Do you ever question why you find it so difficult to finish your tasks? You could be at fault for your regular smartphone usage and may not even know.
Even though you have been working nonstop for the entire week, your to-do list keeps growing. Despite your persistent efforts, you never seem to succeed in your goals.
Most of it boils down to those small, regular routines that unconsciously drain your vitality and productivity. Many of those habits are connected to the tiny devices you always have in your hands in this digital age. The following are some dangerous smartphone behaviors you need to be aware of:
Checking Your Phone Instantly When You Wake Up
What is the first thing you connect with in the morning when you wake up? Before forcing yourself out of bed, we bet you used your smartphone’s snooze feature a few times. However, as soon as you awake, you begin to check your emails and other communications, as well as your social media accounts and newsfeeds.
You could believe that catching up on the news as you start your day is a nice approach to get things going well. In actuality, though, absorbing too much information first thing in the morning drains your energy.
By allowing those pings and notifications to determine your activities, you are also forming a reactive habit that exposes you to more distractions throughout the day.
The ideal way to start the day is with a more effective morning routine that preserves or boosts your recently acquired vitality. By doing this, you give yourself the ability to withstand interruptions and utilize your time more effectively.
To assist you stop the habit of checking your phone first thing in the morning, you may spend money on an analog alarm clock.
Staying Connected to Your Email Inbox
Despite the appearance that it is a productive habit, spending the entire day glued to your email account is actually keeping you from doing your most critical tasks.
The steady stream of incoming communications, many of which are not essential, can easily cause distraction. As a result, it becomes more difficult to concentrate and be productive because you are splitting your attention between the activity at hand and checking your email.
The sheer number of unread messages in your inbox could potentially make you feel stressed and anxious. Try to concentrate on finishing your job during your productive time of the day, and set out periods to read, respond to, and manage your email.
Creating a more proactive relationship with your inbox—one in which you control it rather than the other way around—is the aim.
Using Your Phone In Bed
Before going to bed, it might be very tempting to spend a few additional minutes looking through your Twitter account or watching the newest TikTok challenges. The issue is that the brief amount of time you planned to spend on your phone can easily extend to several hours. The reason isn’t usually because what you’re doing is exceptionally captivating or intriguing.
Instead, it is more difficult for you to fall asleep due to the intense light from your phone screen. Melatonin, a hormone linked to your sleep-wake cycle, is suppressed by the blue light emanating from the smartphone screen. Your quality and quantity of sleep are dramatically reduced as a result, which lowers your energy levels during the day.
Even worse, using your phone in bed extends your screen time, which causes headaches, eye strain, and blurred vision. Therefore, it’s better to leave your smartphone out of your room before you go to bed if you want to get a good night’s sleep and wake up feeling refreshed.
By doing this, you allow yourself time to relax and avoid the desire to use your phone just before going to bed. You also prevent the temptation to use it when you wake up.
Having Too Many Productivity Apps
There are several productivity apps available on the app and play stores that can help you accomplish more in less time. And while some of them could fulfill their claims, downloading an excessive amount of them can be detrimental.
This is because the variety of features and settings offered might easily overwhelm you and make you confused. The functionality of some apps may potentially wind up being duplicated in others, which would result in extra notifications and confusion.
The secret is to identify a software solution that meets your unique demands and stick with it. Keep your downloads to a minimum and only use the apps for which they were designed.
Idly Browsing The Internet
So you sit down to work, but before you know it, you’re idly browsing social media or reading articles that have nothing to do with the task at hand.
The fact that you don’t even realize you’re engaging in it without a reason or objective means that feeding this subconscious habit can be extremely destructive to your productivity. You only engage in it because it is present.
Speaking of productivity apps that are tailored to your needs, Unlpluq can help you break your mindless browsing habit. With this straightforward program, you may disable distracting apps and configure various obstacles with varying degrees of difficulty, such as shaking your phone or touching particular buttons. Prior to being able to use your apps once more, you must complete these steps.
Yes, you can still get around these obstacles if you so want, but that’s not the point because doing so forces you to stop and consider your actions, making thoughtless habits conscious ones.
Over-Dependent On Your Phone As Your External Memory
Although your phone is capable of many things, it shouldn’t take the place of your natural memory. You shouldn’t get unhealthily dependent on your phone just because you can rely on it for everyday chores like saving your countless passwords or contacts to free up brain space for other things.
Have you noticed that you frequently overlook information that you are aware of being conveniently accessible on your smartphone? You might have been affected by the psychological condition known as “digital amnesia,” which can eventually harm your memory and productivity.
Instead of relying on your phone to remember everything for you, try to employ your brain’s muscle memory by memorizing information on your own. You might be happy you did this in the terrible event that your battery dies and you are unable to rely on your phone to remind you that it is your spouse’s birthday.
Summary
We contend that in the present world, you would find it difficult to live without your smartphone, and you definitely shouldn’t try unless it poses a serious threat to your health.
You want to make sure that you are in charge of this relationship and that using your smartphone serves a purpose for you rather than impairing your performance or mental well-being. You may take the necessary steps to change these bad smartphone habits and replace them with healthier, more productive ones by becoming aware of them.