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Useful Tips For Spending Less Time On Your Phone
The reality is that while phones enhance our lives in terms of communication and convenience, there are plenty of negative effects involved in their use. These range from potentially deadly distracted driving to missing out on the natural wonders of the world around us. People were never intended to spend long hours each day with their heads down and eyes focused on a tiny screen.
It can be challenging to decrease your phone use. For instance, research shows that incoming texts and social media notifications prompt a dopamine hit, which is when the feel-good sensors in the brain fire up. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to make it easier for that phone to stay in your pocket.
Be Mindful: A key first step is to ask yourself “why” when you’re considering phone use and then to focus on “what” you could be doing instead. This creates a positive framework that will decrease phone use while simultaneously enriching your life. Always bear in mind that time gazing at your phone reduces your ability to do things you truly enjoy, whether it’s reading, hitting the gym or interacting with loved ones.
Fade to Gray: One science-backed way to make your phone less interesting is by turning on the grayscale feature, which is an option on most smartphones that turns its colors into hues of gray. This reduces your phone’s ability to generate that dopamine hit. On iPhones, you can turn on grayscale by going to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Color Filters. On Android, go to Settings > Accessibility > Color and Motion > Color Correction and select grayscale from the options.
Silent Running: The sound of incoming texts and emails is hard to ignore; if anything, they actually make your brain want to pick up the phone. The answer to that problem is obvious – simply put your phone on silent and turn off push notifications.
Don’t Carry That Weight: When something is constantly within your view, it’s only natural to want to reach for it. One strategy proven to fight this is to get your phone away from your body and out of your visual line. That means out of your hand, out of your pockets or off the table in front of you. Try leaving your phone upstairs or putting it in the kitchen drawer while you watch a movie with your family. This isn’t easy, so if it takes a few tries, that is OK.
86 the Apps: If you’re always opening your TikTok app or your Pinterest app, it could be a good idea to make those things a little less accessible to ease the temptation. You can keep an app active while adding a few extra steps — or in this case, clicks — to use it. This could mean putting it in a folder or on one of the subsequent screens that follows the main home screen. Better yet, remove your social media apps entirely.
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At Harmony Communities, we feel strongly that each resident has a sense of home. That they come home from work and feel pride in their environment and in their place in the greater community. That families are comfortable raising children in our neighborhoods, and that couples and singles know that they belong to something bigger than their four walls. In other words, we seek to create harmony within each community, making our communities not just passable, but peaceful, safe, functional, and beautiful.
