Mobile phone addiction and how to kick the habit in 30 days

Our mobile phones are critical to our day-to-day lives. Even more so during the current worldwide crisis. Practically everyone has had to work from home at some point and use their device to attend zoom meetings. The issue of mobile phone addiction is one the rise. So, how can you combat the problem and kick the habit in 30 days?

Nomophobia (the fear of being without a phone) is fuelled by this life style of constant internet usage. The need to always be plugged into social media and always up to date on the latest information.

Is mobile phone addiction real?

We lose hundreds of hours every month to our phones. Hours that we could easily spent doing something more productive.

Even worse, many of the applications and even the interface of your device is designed to capture your attention and create a compulsion.

Broadly speaking, device addiction can be covered by a variety of issues around impulse control and building bad habits.

It can be very hard to break those habits.

In this article we are going to cover, some methods to break your cell phone addiction.

1. Analyse your current behaviour

The best place to start with mobile phone addiction is to look at your pattern of behaviour to find where you are spending most of your time.

In the iPhone, Samsung and Huawei settings you will find a menu from which you can monitor your screen time. You can even set it so your device gives you weekly insights into where you are spending your time and how long you spend with your screen off.

Once you’ve identified which apps are causing you to spend the most time glued to the screen, you can uninstall this app or set locks on it. In this way you can only access it at certain times of day or only for specific periods of time.

2. Lock down your phone

If you find that you can’t see a specific point of weakness in your activity, there are several applications available that can lock your phone down.

Offtime: for iOS and Android

The Offtime app blocks distracting applications such as Facebook and Snapchat. It also provides you with information about where you are spending your time on your phone. In case you couldn’t find it in the settings.

You can choose between several different modes which can all be tailored to your life for school, work or home.

This allows you to build a profile for exactly what you need, while remaining undistracted.

Flipd: for iOS and Android

Flipd is an aggressive approach to locking your phone. This app lets you lock your phone for a set period of time. Once you set the timer there is no going back, even if you reset the phone. It will not let you in.

You can even use Flipd remotely to switch someone else’s phone off. Which is useful for parents.

Forest: For iOS and Android

By far Forest has to be our favourite application for reviving your attention span and locking your phone away. Similar to Flipd this app locks your phone down, kind of.

Plant a tree when you need to stay focused. If you commit to your task without getting distracted, your tree grows. If you cannot resist the temptation of using your phone, your tree dies. Over time, you will have an entire forest built from your focus and commitment.

You can always unlock your phone if you want to, but in the process you will kill your tree. It’s very interesting how the psychology of keeping your tree alive can stop you from randomly accessing social media and losing a few hours.

3. Leave your phone at home

The final option is to leave your device behind when you want to remain focused and objective.

if this is not possible because you need to have access to a phone then you can always downgrade your device to a non-smart phone.

These types of phone can easily picked up for around £10 from a nearby retailer. They still giving you access to calls and texts but block out the internet.

If you want to cut yourself off altogether and go off the grid completely, but find you miss the shape and feel of your phone in your hand or pocket, you could always pick up a NoPhone.

“The NoPhone is specifically designed without a battery, screen or phone. You’ll simply adore never having to frantically look for a place to charge your phone or carrying the emotional burden of a cracked screen”

With all that being said, it can take up to 30 days to kick a bad habit. So, feel free to try any or all of these methods for a least a month to fight your mobile phone addiction.