3 Ways To Reclaim Control Over Your Device

How often are you having a conversation with a friend or a family member and you’re a million miles away. Your brain is thinking about all the things you need to do. You’re worried. You know your to-do list is a mile long and you know you don’t have enough time to get it all done. Then your phone bings in your bag. You can’t focus on the conversation, all you can think about is your phone. Who is it? Is it important?

Do you know what your brain is doing at this moment? It’s future tripping you. It’s making you stress about all the things you have to do because it knows that you’ve put unrealistic expectations on yourself to get too much done. 

But do you know what else it’s doing? 

Robbing you from being completely present and in the moment with the person in front of you.

One of the biggest challenges we face in modern society is distractions from our devices. Not only distractions in the way of the phone ringing, dinging or notifying you that you’ve got a new Facebook friend – but also the distraction of wanting to scroll. 

The distraction of wanting to open up social media apps, and to consume content. To watch the lives of others through our screens. And this is a huge problem in modern day society. 

Don’t get me wrong – technology is fantastic, and has allowed us to connect in ways we never knew where imaginable! The online space is fantastic, allowing for business and communities all over the world to connect and support each other. 

But it also sucks a little bit of the life and joy out of us – and that’s because they’re designed to be addictive. And they are addictive. I can put my hand up and wholeheartedly admit to falling down the social media rabbit hole. Before you know it 30 minutes has passed and you’ve got nothing to show for it. 

So how can we reclaim control of our devices and be more present with those we love? By taking back the power. Put your phone away, out of sight, out of mind, and turn it onto silent. If anyone important calls, they will leave a message. You can call them back. You don’t need to be available 24/7 just because you own a mobile phone. 

Here’s three easy to implement tools to stop feeling as though your phone owns you, and not the other way around. 

1. Turn off ALL your social media & email notifications! You really don’t need to know when someone likes your picture, or adds you as a friend, or follows you on Insta. It’s not important, especially not in the grand scheme of your day to day life. Mute your notifications and take the first step to reclaiming your power!

2. Go and buy yourself an alarm clock (yep, a digital one – old school, baby!) and remove devices from the bedroom. Not only is the bluelight addictive, but it messes with our sleep patterns. From 8pm put your phone on aeroplane mode & on charge outside of your bedroom. This stops the before bed scroll, and the wake up scroll. Believe me, it might feel stretchy at first – but you’ll be thanking me!

3. Limit your social media throughout the day. Ideally, give yourself one, or at most two social media windows – of a maximum 30 minutes. Set a timer, and be mindful of not going over time. When you start to control your time spent on social media, your once time poor day starts to become filled with more time. Magical! More time for your children, your partner, your pet, yourself! Win, win I say!

One of the biggest transformations my clients have through their coaching is to create a more present and meaningful life, and this is one of my biggest driving forces as a coach. I love the idea of connecting, and being completely present and in the moment. Because if we know anything for sure, it’s that the only thing that is guaranteed in life is this moment we are in. Right now. So let’s make it count. 

I’d love to know how you go taking the power back over your device, and how it impacts on your relationships. Let me know in the comments below xx