*disclaimer – not intended to be preachy, I am a huge proponent of tech and think smart phones are incredibly awesome*

Phone addiction is real.

So real. ( At least, for me )

You take a cool picture just to post it on Instagram. You then decide “hey, why not put this on Facebook too”.

What about the caption? Gotta be perfect right?

20 minutes goes by adjusting filter, caption, and deciding if you really want to post it or not.

You post it, of course you do.

5 minutes goes by, you check the likes. On IG then FB then again and again. You waste 30 minutes of your day (conservatively estimated) just checking on the stats.

How about messages?

Never know when your latest crush will message you, have to be ready to reply right away, right? But half the time you’re waiting for something that never comes and if it does, does it really matter if you reply late or not?

There are plenty of other time killers but those are my personally biggest 2.

So what to do?

To combat this I’m trying two things. I moved all social media into a folder, moved it on its own window and labeled it “are you sure?”. Its the first gate. Makes you second guess if you really want to do it, start the viscous cycle of FB IG snap repeat repeat.

Second, I put my phone on the charge away from my desk when I work. The biggest issue with that is that half of the information we use for work is on our phone in some capacity. But work around it. Its worth it.

My latest phone addiction victory has been going out to dinner. When I go out to dinner with friends I absolutely refuse to take out my phone. It’s not easy and I still find myself grabbing for it. But you owe it to the people you are with to give them your time since they are giving it to you, so rather than scroll Facebook for the 974th time today… actually catch up and ask questions.

Maybe you’re not as phone addicted as I am. But many are.

Just acknowledge when you are face down in your phone and ask yourself if its an appropriate time. Wasting your own time is fine, but others… that’s impolite.

You’ll thank yourself.