Most of it comes down to those subtle, everyday habits that zap your energy and productivity without realizing it. In this digital era, many of those habits are related to the small devices glued to your hands. Here are some bad smartphone habits you should know about:
1. Checking Your Phone Immediately When You Wake Up
What’s the first thing you do in the morning? We bet you hit the snooze button a couple of times on your smartphone before finally dragging yourself out of bed. But once you’re up, you start reading through your emails and other messages or checking social media and newsfeeds.
You might think starting your day by catching up on what’s happening around you is a good way to start off on the right foot. But in reality, you are depleting your energy by processing too much information first thing in the morning.
In addition, you are developing a reactive habit by letting those pings and notifications dictate your actions, further opening yourself to more distractions throughout the day.
Ideally, you want to start your day with a more productive morning routine that protects or increases your freshly gained energy. By doing this, you empower yourself to resist distractions and make more efficient use of your time.
To achieve this, you could invest in an analog alarm clock to help you break the habit of looking at your phone first thing in the morning.
2. Staying Connected to Your Email Inbox
Although it seems to be a productive habit, being tethered to your email inbox all day long is actually preventing you from getting your most important work done.
It’s easy to get distracted by the constant flow of incoming messages, many of which are not urgent. As a result, you end up dividing your attention between the task at hand and checking your email, which makes it harder to focus and be productive.
Additionally, you might also feel overwhelmed by all the unread messages in your inbox, leading to anxiety and stress. To avoid this, try to focus your productive period of the day on completing your work and schedule specific times to read, respond, and organize your email.
The goal is to develop a more proactive relationship with your inbox, one in which you are in control rather than the other way around.
3. Using Your Phone in Bed
We know how tempting it is to spend a few extra minutes scrolling through your Twitter feed or watching the latest TikTok challenges before sleeping. The problem is that the few minutes you initially intended to spend on your phone can quickly turn into hours. It’s not always because whatever you are doing is particularly interesting or engaging.
Instead, the bright light from your phone screen makes it harder for you to fall asleep. The blue light from your smartphone’s screen suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone associated with your sleep-wake cycle. This significantly reduces your sleep quantity and quality, leading to lower energy levels during the day.
To make matters worse, using your phone in bed increases your screen time, leading to eye strain, blurred vision, and headaches. So if you’d like to get a good night’s sleep and wake up feeling refreshed, it’s best to keep your smartphone out of your room during bedtime.
By doing this, you avoid the temptation to use your phone right before sleeping and give yourself the chance to wind down, while also eliminating the opportunity to use it when you wake up.
4. Downloading Too Many Productivity Apps
The app and play stores are full of productivity apps that can help you get more done in less time. And while some of them might live up to their promises, downloading too many of them can be counterproductive.
This is because you can quickly become overwhelmed by all the different features and options available, which becomes confusing. Additionally, some apps might also end up duplicating the functionality of others, leading to more unnecessary notifications and confusion.
The key is to find a software solution that fits your specific needs and stick to using them. Use each app for its intended purpose and resist the urge to download more than you need.
5. Mindlessly Surfing the Web
So, you sit down to do some work, but before you know it, you find yourself aimlessly scrolling through social media or reading articles that have nothing to do with what you’re supposed to be working on.
Fueling this subconscious habit can be incredibly detrimental to your productivity, partly because you don’t even realize you’re doing it; there’s no purpose or goal. You’re just doing it because it’s there.
Talking about using productivity apps that fit specific needs, you can use Unlpluq to overcome this mindless surfing habit. It’s a simple app that blocks distracting apps and allows you to set different barriers with varying difficulty levels, like shaking your phone or tapping specific buttons. You need to perform these actions before you can access your apps again.
Yes, you can still bypass these barriers if you want to; and that’s the point, as it gives you a moment to think about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, turning a mindless habit into an intentional one.
6. Over Relying on Your Phone as Your Eternal Memory
Your phone can do many things, but it should not become a replacement for your innate memory. Just because you can rely on your phone for basic tasks, like storing your numerous passwords or contacts, to free up your brain space for other things, it doesn’t mean you should develop an unhealthy dependence on it.
Have you noticed that you tend to easily forget information that you know you can quickly access on your smartphone? You may have fallen prey to a psychological phenomenon called “digital amnesia,” which can ruin your memory and productivity in the long run.
Instead of letting your phone remember everything for you, try to exercise your brain muscle memory by recalling things on your own. You might be thankful you did this in the unfortunate event that your battery dies, and you can’t rely on your phone to remind you that it’s your spouse’s birthday.
Replace These Smartphone Habits to Regain Your Productivity
In these modern times, we would argue you would struggle to get by without your smartphone, and you probably shouldn’t try unless it becomes a significant impediment to your wellbeing.
You want to ensure that you are in control of this relationship and that your smartphone usage benefits you somehow and does not hinder your productivity or mental health. By acknowledging these unhealthy smartphone habits, you can take adequate measures to break them and develop better, more productive ones in their place.
