IS YOUR LIFE’S MOST INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP THE ONE WITH YOUR PHONE?

Does your phone ever leave your side? Is it the first thing that gets your attention in the morning? Does it come with you to the bathroom? Perhaps it dines with you on an evening? It may even have found its way into your bed with you every night?

For many of us the only time we truly disconnect from our phone is when we are immersed in water and we risk damaging it. However I am sure I am not alone in blurring that boundary by using my phone whilst in the bath.

If we reflect I think we recognise that we spend far too much time connected to our phones as our portal to the digital world. We try to convince ourselves we need our phone because “of work” but we know the truth. There is a very high percentage of non work activity taking place.

My blog highlights the negative impact that our phone addiction is having and five simple steps to help you redress these affects.

WHAT IS OUR PHONE ADDICTION DOING TO US?

Disruption compromises performance

The plethora of pings and alerts, for email, text ad social media mean we are in an almost constant state of distraction. Whatever task we are engaged in once we have allowed ourself to be disrupted it can take up to 15 minutes to regain our levels of concentration and flow. Factor in how many times that happens and we are literally wasting hours a day trying to regain our level of pre disruption flow. An even bigger question could be, were you ever in the deep concentration flow state in the first place if you cannot find a window large enough without alerts distracting you?

Damaging the quality of our relationships

For any of our relationships to flourish they need our time and our focus. Whether that is our intimate relationship with our partner, our relationship with our children or with our colleagues the principle holds true. Yet we allow ourselves to be distracted by our phone and attempt to hold a conversation whilst reading or typing?! This can only serve to erode the quality of these relationships. What does hearing “just one minute” do to our children as they watch their parent’s attention go back to the phone.

Disempowering your mindset

The sense of constantly being connected and the sense of impending exposure to some form of anxiety triggers the stress hormone cortisol in our bodies. That trigger may arise from exposure to negative news reporting or just the barrage of emails landing in our inbox and the expectation of the challenges contained within them. This all serves to disempower our mindset which can compromise all aspects of our professional and personal lives.

FIVE STEPS TO ADDRESS OUR PHONE ADDICTION

1) Create a cut off time before bed when you no longer touch your phone.

2) Do not pick up the phone as the first thing you do upon waking. Do something for yourself first.

3) Do not bring your phone to the dinner table so you can be fully present with whoever you are dining with.

4) Challenge yourself to put the phone down or in your pocket when engaging in conversation, especially when it is with your children. Naturally this is not always possible especially when we are working from home. A weekend policy of adopting this tip would be a good first step.

5) Diarise a non negotiable period everyday for a deep level of concentration. Turn off your phone and focus solely on the task in hand.

BENEFITS

1) Your productivity will soar as a consequence of being able to get into a deeper level of concentration whilst working on key tasks.

2) Your relationships particularly with your children and partner will blossom as they recognise they have your full attention.

3) Anxiety levels will fall as you feel more in control and less reactive to the contents of your phone.

4) Your mindset will become far more empowered and this will permeate into all aspects of your life.