How to end my relationship with my phone

wylo

I will speak for myself but I do think this represents alot of people around the world.

My phone has completely taken over my life. I am in my late 30s, I would say from my mid 20s onwards since smart phones started getting very good, that I am pretty much consumed by my phone and feel almost empty without it. I have decided that I want that to only be a chapter of my life, not something that is going on the rest of my life.

Its distracting, addictive, it kills nice moments and its destroying my attention span. I am slave to it. If I see something nice my instant reaction is to reach for my phone to take a photo of it. I am always checking it, all sorts of crap, not just social media but news, other things.

The other problem is there are lots of reasons to have it now, practical ones, of which each thing I would have to replace with a physical alternative. Google maps great and I get use of that whether I am here or abroad. Whatsapp has now become the standard form of communication and I genuinely am in touch with old friends from being in groups that I would have no doubt drifted away from completely otherwise. The camera is genuinely handy at times. Of course there is the use of phone calls, alarm in the morning, listening to music.

To revert out of all that I would have to get myself all sorts of things to make up for not having a good smart phone. It seems counter intuitive but I may have to consider doing it, like buy an alarm clock, by a music player, by a GPS thing (for maps)

I am not even sure if its possible to have a normal functioning life now without it, meaning cold Turkey is almost is almost impossible unless I am happy to go off the grid.

Any advice for anyone who has put it all behind them?

The most common solution seems to be buy an old nokia.

Another thing I was thinking was perhaps have a "Must be plugged in" rule. Basically attach the phone somewhere and I can only use it while attached there. Kinda like the olden days when you'd go to your landline to make a call, or slightly less older days where you would go to your PC to go onto the internet.

Allinall

Just don't do it by text.

That's so insensitive.

Skyrimaddict

Set your screen time lock out?

Like you can only use it for 2 x hours in the day.

Alternatively, grow up and just put it away, live in the moment and be present. Its like everything in life.

Are you maybe looking for the phone to fill a void, or replace some areas where your lacking in, or dont want to get involved.

If it was me, I would set aside time at night, say from 20:00-22:00 where you put the phone off and leave it off. see how that goes. Then go for 3 hours and so on. Like smoking I imagine it will get easier over time, but I would agree, so much of our lives can be dont now with the phone, do you think Mark Zuckerberg is going the Meta route for the fun of it??

miezekatze

I don't think you have to go cold turkey, but it would probably be good to set some rules for yourself, like no phone in or by the bed (I actually do use a physical alarm clock), no phone at the table or while eating, etc. When you're watching something on TV or whatever, put the phone away and don't look at it. Try and think of another hobby that you think you might enjoy - at the end of the day you are just using your phone to kill time at the moment, maybe you need to fill that time with something else. If you have apps installed that you spend a lot of time on but you don't actually get much enjoyment out of, uninstall.

elperello

Would you consider getting an old fashioned non smart phone so you could still be in touch for calls and texts and leave the smartphone at home for increasingly extended periods to see how you get on?

irelandrover

I have a digital wellness function on my phone. I noticed i was spending a lot of time scrolling on boards, so i set a 10 minute a day timer for google chrome and after that i cant use the app. First few days were tough but now i dont even use the 10 minutes.

Basically all my apps have a timer like that now except for the critical ones.

wylo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119293696#Comment_119293696

That’s interesting, what’s the name of the app? Just digital wellness?

Thanks for the suggestions. I like the idea of starting with 2 hours etc and work from there.

Regarding filling voids etc, I don’t think it’s that deep, not saying it’s not the case, but moreso life was fine before smart phones came along.

Good points, I don’t think cold turkey could work.

Pissy Missy

What a dissapointingly misleading discussion title

irelandrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119293723#Comment_119293723

Its just an option in settings. For me it works really well

Bobblehats

Now this is a tough one because the minute you think you have her in your back pocket, she’s up in your face again demanding attention.

It’s quite like a pet I would say take her out to a remote location of no particular significance and let her down easy. Ensure that on this occasion the mother’s on board (and she will be) but best leave it right there and try to erase all memory from your mind; at least.