Taking back the control

Great technology should improve life, not distract from it.

It was 11 years ago when I first got my mobile phone. Mobile phones have evolved in so many ways in this 11 years from monochrome graphics to 16M colored OLED touchscreen. As they have moved from a product of luxury to a product of necessity, it has changed the way we buy things, communicate with people, eat, work and also what we do, how we think, what we focus on and our habits because technology is evolving faster than we are!

Mobile phones haven’t just impacted the lives of individuals but at large as a society. With the increase in problems such as social comparison, self-comparison, fear of missing out, smartphone zombie, decreased attention, shortness of temper, sleep disorders, depression etc., we can’t just stop using mobile phones but we can control how we use them rather than diving into the infinity pool.

Few things which have worked for me and which can help you to gain back the control,

Uninstall all the applications which takes your time unnecessarily (infinity pool) instead use them on the computer when you have real necessity or on a mobile browser, atleast there is a resistance.
Disable lock screen notifications.
Disable notifications from apps which don’t need your immediate attention.
Set up wind down time for your sleep routine.
Don’t check your phone first thing in the morning.
Leave your phone in a different room or far from reach when you want to concentrate on a piece of work.
Monitor your app usage, both iOS (Screen Time) and Android (Digital Wellbeing) have dashboards to monitor your app usage.
Stop being reactive

These are just a few tricks which have helped me which I am trying to master. If you have any other ideas or tricks do share! Let’s build a future where technology stands behind and life stands ahead

Wishing you a very happy and focused new year 2019!