Tips to reduce mobile phone use
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the things that everyone agrees on is that the use of technology has increased exponentially.
We could talk about the various studies and data from mobile phone companies, video game developers, and on-demand digital television platforms; but there's something much easier: observing how our lives were during lockdown and what habits, some new, others not, we acquired in relation to screen use: online classes, working from home, and then digital entertainment. Many of us thought, "Well, yes, perhaps that's too many hours...yes."
So, if someone had put reducing screen time on their list of New Year's resolutions for 2021, they're probably starting to realize just how difficult it is.
Don't be discouraged. We've already stated that it's not an easy task. And it isn't because the vast majority of the applications we use —from social networks and instant messaging systems like WhatsApp or Telegram, to video games, video-on-demand platforms like Netflix or any of its competitors, and even the smartphones we use to access them— have been designed using persuasive design strategies.
Disconnecting from mobile devices is possible
Persuasive design in this context would be the use of strategies and techniques from psychology and design, supported by technology, with the aim of influencing our behavior. We must consider that simply by being online, major platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Netflix, Foursquare, and others gather valuable data about our interests, allowing them to earn significant revenue from targeted advertising.
Explaining it this way makes it seem like we couldn't reduce our screen time much, but we can by understanding some basic principles of human behavior, such as those described by Stanford University professor BJ Fogg in his Behavior Fogg Model .
His model can be summarized very simply: for a behavior to occur, there must be an adequate level of motivation to carry it out, the ability to do so, and a signal to do so. All at the same time.
This might seem so theoretical, but we'll explain it with an everyday example. When we receive a WhatsApp message and hear the notification sound on our phone, we're more than likely to feel compelled to see who it is and what it says (motivation), and we're likely to be able to do so (ability), because WhatsApp is really easy to use. Plus, we receive a signal (the message notification sound) that makes it very difficult to resist the temptation to open the app. Right?
Solutions to reduce WhatsApp usage in our example? We have some simple but effective suggestions. Reducing motivation is difficult in a world where WhatsApp is ubiquitous, so we'll leave that aside.
Tips to reduce mobile phone use:
- Make it "difficult" to use. For example, don't keep your phone nearby; you can leave it in another room when you need a space without interruptions.
- Make the phone lock and require you to manually enter the password.
- Install programs that prevent you from accessing the system at certain times.
- Turn your mobile phone off completely at a specific time.
- And if you want more, drag the WhatsApp app on your mobile phone, placing it outside the home screen and in a folder alongside other notification systems.
- Turn off all notifications: sounds, pop-ups, and especially vibration. And definitely no red number over the WhatsApp logo.
- Delete the app during weekends or holidays (don't worry, it reinstalls in minutes).
These simple tricks apply to any social media app you have installed. Not being able to use them doesn't necessarily mean you have a problem with excessive mobile device use, but it's important to try to find uninterrupted time for other activities and consider how it affects your well-being.
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