Remember the “no phone” rule in high school?
At the time it annoyed me so very much. If one of my teachers would turn around during a lesson and I could tell they would be standing at the whiteboard for a couple minutes, I’d sneakily pull my backpack onto my lap and slip out my phone. Somehow, I mastered the art of looking at my phone while my eyes were on the whiteboard, but that’s another story.
By Catherine Price
This was such a bad habit for me, that even today, I catch myself peeping my phone while it’s in my purse out of fear that someone will “catch” me on it.
There is currently no one in my life monitoring my cell phone usage. I am an adult, after all.
But a few months ago, I had an epiphany. I waste a TON of time on my phone. This isn’t groundbreaking news. Everyone knows phones can be massive time-wasters. But when I really thought about the amount of time I was spending on my phone, I was stunned. It was taking away so much valuable time that could be spent working, engaging friends, taking care of myself, etc.
I knew I had to do something, so I decided to take a baby step: leaving my phone in my purse at work. This helped a little. But not enough. An hour would go by and I would start to feel an itch. An itch to see the latest Instagram post or text from my sister. So, I would pull it out and waste 5 minutes doing literally nothing.
I knew I had to take a more drastic measure. I challenged myself to leave my phone in my car (secure and out of sight) during work hours. The first day was tough. I didn’t know how to take a “break” from work without my phone. But as the week wore on it became easier and easier. And I still check my phone at lunch.
At this point, I hardly even think about my phone. Sometimes I get in my car to leave for the day, and I don’t even open the consul to check my phone because I have forgotten all about it!
You may be wondering how I stay in touch with people during the day. And what if an emergency happened and I wasn’t reachable? The answer is G-Chat and email. I make sure to tell my closest friends and family about my new habit and let them know I am reachable on the computer.
If you have trouble focusing in school or at work, I highly recommend leaving your phone somewhere out of reach for at least a few hours a day. It’ll be hard at first, but eventually you will forget all about it.
Checking my phone instead of enjoying the event I was attending in 2017.
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