Are You In a Toxic Relationship?
Is your phone the first thing you reach for in the morning and the last thing you touch before going to sleep? Do you find yourself mindlessly grabbing for your digital device throughout the day just to make sure you haven’t missed anything important? Do you find yourself carrying your phone with you wherever you go? Even to the bathroom? Is your phone always turned on?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you might very well be in a toxic relationship with your digital device. The world’s best academic researchers from domains such as psychology, neuroscience, and addiction warn us that if you aren’t extremely careful with your digital device, it can most assuredly impact your productivity, compromise your health, and damage your most important relationships.
Three Steps That Will Help You Regain Some Control
1. Assess your current relationship with your digital device.
The hallmarks of seriously problematic smartphone use are:
- Compromised work performance
- Strained relationships
- A loss of control over how much time you are spending interacting with your device
To better assess how healthy your relationship with your digital device is, we’ve created this short digital-device inventory.
2. Track everything.
Because people underestimate their use of digital devices by more than 40 percent (!), it’s essential that you take a step back and objectively quantify how much time you are currently interacting with your smartphone. You can do this by leveraging some (free) very powerful features on your device.
Starting with iOS 12 and Android Pie, every iPhone and stock Android phone has been equipped with the ability for you to track your daily screen usage.
Almost magically, these tools show you:
- Your total screen time for the week
- Your daily average in hours and minutes
- Your current week’s use compared to the previous
- Your time spent on things like social media, texting, reading, etc.
- Your most used apps
- How many times you picked your device up (and what you did immediately after)
To learn more about how you can track your digital device use, click below on your model of phone.
By using these tools, you will also have access to other insights such as weekly reports, app-specific statistics, how often you unlock your phone, and more.
3. Keep your digital device out of the bedroom.
According to Dr. Christine Seifert, “It turns out that using screens in the bedroom is far worse than using screens elsewhere.” Specifically, using a smartphone in your bedroom will prevent you from becoming tired.
This late-night infusion of energy will not only prolong the amount of time you spend on your digital device, but it will also severely impact the time it takes for you to fall asleep, the amount of time you actually stay asleep, and the overall quality of your sleep. Because of this, smartphones are particularly worrisome when they find their way into your sleeping quarters.
Be a Force for Good in the World
As a Leader of Light, you have the ability to be a force for good in the world. Because of you and your efforts, people all around you will be energized for today and hopeful for tomorrow. To maximize your impact, it’s essential that your digital device is working for you and not the other way around. Remember: See light. Be light. Spread light.