell Phone

Have you been to your kids sports practice, you look up from your phone and you see ALL of the other parents on their phone too? Or maybe it was at the doctors office lobby, or sitting at an airport terminal. We’ve become used to filling every void in our day with a distraction.

Isn’t it crazy to think about, not that long ago our phones didn’t have the cameras they do now, the on-demand internet access, all the instant gratification from social media apps. So quickly we’ve become addicted to our screens and more disconnected than ever. In an effort to connect more with those around me, I have set a challenge for myself. Below are a set of boundaries I am attempting to follow as a way for me to detach from my phone and connect more with those around me.

Why is this important?

Time consumption:

Quite simply, being on my phone is a time suck. So often the time just flies by watching video shorts on, take your pick-TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc. We all need a little comedy or inspiration in our lives, right? But eventually, you look up from your phone and all of a sudden you think, wait… what? It’s been an hour!? I bet I could have used that hour to do something else, something more meaningful, perhaps connecting with loved ones.

Connection:

As I mentioned earlier, we are often in these social situations where, instead of being conversational, we are insular, failing to connect with those around us. Our phones can be a wonderful tool to enhance our bond with others across the country, on the other side of the world or just down the street setting up the next play date. But when it comes to those immediately next to us, our phones become a tool of mass destruction…whoops, I meant disconnection ;) We become distracted in conversation by the dinging of a notification, we are preoccupied with a text instead of helping a neighbor, or our attention is diverted from our kids to video shorts. While we have high intentions of being more connected, the reality is we need to be aware and recognize the deception that our phones are often the main interrupter of connection.

Health:

In addition to the disconnection from others, our physical and mental health can take a toll from cell phone overuse. There have been countless studies showing the adverse affects of prolonged use of our phones, from sleep patterns, to reaction times, to obesity, to depression, anxiety and even brain tumors. There are many other things in our lives that cause health issues, let’s not let our cell phones be added to the list. Here are a few ways that I have challenged myself, and I challenge you as well, to gain balance between our phone usage and relationships with others.

Boundaries:

1. Bible first- Time spent with God takes priority over time spent on my phone. Sure, I use my phone for my alarm clock, a quick look at the calendar so I don’t forget any morning appointments and a glance at the weather so I know how to dress my kids for school…snow pants, no snow pants? Besides that, I don’t check my email, look at social media or spend any chunk of time on my phone until after I have spent an adequate amount of time with God.

2. No social media on Sundays- Sundays are a day of rest. A day to spend with family and friends. Yes, I will check my calendar or the weather or write an email. However, I will not use any of the social media apps. Those are the ones that I get sucked into and time just flies by, and for what? Mindless distraction when I could have spent those minutes/hours with my family.

3. Phone down, when kids are in the room- This is pretty self-explanatory. When my kids come in the room, I try to put my phone down, especially if I’m just on social media. I make a point to have eye contact with them as they talk to me so they know that they are more important than anything on my phone. There are times that they walk in the room when I am in the middle of an important work email or text. When that happens, I look up, establish eye contact, and let them know that I will be right with them as soon as I’m done.

4. Limit screen time-If we limit our kid’s screen time, shouldn’t we too? Look in your settings and see how much time you’ve spent this past week on your phone. Try to cut back your screen time the following week by 5 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour. You will notice that you will get a lot more done around the house, have more free time and/or feel more connected to people as you spend less and less time on your phone.

5. Leave phone in other room-Treat your phone like a landline. Turn the ringer up so you can hear it ring. When you hear it ring, walk to the other room to answer it, just as you would a land-line. This is especially useful when you are having a play date with another mom or out to lunch with a friend. You won’t be checking your phone as often. Instead you will be giving that special person your undivided attention.

6. No phone before bed- This boundary is a hard one for me as I’ve become accustomed to mindless distraction to fall asleep. In fact, there have been studies that show the exact opposite. Scrolling through videos actually keeps your brain awake, making it harder to fall asleep. In addition to that, a Harvard Health study shows that blue light can throw off your circadian rhythm and suggests that you not look at screens 2-3 hours before going to bed. For me personally, I have found that I can fall asleep faster when I don’t look at my phone leading up to sleep. There were nights where I could watch two to three hours of videos before I was tired enough to fall asleep. Recently, I’ve found that when I read before bed, it only takes me 20-30 minutes to fall asleep.

A few other boundaries I’ve found to be helpful (I implemented several years ago):

1. Turn Notifications Off-Notifications are a trigger for your brain. Every time you hear the *ding*, your mind is drawn away from what you were doing, saying or thinking. Then you have to shift back to your original train of thought. Your mental capacity can only take so much back and forth in one day. In fact, Research links these notifications with depression and anxiety. My suggestion, turn them ALL off, if possible.

2. Clear Home Screen-Take a few moments to move all your apps to a screen other than your home screen. You will find that as you open up your phone to a screen void of ANY apps, you won’t be tempted to play the unnecessary game or watch the unnecessary video.

Our phones go by that tried and true saying, you can’t live with them, you can’t live without them. As we set these boundaries, we protect ourselves from cell phone overuse and nourish the important relationships with those around us.

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Are you looking to take a break from your phone? What are some boundaries you’ve put in place? Have you found your connection with those around you has improved?

Come again, stay longer!

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