Set your phone to grayscale. You will be so bored by it not having color, that you will not want to pick it up. Under accessibility then color filters.
An Apple Watch has definitely helped me be less attached to my phone. I was afraid it would make me more addicted but it has not.
We also have the no phones at the dinner table and no phones before bed rule. No phones during events like DD's soccer games, family game night, etc. It helps some but not enough. I have found for me that I am much less likely to reach for my phone if I have something to do with my hands. Reading and jigsaw puzzles are good for me. Crafts like knitting or coloring work, too.
The main thing that helps me is that DD is 9. She is watching very carefully. When she gets I phone I will have lots of rules around it and don't want her addicted. Therefore I cannot be addicted either.
Vivosmart 3 is the one you can get for ~$50, the 4 is ~$100. It's definitely more fitness tracker-style than watch style, but pretty narrow, not clunky at all.
Awesome thanks I found it.
So dumb question - you can’t answer the text or call on the watch right?
Correct, I just use the notifications to decide if it's something important enough to go get my phone for. You can scroll through the first few lines of a text and see subject lines on emails.
I have tried deleting the apps but to be totally honest I then just look at them through safari.
I just downloaded the rescue time app mentioned and will look into a smart-watch. The $50 one sounds definitely doable!!
I feel like the real issue is that I don’t want to do other things 😳. Like sure I have a million things on my to do list (laundry, dishes, prepping food, cleaning the house, etc) but all of them suck so the phone is way more appealing. And I seem to lack the willpower to stop myself 🤷🏼♀️
“Reward” yourself, after doing x amount of chores, play on phone for x amount of time. Then you don’t have to feel guilty about being n your phone because you’ve done something more productive first. Then make it two chores until phone break etc. good luck.
I use an app called Forest - you can start growing a virtual tree for a set amount of time, and if you use your phone, your tree dies. As you complete trees, you get coins, which you can use to buy more virtual tree species, but you can also save up enough coins to donate to plant a real tree in the world. I find it very motivating so if I'm feeling tempted to use the phone when I don't want to be using it, I start a tree.
An Apple Watch has definitely helped me be less attached to my phone. I was afraid it would make me more addicted but it has not.
We also have the no phones at the dinner table and no phones before bed rule. No phones during events like DD's soccer games, family game night, etc. It helps some but not enough. I have found for me that I am much less likely to reach for my phone if I have something to do with my hands. Reading and jigsaw puzzles are good for me. Crafts like knitting or coloring work, too.
The main thing that helps me is that DD is 9. She is watching very carefully. When she gets I phone I will have lots of rules around it and don't want her addicted. Therefore I cannot be addicted either.
See, I am trying to visualize managing watching one of my kids' baseball games (4 -5 hours worth on Saturdays) without at least a periodic check into the real world and definitely getting the shakes
An Apple Watch has definitely helped me be less attached to my phone. I was afraid it would make me more addicted but it has not.
We also have the no phones at the dinner table and no phones before bed rule. No phones during events like DD's soccer games, family game night, etc. It helps some but not enough. I have found for me that I am much less likely to reach for my phone if I have something to do with my hands. Reading and jigsaw puzzles are good for me. Crafts like knitting or coloring work, too.
The main thing that helps me is that DD is 9. She is watching very carefully. When she gets I phone I will have lots of rules around it and don't want her addicted. Therefore I cannot be addicted either.
See, I am trying to visualize managing watching one of my kids' baseball games (4 -5 hours worth on Saturdays) without at least a periodic check into the real world and definitely getting the shakes
Ha! Well I have one kid and her soccer games are never more than an hour. It makes that goal a bit easier.
My issue is I read on my phone on the kindle app. So on the weekend DH will think I'm on my phone playing, but really I'm just reading. The last few evenings E has read aloud to me while I'm reading on my phone and it's kind of nice to read together.
I guess I could go upstairs and get my kindle off the nightstand, but sometimes I'm just too lazy.
There is a book called How to Break Up with Your Phone. It's awesome and gives specific steps to follow to decrease use.
For me, deleting apps is a huge one. If I want to look at, FB, say, I have to go to the mobile site. I also log in and out every time. That way there's a pause where I decide if I really want to look at whatever the thing is or not. At least half the time, I don't end up logging in.
Turn off every single notification for apps you do have.
My phone is on do not disturb almost all the time. That way I only look at it when I decide to, not when it tells me to.
I don't sleep with it in the room. In the morning, I take care of things around the house, make coffee, feed animals, etc before I pick up my phone. It's never the first thing I do.
The book suggests other strategies like changing where you charge it it, changing your menu bar so you have to look harder for things, keep it out of reach during times when you find you have urges to use it, etc. I still have work to do but I find in general I use my phone less.
I can quick reply to texts and FB Messenger on my FitBit Versa Lite. It was $100 around Xmas. It is really low profile and doesn't have all the bells and whistles but it holds a charge for several days and when it needs to charge it is super quick. Idk about WhatsApp, but you might be able to find an app. It also is water proof-ish and seems durable. I've had it for a while and it's holding up!
I struggle with this and make 100 excuses of why I NEED my phone. I remind myself (and my husband) in the not so distant past people left a message on your home answering machine and you called them back when you had the chance. We teach people what to expect from us and I noticed when I quickly respond to not so critical emails/text (within a few hours) some vendors ALWAYS expect that and even sooner. This makes me feel ok about leaving my phone in the other room, which then keeps me from mindlessly scrolling.
I bought a basic used kindle on Amazon for like $30 so I can read books easily without pulling out my phone.
Since we don't have a landline, I need my phone on and somewhere near me 8-5, so I can respond if the kids need me. But I try to keep it on a table by the front door while I work.
I try to not use it when the kids are around. Both of them were starting to question why they only had an hour of screen time a day but mine was unlimited. It's really hard in the morning not to look through everything, but it does make me interact with them a lot more, which ends up being a nicer way to spend time. They also fight way less when I'm not zoned out on the phone.
I don't bring it in my bedroom. That was the worst for me, just lying in bed and scrolling at the end of the day. I'm much more likely to fall asleep if I'm reading a book.
Post by Ashley&Scott on Feb 25, 2020 14:18:02 GMT -5
My Fitbit Alta HR syncs to my phone via Bluetooth. I receive call & text alerts, I can look down at my wrist to see who's calling or read the text message. But I can't respond from it, which I like. I bought it on FB Marketplace for $40. I loved it so much I bought my mom the same one for the same price. Other Fitbit models will do the same thing, some with more features than others. Check out marketplace, see what's available then look up the model to see if it has the features you want. For me, I wanted to be able to see who was calling/texting, heart rate monitor & sleep tracker.