Are you someone who spends most of the time using Smartphone? Are you someone who get anxious when you are without your phone just for sometime? This is called Smartphone addiction.

Do you know an average user spends 4.5 hour using their Smartphone and pick it up more than 100 times a day. In the survey of Stanford university, it was found that 75% student would like to forget their wallet rather than their phone while going out.

Smartphones were created to use but they are using us now. Somebody has well Said, Technology is a good servant but a bad master. Now, you have to decide whether you are slave or master of your phone.

LifeStyle wants to share some tips to help you overcome this addiction.

#. But why should you reduce smartphone uses

Depression and anxiety is increasing :- People who use their phone excessively are often found to be depressed. Many teenagers have anxiety issues and have sense of inferiority due to heavy use of social media.

Hampers the daily productivity :- Especially students and working professional lose their productivity as they are spending more and more time using their phone. Students whose time should be spent in shaping their careers are often found in their phone.

Hampers body posture :- It is not uncommon to find people always looking downward using their phone. This heavily damaged their posture. This causes stress in their neck and back which may lead to serious long term problem.

Damages the sleep quality :- The blue light emitted from phone's screen reduces the Melatonin level (which regulate sleep wake pattern) leading to poor sleep quality.

People are getting less social :- Many teenagers and young adults do not have time to get out of their phone and look around. So they lose interest in social activities and making friends. There are many people around who have thousands of friends and follower online but almost zero in real life.

It damages our overall lifestyle :- Many people use there phone while eating, talking or even in toilet. This is not good as our brain gets tricked. This can degrade our quality of life.

#. Solutions and Tips to overcome Mobile addiction

1) Use alarm clock instead of phone's alarm

Many people use their phone upon waking up. Study have shown many people pick up their phone before 15 minutes of waking up. This is because they put their alarm on their phone. So the trick is to replace your mobile phone with alarm clock and there will be no reason to check your phone first thing in morning. So, you can use the those time enjoying happy and tech free morning.

2) Change some settings of the phone

Turn off notification :- You can turn off notifications annoying and unimportant apps. Notifications are designed to trigger you to use the app. So turn it off and you will take a breath of relief.

Use do not disturb mode :- If you are doing something important and don't want to get disturb you can use do not disturb mode. This will halt all the notification and call helping you to focus in your work.

Use Focus / Zen mode :- Many modern smartphone has these mode in which you can set the timer and you can't enter your phone in those time. You can answer your important call and messages but can't use the phone. This can help you to check your limits.

Use Greyscale :-

As our eyes are sensitive to colours, Smartphone companies and other online platforms smartly use bright colours attracting us to spend more time using them. Every time you click on something your brain releases Dopamine wanting you to click it again and again. Using gray scale in your phone, it will be way less interesting to use which will help you to overcome it.

3) Monitor your uses

To reduce your phone uses, you should start tracking it. Latest mobile phone has digital well being section where you can keep an eye on your users. Other than that there are many apps to do so. It is absolutely important to do so because, What can be tracked can be managed. This can be a major eye-opener for you. It will also motivate you to use your phone less.

4) Spend time with family and friends

Spending quality time with family or friends will replace your Dopamine source helping you to overcome smartphone addiction easily. In this way smartphone will not come to your mind and you can enjoy your time. This will also make your bond stronger with them improving your social life.

5) Get rid of distracting and unused apps

You can go through the apps you have installed in your phone and it is sure that you will find some of them unused. So get rid of them. More than a number of apps in your phone, more the number of notification, more reasons to use the phone. So keep only the frequently used important apps.

6) Use web version of social media

This can be very powerful to significantly cut down on your social media uses. Use the web version of social media on PC and uninstall the apps. This will make harder for you to use social media as you don't have your PC all the time. It is highly recommended to block a time to use social media.

7) Use reminder wallpaper

Manier time we tend to forget our resolution after some days. So constant reminder is important. Many times we pick up our phone without any purpose. So keep a reminder wallpaper and lock screen on the phone which will be constantly reminding you to use your phone only when needed. Thus, motivating you to use the phone less.

8) Use Leanthy password

As smartphone has evolved, the way of unlocking it has also evolved. Today you can unlock your phone in less than a second just by seeing it. This also encourages you to use your phone more. So the trick is to disable fingerprint and face unlock and keep leanthy password instead. Now, as you want to unlock your phone you have to type the password every single time which will most likely annoy you. This will discourage you to use your phone.

9) Keep yourself busy

The smartphone uses increases in leisure time. keeping yourself busy will help you to cut down its uses. You can develop a hobby, focus on your goals, Play your favorite sport etc. which will make you more productive and also acting as replacement for your mobile. Having a bigger purpose in the life can easily replace your phone.

I am not telling you to stop using your phone (which is impractical) but to reduce its uses. In moderation smartphones is great device but its addiction can be harmful.

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How to Overcome Smartphone Addiction