The biggest instigators of mass information overload these days are smartphones. I thought I would share a few tips that I use to minimize my unintentional phone usage – the kind you get sucked into when you check one of your notifications and end up in the web of somehow looking at a stranger’s Facebook profile for no reason.

1. Turn your text and email notifications to silent. For the last few weeks, unless I’m expecting a particular text or email, I try to remember to keep everything except for my call volume on silent. My most contacted people know that if they need me to answer immediately they can call me and if it’s not an emergency, I’m pretty good at viewing my messages regularly at my down times throughout the day – I still do this too frequently, so I will be utilizing the remainder of these tips more in the future.

2. Out of sight, out of mind. If you leave your phone on a table which you pass very often, you will probably end up checking your phone very often. Put the phone somewhere where it’s not so easy to access. I like to put mine inside a ceiling tile that is only accessible by a ladder.

3. Turn off your social media notifications. If you know that you will be checking Facebook daily, do you really need to hear the exact moment when someone “liked” your post? Probably not. Turn the notifications off, you will catch up when you next log on. Not being disrupted by the notifications will help you stay on task.

4. Just leave it. Don’t spend your dinner date, your leisurely walk, your time at the playground waiting for some new bit of information. What are the chances that something critical will happen in the next hour? Take a chance, gamble on the fact that during your next park date, you will not be asked to save the world. Leave your phone in the car or somewhere where you won’t constantly reach for it.

5. You don’t have to be on an airplane to use airplane mode. This is my new favorite. I’m a little too proud for coming up with this fix for myself (though I’m sure I’m not the first person to do this). How often do you take your phone with you when you’re out just for the sake of taking photos? I do this all the time. Maybe you’re at a science center with your kids or taking an architectural walking tour with a friend – you bring your phone along because you know there will be something photo-worthy, but by taking your phone with you, you open yourself up to an onslaught of notifications filing themselves into your phone. Sure, you could just turn all your sounds off, but every time you turn on your phone to take a photo, you will see your notification icons and if you’re anything like me, you will create some very unlikely scenario in your head in which your friend needs immediate assistance or they will perish (Just me? Okay then.) If you turn your phone to airplane mode, no notifications will be able to come in – you’ll get them once you turn airplane mode off, but you’ll still be able to take all the pictures you want to take without getting distracted.

6. Say “Good night” to your phone. My most wasted time on social media is at night when I’m about to fall asleep. I know, I know, I’ve read all those articles about keeping the phone out of the bedroom, too. I fall into this when my toddler calls me into bed before I’m quite ready to fall asleep. I notice a huge difference in my sleep patterns when I know that my phone is out of the room on its charger. I end up falling asleep faster. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I can get back to sleep quicker than if I reach for my phone as a pacifier at 2 a.m.

(Sidenote, It’s 4 a.m. and I just found out that my Disney doppelganger is Rapunzel and we have a 92% resemblance. We’re both cheerful, curious, and very clumsy. That’s pretty accurate. Clearly, tomorrow night, I will be leaving my phone on the charger).

I hope these tips will help you simplify your day. -Irina

Related Post: Our Addiction to Mass Information