Page 80 - Healthy food

Psychology

10 WAYS TO QUIT SMARTPHONE ADDICTION

SCRAMBLE YOUR APPS TAKE A REALITY CHECK

1 Your apps are designed to attract you, but you can counteract 7 So you’re feeling bad about your
that by moving them around on your home page so your thumb thighs because you’ve spent half an hour
scrolling through the glossy pics on
doesn’t automatically stray to open them. Or put them in a folder. celebrity Instagrams? Remind yourself
The experts at Time Well Spent suggest launching your apps by those people have a team helping them
appear flawless. As an antidote, why not
typing the name in the search bar, rather than having all the icons
give your body some love? Write a list of
on your home page. Making it a little harder to open them means all the things you’re grateful for about
you’re more likely to ask yourself, ‘Do I really need to look at this?’ your body. Or team up with a friend and
list each other’s best attributes. You may
not look like an A-lister, but 95% of the
USE SOCIAL MEDIA just be at mealtimes, or it could be for a time not even the A-listers do.
2 TO BE SOCIABLE whole day, but make sure you all sign up
‘I use my social media to orchestrate to it and do something fun together. SWITCH OFF AUTOPLAY
real-life meet-ups, rather than as a 8 Ever noticed what happens when
substitute for them,’ says psychotherapist HAVE A CLEAR-OUT you watch a friend’s video on Facebook
Lynette Evans. ‘If I’m tempted to post 4 We each have a finite number of or tap their Instagram Story? When it
a photo, I try to send it directly to the relationships that are actually finishes, the app automatically plays the
person I think will enjoy it. I prefer to call meaningful. But with social media, it’s next thing on the list and you end up
or text a person or, even better, see them easy to find yourself scrolling through spending even more time glued to the
in real life rather than post on their wall.’ endless photos of people you haven’t screen. So make sure you’ve turned off
seen since school, and getting anxious autoplay in your settings. Every minute
HAVE A FAMILY because you think your life doesn’t of time you can get back is a bonus.
3 DIGITAL BREAK match up to theirs. It takes up a lot of
‘Take a whole-family approach and emotional energy for very little reward. CUT OUT THE BLUE LIGHT
negotiate times when it’s agreed you’ll all Have a clear-out every few months and 9 Many of us are sleep deprived
be away from your screens,’ says addiction ‘mute’ or ‘delete’ the people you aren’t due to the blue light our phones emit,
specialist Dr Richard Graham. It might really connected to in real life. ‘This which mimics the rays in natural daylight
makes it much easier to stay in control and interferes with our melatonin
of your interactions,’ says Lynette. production. If you have to use your
phone at night, download f.lux or
Night Shift to cut out blue light so you
GET AN ALARM CLOCK
5 ‘If you do just one thing, buy an alarm don’t feel so wired.
clock and keep your phone out of your
bedroom,’ says Lynette. The idea is to DO A PHONE
stop you checking the time on your phone
in the middle of the night, having a quick 10AUDIT
look at your messages and then, before How about an app to help you
you know it, finding it’s 4am and you’re stop relying on apps? Moment
wide awake. Get rid of the devices and
you’re likely to get a better night’s sleep. and RescueTime measure the
amount of time you spend
TURN OFF YOUR
6 NOTIFICATIONS online – you might be shocked
‘The sheer number of notifications you by how many hours you’re
can get is overwhelming,’ says Richard. clocking up each day. They’ll
Try turning off all ‘push’ notifications
from any app that doesn’t send you also let you set daily limits and PHOTOS AND ILLUSTRATIONS: ISTOCK
messages from friends and family. That lock you out of certain apps if
means messages and WhatsApp can
stay, but reminders from games or news you need a bit of help kicking
sites remain firmly hidden. your social media habit.

80 HEALTHY FOOD GUIDE FEBRUARY 2018