I will be the first to admit that I am semi-obsessed with my iPhone. I used to roll my eyes at people who constantly scrolled, texted, and tweeted through their days. I sadly admit, I am now becoming one of those people. They say the first step to fixing a problem is to admit you have one. So, there. I’m not saying I’m going to give up my phone completely. Come on now, I may break out in hives. But, I think I have come up with a way to hang up on my obsession…a little.
I started to get the idea when I was on vacation last week. I didn’t unplug completely, but I did loosen the cord. I checked all my fave sites in the morning and again before I went to bed. But that’s it. I wasn’t constantly looking to see who liked my photo or who just tweeted they went to the bathroom. I didn’t catch an email just as it came in my inbox. Guess what? I survived! Shocker, I know. By tuning out my phone I noticed I was more tuned in to my surroundings. Granted, I was near a beach. But, you get the point. I started to remember the days before my smart phone began to transform me into an anti-social notification hungry nut.
So, now that I’m home in my not so picturesque surroundings, I’ve come up with a plan to control my phone frenzy. It starts with really making an effort to limit my phone usage during the day. That means resisting the urge to constantly check for updates. Instead, I can use that time to play with my kids or get more things done around the house. But, the big change is…drumroll please…saying goodnight to my phone so I’m not constantly on it before bed. My new rule is to put it to bed when I put my kids to bed. If I can do this, I will have a few hours to do things like have a real conversation with my husband or watch one of the dozens of shows in my DVR and read a book. I’ll admit, it’s hard to resist the urge, but I’m trying…baby steps…baby steps.
If you can relate to anything that I just wrote, how about trying to make the change too? Isn’t it times to say night night phone?