less screen time is possible!
Ah screens. Blue light. The doom scroll.
It all feels like a necessary evil at this point and yet, there are steps to take to make sure that you have more control over the screen than it does of you.
Read on for a few tips (read: options) you have to choose less blue light in your face, especially before you go to bed!
Studies show that the less blue light in our faces an hour before bed, the better we will sleep. Better sleep equals better stress resilience aka less stress.
Here we go:
“Leave” your phone in another room. This one is pretty easy, dipping your toe in the ‘can I live without my phone all the time’ question. Especially on the weekends, intentionally leave your phone in your bedroom, for example, while you hang out with your family in the kitchen and living room. This way, you may want to grab for your phone but there’s nothing to grab, nothing to check. The text messages you get will still be there when you’re ready.
Turn off the notifications on your phone. Did you know that the push notifications to your phone can be turned off? Tis true. (They don’t want you to know that so you keep using it - secret’s out).
Head over to the Settings > Notifications and turn as many of those notifications off as possible. NextDoor? Nope. Four people liked your Insta post? You’ll see it later, promise. My Mom has news alerts pinging her every fifteen minutes. Why do we do that to ourselves? There’s enough stress in the day. Recently I turned off the email notification as well so I have to physically pull the email app up and it’s been a game changer.Limit App usage with timers. Android has an app called Digital Well Being that you can use to cut off an app's usage after you hit a certain limit per day. An internet search tells me the iPhone equivalent to this is Screen Time. I personally have a thirty minute timer on my Instagram app per day and am about to just delete Facebook all together. The extra work it takes to pull up on a desktop or delete the timer isn’t worth it and you’ll enjoy more space in your day.
Set a bedtime mode on your phone. You can have your screen turn to black and white or grayscale instead of full color mode. Also in Digital WellBeing so check it out! This way if you have to still use the phone, you’re decreasing the light in your eyes. This also stays on all night until 8a (when I’ve dropped off my kids at school) so I see no notifications until after I have spent my morning trying to be as present with them as possible.
Put Your Phone on DND. I have my phone on Do Not Disturb allll the time. Literally. All. Day. Again, I use settings within the phone that if someone on my priority list of contacts calls, or if someone calls twice in a fifteen minute period, it will come through. Especially with all the spam calls and text messages lately, this is a game changer for how often I pick up my phone.
Get a real alarm clock so you don’t need your phone right by your bed. Don’t panic. My phone is still in the bathroom - again if someone were to call - but this way the phone is not the last thing I look at before bed or the first thing I see when I wake up. Phew!
Start treating your text messages as an asynchronous communication tool (because it is). There’s over ten minutes of productivity we lose every time we switch from one task to the next. Think about the impact this has on your day in terms of stress and energy levels. Take a few minutes at the end of the day - or two times if you need it - to send and respond to the messages that are needed. If someone really needs you, they can always call.
Work with your partner/ family/ housemates to have screen free nights. My partner and I recently started reading two nights a week instead of watching TV after we put the kids to bed. I thought it would be a harder sell but he’s actually enjoying it more than me, getting our reading area setup with tea each night. Throw out the idea and see what happens! You can always start with one night or even a few hours to start ;)
That’s what I have for you today! These are tips I’ve used to support myself and my clients over the last few years.
Hot tip: Try one of these out for a week at a time and adjust and make tweaks as it serves you. There’s no one size fits all here and only you get to decide what works for you. The slower you introduce some or all of these tools, the more sustainable in your life.
Hey, I’m Caitlin! I’m a certified health coach and life coach and I’m here to bring sustainable change into your day so that you have the time and energy you need for the things that matter most.
Want more support? Check out my other posts, learn more about coaching here or book a call with me here. You can always sign up for my newsletter, below, to receive these posts straight to your inbox, too!
What will you try first? Anything I’m missing I should include? Let me know!