Smash your smartphone habit

You silence your alarm, blink the fog from your eyes, and reach for your phone. Your fate is now sealed.

Welcome to The Loop.

The Loop is the series of apps you habitually load when you find a spare moment. Facebook. Twitter. Email. Instagram. You check each in turn, scrolling through updates like you’re panning for gold.

Apps are designed to snare your attention and staple your eyeballs to the screen. Your Facebook feed, for instance, is constantly learning what content you like. Have you ever wondered why you see more of some people than others? Ever noticed how better posts tend to be at the top? This is not a coincidence.

Your addiction is big business. In the industry, some of the smartest scientists and engineers are working explicitly on hooking your on their apps.

Look at some of their innovations: notifications, to keep you coming back. Infinite scrolling, so you never run out of stuff to explore. Personalisation, so you see things most exciting to you. Big data, so all your behaviour can be understood and refined.

Similar addictions have been built for years with television, but TV is a mild drug in comparison. TV can’t wake you in the night or reach you in the bathroom. TV can’t show you drunken photos of your ex or get you laid.

The greatest thing about smartphones is that they make everything always available. Unfortunately this also means that they make everything always available. Always having everything, I’ve found, can be quite distracting.

So here’s some ways to control your smartphone habit:

Turn off every notification you can bear. You can, and will, still check things. But you’ll be doing it when you choose, which saves your attention span.
Try timing your Loop a few times. Just knowing a clock is ticking has the funny effect of making you prioritise and speed up. For bonus points, count how many times you look at your phone each day.
Put your phone out of arm’s reach. If you have to get up to touch it, that makes you less likely to succumb to impulse Looping. Otherwise it’s like leaving a big slice of cake on a fat guy’s desk.
Move the apps which you know you should avoid into more inconvenient places. On an iPhone, say, put them in a folder, and move that to your 2^nd or 3^rd screen. The extra ‘distance’ makes them less likely to be reached. Name the folder ‘Time suck’, ‘Mind poison’ or similar.
In your mind’s eye, look at yourself using your phone, and think, “Is this good for me?” Whether you’re sat down for a date, ordering a coffee, or watching TV – how much real life am I missing? Am I so afraid to be alone with my own thoughts for 10 seconds that I need constant distraction?

We’re still new at this, but the technology is only going to get more compelling. Maybe in 5 years we’ll be wearing it on our face. Best you start winning the battle now.

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