Stop phone addiction to Increase productivity

Technology is all around us and this pandemic had made us more close to technology as to pass the time we watch TV, to work we use a computer, for education we use mobile. Whether you are a working professional and are on work from or you are a student, we all are facing problems with long screen time, hence here is how to Stop phone addiction.

In todays generation, not even adults, but kids are also seen getting engaged in the mobile phone and they prefer to use mobile phone instead of playing outside. The thing which had make people so engaged in the smartphone is games.

If you had ever give a though to stop phone addiction then the first thing that had came to you mind is “do more things that make you forget to check your phone” But practically it is very difficult.

I get into productivity back in year 2019 where i was scrolling videos on YouTube and get into the video with title “how to get more things done in less time” which was all about how you can be more productive and optimize your time. In that video, the video creator ask us to know amount time you spend on mobile and smartphone.

Before we get into the methods to prevent smartphone addiction, let us understand the mechanism of smartphone apps and why we are hooked to the smartphone screen even though we know that we are killing our productivity.

Why is smartphone so addictive?

Smartphones are not addictive, games and apps installed in your smartphone are making smartphone addictive. If you replace your smartphone with a feature phone, you won’t spend a lot of time using your phone.

Apps and games are designed in such a way that the user gets hooked to it. Apps, social media and games keep you engaged by showing feeds and news based on your interest. As you open and play a video on youtube, you keep on getting videos suggestion based on your interest and this makes you spend more time and instead of watching a single video, you end up watching multiple videos.

As a tech blogger, I had tried various apps and software and as i got into the games of productivity, I had specifically given the emphasis on making use of smartphones without getting addicted to phones. Hereafter experimenting with certain things for 8 long months, I am condensing my tips in this article.

Actionable steps to stop phone addiction

Now as you know what is cell phone addiction you learn how to break phone addiction as soon as possible. There are number of side effects of smartphone addiction but let’s us not get into this. We start this with an excersise i.e How much time do you spend on your smartphone.

1. Check your apps usage time

Humans minds need reasons to do something the best thing that can motivated you to stop the smartphone use is to realize that you are using your phone way to much. Apps developers develop their apps which trick users mind and make them addicted to their apps. There is nothing wrong in that as they earn bread and butter from the user retention time but its users responsibility to know when to stop using apps.

How much time Android phone is used is Android phone and even iPhone collected data of for how many time a user had used the phone and it is known as Screen on time. In new phone or even 4-5 years, the old phone has this feature. This data will help you to know how much time you spend using smartphone.

If you are on the lastest version of android then you can follow the below steps

1. Unlock you android phone and open setting
2. Now in search option, type Digital Wellbeing and tap to open it
3. Now tap on Show data to view your android apps usage

If you don’t have this feature then you can download ActiveDash

Note – I had purposefully installed game to show you how a data look like.

2. Uninstall Games from Smartphone

Games are addictive and unlike other apps, developers of the games develop games in such a way that it keeps gamers enggaged. There is science behing why games are addictive which we will discuss some other day. Nevertheless, i dont need to explain why it is so. Most of you had experience it.

Playing games in limit will not cause you harm, it starts creating problem when the peson forget the limit and work or studies are getting affected by it. Games can also makes you anti-social and cause you metally ill.

It is a good way to allot time slots for games or reward yourself after completing a certain task. In case its hard for you to leave mobile gams as you started to play and you end up spending hours then its better to uninstall games from your smartphone.

3. Limit dependency from mobile

Mobile comes with various feature and function which has replaced many things such as FM, TV, watch, Alarm clock and many more. Smartphone comes with clock app preinstalled which not only show time and date, but also serves the purpose of alarm clock and stop watch, You can also set the timer. People prefer to use mobile phone alarm feature over analong clock or alarm clock.

There is noting wrong in setting alarm in mobile phone but this make user to use phone as a last ting prior to get into bed and the first thing to touch before getting up in the morning.

You guys will agreed to me how many time you pick your phone to set alarm and eneded up spendin time on using other apps such as replying to whatsapp contact or chating with them or watch youtube videos as you got notification.

4. Turn off push notification

Notification is a way to make using apps and some apps abuse this feature and users distract from the work. As you unlock your phone, tones of notification appear and popup on the screen which make you feel to open those and instead of completing your work, you ended up chatting with someone and lost focus.

Steps to turn off notification in android

1. Unlock your phone and open settings.
2. Now tap on Apps and notification.
3. Now search for the apps of which you want to stop notification and open it.
4. Toggle off the notification option to stop notification appearing on your mobile screen.
5. In this way, you can stop all the notification of the apps in your android phone.

These steps will hide notifications of apps. Now, if you want to resume those notification, you need to repeat whole sets of instrucions to toggle on the option.

if you don’t want to go through these steps and want to stop notification of that app then you can force stop that app.

How to force stop app in android

1. Unlock phone and open setting
2. Now scroll and tap on apps option to view all installed apps in your android phone]
3. Now search for the app and open it.
4. Here you will see two option, Fore stopped and Uninstall.
5. Tap on Force stopped.

In this way, you can force stop any app and stop that app to use internet data and notification will be stopped.

There is an alternate way to force stop apps with just one click i.e. by using an app. Here are the step by step guide to hibernate android apps in your smartphone.

How to hibernate apps on an android phone

1. Firstly open google play store, search for greenify app and install it
2. Now open it and choose the correct option from the on-screen instruction menu. Grant all the required permission to the app to make it work perfectly.
3. Now you will see “+” floating option, tap on it and select the apps that you want to hibernate automatically
4. Now click on three-dot and then go to setting.
5. Search for Always ignore background-free, and mark it on.
6. Now as you go to the homepage and add Greenify Hibernate Now widget

In this way, you can hibernate or force-stop apps in just one click.

5. Turn off WhatsApp group notification

Whatsapp is a good medium for communication where you can share notes, pdf, document, share messages and communicate. If we use it wisely, it can save time but if not, I can be the platform where we waste time. Whatsapp group are good to get connected and chat with your friends group but somtimes it cause distraction.

Step to turnoff WhatsApp group notification

1. Open WhatsApp on your smartphone. (android or iPhone)
2. Now, open WhatsApp group that you want to mute notification and then tap on the Group name
3. Here you will find the Mute Notification option, tap on it and you will find different options.
4. Select which suits you best and make sure you uncheck show notification
5. In this way, you can stop WhatsApp group notifications.

6. Uninstall useless apps and those who distract you most

More the apps you have installed in your smartphone, the more distracted you will be. So if the apps that are not useful for you not adding value to your day-to-day work, it is better to uninstall them.

7. Unfollow meme pages and leaves the Facebook group

Meme pages are for fun and nothing else and you can find enless number of meme pages on instagram and on Facebook. The problem with the meme pages and Facebook pages are, once you open and read a meme, you find it relatable which makes you feel like sharing it with your friends. You share those in your Instagram stories and in your WhatsApp group and from there you started a conversation with your friend over that meme.

This meme caption contains words like “Tag your best friend” “Tag your Bae” “Mention ravi, rahul and any random name” Which keeps you and your friend engaging. Once you do it, your friend will repeat the same and got stuck in this endless cycle.

Steps to leave Facebook Pages

Step 1 – Login Facebook account in your computer or app and scroll your Facebook feed.

Step 5 – Search for the post that contain i.e meme or news which can distract your and appeals you to open it.

Step 3 – Now click on three dots and then click on unfollow. (If unfollow option is not preset, do click on hide post ).

Unfollow meme pages on Instagram

1. Open Instagram and login to your account.
2. Now search and open Instagram meme or jokes pages.
3. Tap on unfollow.

if you are addicted to watching instagram reels then you want to be super productive then you should consider uninstalling Instagram app. Reels are really addictive.

8. Disable Facebook News Feed

The thing that of Facebook hooks us with the app is Facebook feed. Facebook and lots of other apps collect our data and show us news and feed based on our interests. So once a user opens and login to his Facebook account, he will get personalized ads, feeds and news of his/her interest and got lost in Facebook, ended up wasting time.

9. Schedule your work to Stop phone addiction

Scheduling your work is the most effective way to stay productive and not being distracted. It happens with me lots of time that when I have not scheduled the work or planned the work, I got distracted a lot.

After reading hell lots of books on productiviry and watching videos on the same, the thing that worked for me is scheduling and alloting work and task a specific time slot.

Allot time slot for checking emails, checking social media and reading news on smartphone and performs the task on the defined time slot will help you with not getting distracted.

Video on If You’re Addicted To Your Phone, Watch This by Jay Shetty

FAQ (Prevent smartphone addiction)

Wrapping Up

Remember, I am not a productivity geek or not achived something extraordinary that you should look up to me or follow me. The things I had shared in the Stop phone addiction to Increase productivity article are my personal methods that I had followed to make myself productive and reduce phone distraction.