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Hi!
If you’re like most people, checking your phone is a
mindless habit.
Any time you’ve got a spare minute, you pick up the
phone and check out those emails, scroll through the many
social media accounts, and of course, the news headlines.
It’s as though you can’t stand to just sit still for a
minute and be alone with yourself or let your mind rest.
To help yourself break out of this unconscious habit, try
allocating certain times of the day for checking your phone.
Try to avoid times like first thing in the morning or right
before bed, though, because those times will start you off
on a bad note and make it harder for you to fall asleep and
get a good night’s rest.
It's important to give your mind time to settle before bed,
and scrolling through websites or consuming news of any kind
right before you try to sleep will leave you in a state of
restlessness.
Instead, choose times when you’ll be more alert and conscious
of what you’re doing: on your lunch break, after dinner, after
putting the kids to bed. Whichever times work best for you.
The key is to leave your phone out of sight for the rest of
the day. If you don’t have it in your hand, you’re not going
to be doomscrolling through the headlines.
And if you’re not doomscrolling, you’re not feeling as
helpless, stressed, and anxious.
Take this a step further even and set some resolutions and
intentions with the time you spend on your mobile device.
Maybe during lunch, you plan to check in on your favorite
social media account and engage with your online friends.
Maybe you’ll check on the news in the afternoon. If you
can “put a ring around the time you spend doing this,” says
Kat Nichol, “this can help you avoid a never-ending doomscroll.
Try setting your phone down and walking away altogether,
especially during work hours or when you're under a time
crunch or deadline and can't afford to get off track.
“In this time of heightened stress,” says Dr. Amiti Narurkar,
a Harvard physician, “you can’t expect to not check your phone.
However if your phone is 10 feet away, it becomes an intentional
choice to stand up, move away from the workstation and go
check my phone.”
Psychologist Kimberly Wilson also suggests what she calls
the “two by two approach” to protect your mind when the news
is overwhelming by limiting your news viewing to two good quality
sources that you check two times a day.
“While it’s important to be informed,” she says, “there is a limit
to the usefulness of this information for people who don’t have
any power to intervene. Instead, it just increases a sense of
powerlessness, fear, and uncertainty.”
If you only check your phone’s news outlets twice a day, and limit
yourself to trustworthy news channels, you’re less likely to start
doomscrolling and stress yourself out.
Your anxiety levels will lower, and you’ll feel more in control of
situations and day-to-day life.
Block your internet access during the rest of the day, or at least
block the social media platforms you’ve been mindlessly scrolling
through all day.
Turn off notifications or even delete the news apps that feed you
catastrophic and disturbing headlines, and do your best to limit your
screen time (30-minute intervals, perhaps, and only at certain times
of the day).
Taking control of your screen time will give you control of your
life back. You’ll be able to break the doomscrolling habit quickly,
and feel more like your old self again.
In our next lesson, we’ll talk about using mindfulness to break
the habit.
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Jan 27 20253 mins