what else? ...future fridays

I have been thinking about this a lot lately...

Is your phone the first thing you reach for in the morning and the last thing you look at before bed? Are you reading this on your phone right now? 

Breaking up with your phone doesn't mean throwing your phone under a bus. It means creating a long-term relationship with it that makes you feel good.

Your life will thank you. 

How to Break Up With Your Phone

By CATHERINE PRICE

The moment I realized I needed to break up with my phone came just over two years ago. I had recently had a baby and was feeding her in a darkened room as she cuddled on my lap. It was an intimate, tender moment — except for one detail. She was gazing at me … and I was on eBay, scrolling through listings for Victorian-era doorknobs.

I’m not going to try to explain this particular personal passion. The point is that a good 15 minutes had probably passed before I finally caught sight of my daughter looking at me, her tiny face illuminated by my phone’s blue light. I saw the scene as it would have looked to an outsider — her focused on me, me focused on my phone — and my heart sank. This was not the way I wanted things to be.

An increasing number of us are coming to realize that our relationships with our phones are not exactly what a couples therapist would describe as “healthy.” According to data from Moment, a time-tracking app with nearly five million users, the average person spends four hours a day interacting with his or her phone. [...]
Reframe the way you think about it

Many people equate spending less time on their phones with denying themselves pleasure — and who likes to do that? Instead, think of it this way: The time you spend on your phone is time you’re not spending doing other pleasurable things, like hanging out with a friend or pursuing a hobby. Instead of thinking of it as “spending less time on your phone,” think of it as “spending more time on your life.” [...]
Ask yourself what you want to pay attention to
Our lives are what we pay attention to. When we decide what to pay attention to in the moment, we are making a broader decision about how we want to spend our time. The people who design apps desperately want our attention, because that’s how they make money. Have you ever wondered why so many social media apps are free? It’s because advertisers are the customers — and your attention is what’s being sold. So ask yourself: What do you want to pay attention to? [...]
Pay attention to your body

When you notice that you’re in the midst of a phone spiral, ask yourself: What’s your posture like? How’s your breathing? Is whatever you’re doing on your phone making you feel good? Do you want to be using it right now? The more tuned in you are to your own experiences in the moment, the easier it will be to change your behavior. [...]

Time-tracking apps like Moment, Quality Time and (OFFTIME) will measure how much time you’re spending on your screen. (Be prepared to be horrified.) [...]

When I see other people reach for their phones, I try to use it as a cue to take a deep breath and relax. (I’m successful most of the time.)
Get existential about it

If all else fails, consider your own mortality. How many people on their deathbeds do you think are going to say, “I wish I’d spent more time on Facebook”? Keep asking yourself the same question, again and again and again: This is your life. How much of it do you want to spend on your phone?

article via {ny times}

image via {how to break up with your phone}