In the previous article, I discussed why we are addicted to smartphones.
If you haven’t read that, I suggest you do it because it will help you understand the real cause and psychology, making it easy to break free from your smartphone addiction.
Okay, now, back to this article.
So, when I decided to stop using my smartphone all day, it wasn’t so hard. I thought, took the action and bid my farewell.
That’s it, and I was free.
Also, in 2017, there were few applications, and I was not famous on social media. So, it was easy to break my extreme phone addiction.
But it could be challenging for people who are stuck to their phones all day.
Yet, there’s nothing that is not achievable, and the following 5-step plan will help you stop using your smartphone. Or, you’d use it whenever necessary.
#Step 1 – Virtual Reality Isn’t the Reality
Smartphones have psychological effects on us.
Hence, to stop using it, we need to understand this psyche that the virtual world is in the real world.
Not vice versa.
Once you understand this phenomenon, you’ll step into the cycle that differentiates every interaction you make on your mobile phones.
#Step 2 – You Are the Economy
Another thing you need to understand is that smartphones or social media platforms need you.
You are the incharge here.
You never needed them and won’t. Those companies and platforms are because of you.
You’re not because of them.
That’s why they pay people to stay on their platform. Not because you are creating content. Because those platforms rarely pay you what you deserve. All commissions and payouts are totally based on their set of rules.
So, if you wonder that if you leave, then what you will become, then stop doing it because you’d do pretty much awesome. That’s for sure.
#Step 3 – See Yourself as an Addict to Break Free From Smartphone Addiction
The #1 mistake smartphone addicts make is they don’t consider themselves as addicts like alcohol or smoking addicts.
Hence, to break free from smartphone addiction, see yourself as an addict no matter how popular you are or not. Only then you’d become better at using the tiny dictator we have in our hands all day.
#Step 4 – Don’t Take Help From Smartphones
The productivity apps or app blockers aren’t going to help.
They have their effect for a day or two, but after that, they lose all their potential. The reason is that our human brain is very good at finding loopholes and doing things that are restricted.
So, trust me when I say don’t take help from a smartphone to end your smartphone addiction because I’ve been on this road before.
What’s best you can do is delete all the apps that are robbing your time.
Then, enable the screen time.
Once the limit is up, you’d step back. But you gotta delete the apps because, as the saying goes, “Out of sight, out of mind,” you can’t have those applications on your smartphone.
#Step 5 – Follow the “The One Hour, One Day, One Week, One Month and One Year” Plan
To break free from your smartphone addiction, ultimately, first, stop using it for one hour. Keep it away as you are in rehab.
As the one hour passes, stop using it for another hour. Keep this cycle running for the entire day for a week. After this, enter into the cycle of not using your smartphone for a day.
Or use it less.
Also, ensure that notifications are off and you have enabled the DND/focus mode. Do it for a week. Then, enter into a new cycle: not using your smartphone for a week.
Keep doing this for a month.
Then plan for a month; once you succeed at that, go for a quarter, then 6 months and finally for a year.
However, you won’t require that much strenuous effort because smartphone addiction isn’t that much deep as other addictions.
But you need to be careful.
What else you need to do is replace addiction with another habit. Whenever you feel like you need to use your phone, pick something else–for example, read a book. Or, go out for a walk.
Smartphone addiction is a habit, and habits can’t be broken; they can only be replaced.
One more thing you need to do is ignore the thought of doing it for one last time.
Remember, you can’t break free from addiction by doing it one last time. You can only break free from it by not doing it one last time.
And that’s non-negotiable.
By following the above simple steps, you’d be able to start using your phone only when it’s necessary.
These steps will help you make more time for things that matters. And by the end of the year, you’ll see how much you have grown and built something useful.
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Nathawat Brothers
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