You will learn:

• Statistics of phone usage
• Some negative impacts of over-phone use
• Tips on going on an information diet – freeing yourself from your phone without even knowing it

We are addicted to technology and in particular our phones. I will be the first to admit it. We care more about forgetting our phones in places, rather than our wallets. How crazy is that?

It gets worse. Not only are we addicted to our technology but 8 in 10 will check their phones within the first 15 minutes of waking up—and I am one of those eight.

Here’s some more statistics, see if you can spot yourself:

• Globally, people spend an average of 3 hours and 15 minutes on their phones, daily
• Americans average 5.4 hours, daily
• Millennials spend 5.7 hours, daily; while Baby Boomers devote 5.0 hours, daily
• People check their phones 58 times a day – half of those during work hours
• About 70% of phone conversations last less than 2 minutes
• Texting: Millennials spend 48 minutes, daily; Baby Boomers spend 30 minutes, daily

This was a February 2020 study, and I can only imagine these numbers increase every year.

So, Why Should You Even Care?

Here’s the deal: whether you are checking social media, weather, last nights sports scores or the news – we are always checking something. But why? Is it the fear of missing out, FOMO? Possibly.

What we are doing – and why you should care – is that you are, without knowing it, making your life harder rather than easier. Wait, what?

Think about it. Constantly answering the beck and call of the brr, brr of your phone, or feeling compelled to glance at the screen – even though it is still blank is not an efficient use of your time. It is distracting and even though we think we are great at multi-tasking; we are becoming less-efficient at our work-goals.

I cannot tell you how many times I have been in the middle of paperwork and felt the urge to look at my phone. For no reason. It did not go off. There was no phone call. Not even a spam call!

But I allowed a distraction to happen which puts me off my work for a few minutes before I can jump back in. So frustrating, and so time-consuming.

What if I told you that I could help you find more time during the day so that you could increase your personal productivity – whether that is during work hours or leisure hours; running errands or weekend chores – so you can actually enjoy your phone time without any of the time-wasting guilt?

The Solution: Going on An Information Diet

No, I am not talking about an extreme like phone-abstinence here.

What I am asking for is you to be conscious of how you are spending your time on your phone and to see if you can consolidate your usage time into manageable chunks that you establish and can easily stick to.

Now, you get to have your cake and eat it too.

Here is a list of my own strategies that have helped me dramatically cut down my phone time while increasing my efficiency on my phone, as well as with non-phone tasks:

• Batching your news browsing to morning or evening, only – or once a day if you can
• Social media: during schedule lunch or work breaks
• Phone calls: during work, if I am expecting calls, the ringer is on. Else, it is on silent
• PHONE FACE DOWN: such a game changer, if you see it; you want to touch it – or put it your jacket or purse
• PAIRING DOWN: do you check too many news websites? Social media sites? Too many emails? – unsubscribe or pick the most meaningful ones and discard the rest. After all, reading the same thing twice or three times in a day is…redundant!

Conclusion

And there you have it. Eliminate redundancies, turn your phone over and on silent when non-necessary and chunk your browsing to pre-determined and schedule times.

I can tell you firsthand, that I dropped about 20% of my phone usage time within a week and an additional 5% the following week. And I have been able to nearly maintain those numbers. I can also tell you that I feel more productive when using my phone.

Give it a try, be kind to yourself if you do not get it the first few days and be consistent. You’ve got this!

And until next time,

Stay Healthy

-Doc Erik-