5 Things I Am Doing To Get Off My Phone

5 Things I Am Doing To Get Off My Phone | Post Details

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5 Things I Am Doing To Get Off My Phone | Phone Use

I manage social media accounts at work. I wouldn't label myself as a social media manager because that would be giving myself too much credit. But that means I am on my phone. If you add the social media accounts I manage for this blog, my Maskcara Beauty business and the accounts I am setting up for church, I am on my phone a lot. I need to be. But lately, I have been wanting to get off my phone. There is so much going on around me and I don't want to miss it because I am buried in my phone.

So I have started to form habits that will help me get off my phone. I want to be in the moment more. I want to be aware of what is going on. Jackie is growing up so fast and I don't want to miss a minute of it. So here are 5 things I am doing to get off my phone.

5 Things I Am Doing To Get Off My Phone | Reading More

I started this when we went to Boise in July. My sister in law left a book behind when she went home and I picked it up and finished it before we left. We stopped by a used book store and I picked up two more books to read on the plane rides home. I had read a few books after my surgery but I really haven't been reading a lot over the last few years. I love to read. It is something I have always loved. But when I start a book, I feel the need to finish it as fast a possible. I will sneak in a few pages anywhere I can. So I have had to reign that in a bit.

The Kindle app is my best friend. I have made a rule that I can only read when I have my iPad, which is always at home. So I get 30 minutes in the mornings and 30 minutes at night. That one hour every day is one hour I am not on my phone. I try to read right when I wake up and right before I go to sleep. It makes me put my phone down and do something other than watch Instagram Stories.

Historical fiction is definitely a favorite, especially Medieval and Victorian Europe. I love learning more about historical figures, with a little more than just the facts. If you have any recommendations, I am always looking for a new book!

5 Things I Am Doing To Get Off My Phone | Dedicating Time To Phone Use

This is something I have been trying over the last month and it's been really helpful. I do have to be on my phone for managing those social media accounts. But I don't have to be on it all day. On days that I am super busy, I don't have time to check email, Facebook or Instagram. So I plan times during the day where I can. I then get the work done and I don't need to be checking my phone constantly throughout the day.

I try to spend 30 minutes to an hour every morning on my phone. I watch Instagram Stories, comment on posts, schedule new posts. This gets the hard stuff out of the way so that I can focus on other things throughout the day. It has been helping. I will then check those social media accounts two more times during the day. Once around midday and then again in the evenings. And I am finding that I am not spending as much time on my phone.

5 Things I Am Doing To Get Off My Phone | Doing "No Screens" Time

I have talked about this before, but Jackie has more screen time than most kids. And it works for us. Don't try to shame me. As two working parents, we are doing our best and what works for Jackie. But at 8 pm every night, we go screen free. We turn on jazz music, plug phones in beside our bed, and just play. It is one of the best things I have done. I am spending more time playing and exploring. This is our sacred family time. We don't do anything else. Obviously there are days where we aren't home at 8 or something comes it. But when we can make it work, we do it. Now I want more screen free time.

5 Things I Am Doing To Get Off My Phone | Planning Ahead

This goes back to the dedicating time to phone use. I plan posts ahead of time and I schedule posts out a few weeks to several months in advance. I have several apps that I use for scheduling that will then automatically post to those platforms for me. I am doing a whole post on those apps so hang tight on that!

Once a month, I sit down and plan out a months work of content for two of the Instagram accounts I manage. Then I can get just those go. Instead of spending 20 minutes every day finding an image and come up with content, I can knock out an entire month in just a few hours. It is a huge time saver. And it gets me off my phone!

5 Things I Am Doing To Get Off My Phone | Not Stressing

We live in an age where phones are an extension of us, like it or not. Regardless of age, I see people buried in their phones doing whatever they are doing. And I am not judging. I do the same thing. But trying to get off my phone is something I am trying to do. Sometimes, it just doesn't happen. There are days where I spend more time on my phone than I want to. And I look back in the evening and I wish I could change what I did that day. But I can't, I can only change how I will do things the next day. So I try not to stress about it. I am doing my best. This is a work in progress so spending time focusing on how I failed myself that day isn't helpful. I can only be better tomorrow.