Ep. 126 – Tips to Overcome Screen Addiction

Try to go without your phone for a few hours, or even the whole day.

Like most people, I reach for my phone when there is any break in the conversation, when a commercial comes on TV, or when I am even slightly bored.

We are constantly connected. There is very little time in our day when we are not interacting with the screen. It is leading to attention disruption and anxiety (especially when constantly scrolling social media). We are the most connected society, yet people feel isolated and alone. And depression is an epidemic.

When I go to a restaurant I see entire families on their phones or pads. Why go out to eat if you are not going to commune together at the table?

Is there any downtime? Look up the word “connected”. Included in the definition are the meanings “to bind up” or “to bind to”. I don’t want to be “bound” to like that to something.

If you feel like this, then you have come to the right place. This episode will empower you with some tips to reduce your screen use – and reclaim your life.

Listen on your fave Podcast app:

Thriving The Future Podcast on iTunes/Apple Podcast

Thriving The Future Podcast on Spotify

Phone Settings to Fight Screen Addiction

How to Set Night Shift on the iPhone

Night Shift is an iPhone setting where it will make the screen an amber to reddish-brown background color. It is to use in the evening.

set night shift on your phone — Set Night Shift on your phone

Open the Settings App.
Navigate to Display and Brightness menu.
Select Night Shift = On.
Either Schedule it to start at a certain time or Manually Enable (starting now).
You can set the Color temp to Less Warm or More Warm. The More Warm setting will make it more Orange.

Setting Focus Mode:

Open the Settings App.
Navigate to Focus.
This brings up types of focus – Do Not Disturb, Personal, Sleep, or Work. …
Specify which apps and people can send you notifications during your Focus time.

Turn Off Notifications

Better yet: Turn off most Notifications.

I know family members that have Notifications turned on and their phone is chirping at all hours of the night. It is difficult to be guest in their house because of the frequent beeping.

Level Up on Fighting Screen Addiction with the Grayscale Setting

If you really want to level up, this is a tip that Father Turbo gave to Perpend: You set your phone to Grayscale. Nothing changes, but everything is in shades of gray.

It is designed to lessen the draw to the phone, as well as decrease the dopamine hit that you get when on social media. Things just don’t look as appealing in grayscale and they don’t trigger the same things in the brain.

How to Set Grayscale on the iPhone

Open the Settings App.
Navigate to the Accessibility Menu.
Tap on the Display & Text Size Menu.
Turn On Color Filters.
Select the Grayscale Filter.

Watch Your Scrolling Habits

Why are you using social media?

Twitter is designed to make you angry, to comment, and to argue. It is how your stay engaged and stay on the platform.

Instagram is directly competing with TikTok at this point. More people are watching the short video Reels on Instagram rather than the regular posts.

When you are scrolling on Instagram (or Facebook) on your phone, the app is noting what you are looking at and what you hesitate on, even for a second. So if you pause to look at a guitar or a girl in a bikini, the algorithm notes it and will show you more of that content.

Ask yourself this question before you Tweet:

Is this consistent with my brand? (or my character)

Is this the best use of my time?

Schedule Your Tweets

The desktop version of Twitter in the browser allows you to schedule tweets. This is a solopreneur’s dream come true. You used to only be able to do this with paid third party apps like HypeFury. Now I publish a podcast episode on Sunday and schedule four days of tweets and images on the episode to play during the week. (I have not seen the same feature on Instagram).

Focus on Your Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern

Let’s get real. That thing that is happening in Texas that is the Outrage-of-the-day on social media. Does it really impact me?

If I don’t live in Texas, chances are it doesn’t impact me at all.

Does it even concern me?

Probably not.

How much of this can I actually do something about?

Even if we are talking about in my home state or even in my city:

Is it something I can directly do something about myself? – That is the Circle of Control.

If the answer is “No”, then Do I know someone involved? Are they a family member, friend, a co-worker, a neighbor? – That is the Circle of Influence.

If I don’t know the person and don’t have any influence with them as a family member, friend, or acquaintance, the answer is almost surely “No”.

So why waste emotional energy on it?

Tip: Focus on the Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern.

Only spend emotional energy on the things that fall inside these two circles; only on the things that really matter.

and:

Go Outside!

Use a device like the Brick App

The Brick App is a bluetooth device. You pair it with your phone. You set which phone apps you can see when “bricked” and then you leave the device at home. When it is not paired then you can only access the apps that you setup beforehand.

Why use this? Unlike other tips, like Grayscale mode, you can turn them off if you lose your self control. With the Brick – if you are student who needs to study for a final, you turn on a music app and messages. leave the rest turned off so you can’t waste time emailing or tweeting. Then you leave the device at home. I haven’t tried this (I don’t have quite this amount of screen addiction), but it sounds interesting.

Get More Red Light at Night

I don’t sleep well. Part of that is my use of blue light screens in the evening – the TV, the phone, and the computer. It messes with my circadian rhythm. My body is saying, “Is it daytime or nighttime?”.

We are made to look at fire light and candles in the evening. Try as we might to extend the day with artificial lighting,

Wear Blue Light Blocking Glasses

In Thriving the Future Podcast Ep. 117 – Hashimoto’s Autoimmune Disease and AIP Diet – with Ryan Mitchell Brown, Ryan talked about the benefit of wearing Blue light blocking glasses. They are red or orange lenses that filter out the blue light of screens, LED lights. Ryan was wearing those glasses during the interview. He also uses red lights in his room at night. He also wears Yellow lenses during the day to reduce eye strain from using the computer.

I started using the blue light blocking glasses with the red lenses. I first tried the glasses over my regular glasses but then I settled on clip-on glasses. The result: They did help with winding down in the evening. I more consistently felt tired at bedtime and I seemed to sleep better.

Wrapping it Up

Using these tips you can overcome, or at least reduce, screen addiction.

Be Time Rich.

Put things in perspective. Spend time on things that matter. Especially your family. Your kids will grow up before you know it.

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The Backyard Forest Garden e-book
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