Your Phone Or Your Life: Choose One

It is 10:54 pm on a Sunday, you have just finished off with friends at a lounge and you are working back home after you have waited for about 40 minutes at the junction without seeing any cab going your way. The road is dark and lonely, you have this odd feeling that something bad was about to happen. Your instinct tells you to go back and go spend the night at your friend’s place. But that is not practicable as you have to be at work the next morning at 07:30 am.

Without thinking twice, you chose an option from the ones they gave you. You chose your life because as you thought, later on, you could always buy another phone.

Yeah, God forbid. It is not your portion and can never be your portion.

Now, if in a situation of life and death, you can choose your life over your phone, and do so proudly, then why have you allowed your phone to continue to ruin your life?

It is the year 2022, and it is commonly accepted that we are living in the information technology age or as many would want to say – the social media age. Despite the many advantages that this great advancement has brought, it has also grown to become a source of distraction and one of the primary reasons for most people’s unproductivity. Nowadays, you only need to turn on your mobile internet and your phone is buzzing, calling for your attention.

You may also have discovered that you struggle to keep yourself in check while browsing some of the apps on your phones. You open up your Instagram or TikTok for instance, hoping to spend just 10 minutes on the app, and before you know it, 2 hours are already gone.

While you laugh off at the latest ‘silence’ update of khaby, your life and goals slip away silently. But the question for you to answer is this, your life or your phone?

Only Install Apps You Need Into Your Phone

Installing only apps you need will ensure you are not attracted to wasting time with apps that you have no need of in the first place. There is no gain in having all the chat apps in the world installed on your phone. Keeping up with all of them will cost you a great deal of your productive time.

Turn Off Or Restrict App Notifications

Oh, how I hate to hear the sound of my phone notifications. When I buy a new phone, one of the first things I do is to head straight over to the notification settings and restrict all notifications. That way I am sure the only time my phone makes sound is when there is an important update for me on my phone – calls, reminders and alarms. You should do the same.

Restrict Your Use Of Your Mobile Device

The mobile device is always within reach and as such, there is always the temptation to continually turn to it. By so doing, you lose a great deal of productive time.

Stop Going To Sleep With Your Phone

Going to sleep with your mobile phone is one habit we all seemed to have developed that is affecting us in ways we do not realize. For most persons, the bedroom has now become a place of mindless scrolling and catching up with unnecessary updates.

When you wake up in the morning and the first thing you turn to is your phone (social media), chances are that will set the tone for your day. Your mornings and nights should be sacred for you, time to engage in productive activities such as meditation, do not let your phone deny you such.

Becoming Addicted? Do It The Hard Way – Deactivate

O yes, sometimes you just have to do it the hard way by deactivating your mobile apps. About a month ago I had to deactivate the Twitter App on my phone as I found out that I was checking it more often than normal. And I must say since the day I deactivated it, I have not missed it any bit. When I need to make a tweet, I log on using my browser. That extra time of having to log on using my browser has proven to be enough to help me rethink whether or not making the tweet is worth it.

Closing Thoughts

The mobile phone has grown to become a double-edged sword in the hands of people. Your phone is either aiding your productivity or killing your productivity. It all comes down to how you use your phone. Why choose your phone over your life, work or business?