1. When you get a message/call on your phone, do you feel an urge to respond quickly to it?
2. Do you often take a peep at your phone when you are with your family/ friends?
3. Do you feel restless/ incomplete when you are away from your phone?
4. Has anyone told you that you are not listening to them?
5. Do you use your phone on occasions like driving, family get together and trips?
If you have more than two “Yes” for these questions, buddy, you have strong addiction to your phone. Realize it the earliest, start remedies, you can save your social life. Else, you will set another example of a man shattered by technology.
Smartphones are the blessing of the 21st century. Used wise, they can be the biggest asset a man can have. But if you move to a stage where the technology rules over you, it is gonna be the worst curse you could have. It can ruin your family life, social life, cut you out from your friends, make you a maniac and ditch you behind the bars of an asylum. Do not give a chance for all these.
There are ways through which you can tackle your obsession with your smartphone. Here are some of them. They are not so difficult to follow. Take each step a time and prove that you are the master of the technologies, not the other way round.
1. Create Small Obstacles:
Start from the small things. Keep your mobile out of your reach is one way to distract yourself from it. Keep in the drawer, in your cup board, or anywhere you can't reach easily. This will give you more time to concentrate on your work. Remember, land phones were never an addiction. Give a particular place for your phone at home and keep it there always.
2.Go for Mass checking:
Have you turned all the notifications on? Notifications from Facebook, RSS feeds, Twitter etc. are really time killing ones. Check the notifications thrice a day. Check them all at a time. Mass checking will spare you much time. Stop peeping every now and then for notifications.
3. Resist the urge:
Satan won over human by tempting Eve. Human beings fall for temptation. Do not fall for it in the case of mobile phones. You are the master. The cell phone is made to serve you. Not that you are made to attend your phone every now and then. Resist the urge to check your phone for notifications.
4.Customise Tones:
Set tones for your family and colleagues, so that you will be able to recognise who is calling you, without checking the phone. If it is not from your nearest circles, that means they can wait. You can call them back once you have completed what you have been doing.
5. Move out doors:
Do not sit inside the four walls with your phone. Move out. Go for a trip and give your phone some rest. Go camping. Have fun out with family. Once you have given a break to your cell phone, you will find that you have plenty of quality time, which you can utilise with your friends and family. Go enjoy the fresh air.
6.Take a break:
Go mobile free for a week, or at least for one or two days. Just experience the life without your cell phone. Meet people face to face. Solve arguments face to face than over text. Keep in touch with your friends by hanging out with them. Go for a movie in theatre with your dear ones than watching it alone in your phone.
7.No entry to Bedroom:
Take a promise that you will not bring your cell phone to your bedroom. Have an extended land phone in the bed room, to which emergency call can come. Keep the privacy. Get a good night sleep without the beeping of your cell phone. It’s good to avoid radiation.
8. Keep it behind on a dine out:
How disgusting it would be, if your partner is checking his/her cell phones and talking over it while you are out for a dinner? Nothing more is needed for breaking up of a relationship. Whether it is your friend, your better half or your family, they are out with you so that they can have you completely. They do not want a part of you. They want you 100%. Keep your phone switched off. Or leave it in your car. Or at least keep it silent (with no vibration) and never keep it on the table.
9. No Entry to theatre:
How much irritated you will be when somebody talks over a phone while watching your favourite movie in theatre? You will feel like scolding that person, right? That is how your mates feel when you concentrate more on your phone than on the screen. It’s high time our theatres should go network-less. You can check your phone during the interval. If you can keep it turned off or if you can leave it behind in the cab, the better you can enjoy the movie. May be for the first few times you will feel it difficult, but by and by, you will be more “you” while staying away from your cellphone.
10. Adapt to the situation:
On a family trip? Get off your mobile phone man. Be with your family. On a funeral? Turn your cell off or keep it in silent mode. How many times have we heard crazy film ring tones during a funeral? That is so cheap and unethical.
11. No mobile while driving:
A fan of GPS? Use the GPS to locate the place before you get in to your car. Or give the phone to your friend/relative who is travelling with you. If you are so particular that you should check the map your own, slow down, stop the vehicle on the road side and then check the map. Never use phone while driving. Be a gentleman, be a role model.
12. Turn it Off:
Have you ever turned your phone off? Unless the poor machine turns itself off when it is dead, you will never give it a rest. How will you feel after 48 hours continues work without rest? You can't even imagine it. Then how can you torture your phone, which is more close to you than your best friend? Turn the phone off for some hours every week. It will give rest to the whole system Restarting your phone once in a week is good for the battery life and performance of the phone.
13. Go for Physical games:
Ardent game player? Then stop playing virtual games and go for the real ones. A mobile football game is never gonna give you the spirit of a real football match. The sportsman spirit, the bond between the players, working united for a goal, all these are experiences which a man must have in his life. Lazy and hectic work outs in treadmill are nowhere near an enjoyable game where you play, have fun and give exercise to all your muscles.
14. Get only the necessaries:
Download only those apps which are very essential for you. There might be thousands of apps which you find interesting. But they are just time killers. You do not want any of those. Those are momentary fancies. Sooner you realise it, faster you can tackle them.
15.Out of the sight, out of the mind:
Delete all the apps that you are not using. Clean up the home screen. Out of the sight, they will be gone from your mind just like that. Then you will realise that they were utter wastes.
16. Do Not Disturb policy:
Set a certain time when you will not be available over phone. Let your pals and your family knows this. For example, from 7PM to 10 PM. Use the time with your family. Chat with them. Crack jokes. Solve issues. Appreciate. Support. Build up the rapport and the bond.
17. Be Matured:
Being addicted to smartphones shows how immature you are. A wise grown up person knows that there are so many important things in his/her life than a gadget. Grow up. Do not be a child of fancy. Take grip over things. Use technologies to ease your life. Not to make it all the more busy and complicated.
18. Be conscious:
Be aware that the technological innovations can sweep you off your feet. Do not go for it. See them all as aids for a better life. Do not give them the first place in your life. They are not the focal points. They are just supporters which help you to reach your goal.
19.Be Strong:
Be strong enough to resist the addiction. Realise that mobile phones can damage your family life and social life. Gone beyond the limit, the obsession can bring so many deep damages. Be strong to eliminate all these.
20. Be Disciplined:
A well disciplined routine will give only required amount of time for using a mobile phone. Practice a balanced routine, where all your requirements have enough place.
Follow these tips. Kick away your addiction to your smartphone. Live a peaceful and happy life!
