5 Reasons to Stop Staring at Your Phone

Staring at your phone and devoting all your attention to a tiny little screen immediately removes you from being present.

It’s unsafe

You are less mindful of your surroundings, your senses are compromised, and you are less receptive to your environment.

Because you are not paying attention, you could potentially get robbed, lose something, miss your stop, get lost, trip, get hurt, or nearly get run over by a bus. I saw all these happen in one week of riding public transportation where everyone was staring at phones like zombies instead of being present.

It’s unhealthy

Staring at your phone is bad for your eyes, neck, muscles, joints, sleep, and mental health. The blue light isn’t healthy for your eyes and it disrupts your natural sleep patterns by interrupting your circadian rhythm. You can get numerous health problems such as text neck syndrome, trigger thumb, thumb arthritis, and cubicle tunnel syndrome. Plus, it’s a nasty little fomite gathering germs that can make you sick.

Smartphone addiction is also detrimental to your mental health. Your brain thinks it will feel a reward when you constantly refresh your inbox or social media, but this is actually a forecast error that causes a negative impact instead of a positive one. You can also experience withdrawl called nomophobia which causes fear and anxiety whenever you are disconnected from the world through your phone.

It’s dangerous

Toting around a very expensive device that is extremely delicate and made of glass is actually a pretty dangerous thing to do. You can drop it, break it, or get it wet, and it can also get stolen, forcing you to fork out even more money to replace it. And, walking around with a brightly lit screen illuminating your face instantly makes you an easy target for an opportunistic crime.

It’s expensive

Not only is your phone an expensive computer that needs to be constantly replaced with an even more expensive version due to planned obsolescence, it’s also quite costly to actually use on a daily basis. Cell phone contracts can be money pits that come with hassles like cellular and data limits, and additional fees like taxes, carrier unlocking fees, roaming charges, overage charges, and early termination fees.

It’s rude

What’s the worst part about staring at your phone? It’s rude! Don’t be the jerk staring at your phone in front of someone, or while someone is talking to you, or worse, on a date. Definitely don’t be the person having the loud phone conversation on the crowded train and overprojecting into the air for everyone to hear. Noise pollution is the worst!

beat smartphone addiction

Use Screen Time to monitor the apps you use and the time you spend on them.

Minimize digital clutter. Delete apps that suck up the most time and that you don’t need.

Put your phone down. Practice setting your phone down, facedown, and forgetting it.

Turn your phone off. Set periods where are you can power your phone completely down.

Get rid of your phone! You can do everything on an iPad with a global SIM card. This way your phone temptation is completely eliminated, along with the contract, addiction, and stress.