It's time to break up with your smartphone: A step toward digital detox 

Right from the moment, we wake up in the morning, till we go to sleep, we are always glued to our smartphones. We daily spend 8-10 hours on our digital devices flooding our minds with tonnes of information. The main idea of using digital devices was to ease our work and spare some time for our family, friends, and for self-growth. However, our smartphone addiction seems to fail its purpose, we are constantly nagging into the cyber world comparing the reel lives of people with our real lives. We are overloading our sense organs with unnecessary information that is eventually the main cause of depression, and social anxiety. Therefore, it is very important to take a break from your smartphone addiction and start practicing digital detox.

Excessive smartphones usage release a neurotransmitter called dopamine, having similar addictive effects as that of cocaine. Addiction to digital devices has very severe physical and psychological effects. A digital detox can help you understand the use and misuse of your device and set a boundary between the digital and virtual worlds. It helps in improving the quality of your life by giving you time to work for self-development. Digital detox helps to calm your senses and hence increase your productivity and quality of work in turn making you a happier and healthier version of yourself. 

Simple steps of digital detox are:

1. Do not check your phone immediately as you wake up 

Stop scrolling your phone as you wake up. Give yourself time to plan and compose your day, think about yourself and your loved ones. Planning is very important to have a productive day if you wake up and load yourself with irrelevant information from the internet you lose the energy and positivity to start the best version of your day. 

2. Mute notifications

To avoid getting distracted by notifications it is important to either mute your phone or keep it away while working. Try to check your phone after fixed hours instead of every now and then. 

3. Have few phone-free hours daily. 

Make sure that every day you try to spend some time for your growth or with people and things you like. Reading a book, cooking, writing, painting or spending time with your family and friends is very important. Make sure to avoid phone for few hours and take time for what you like and who you love. 

4. Setting timers for phone usage

You can use timers, reminders, or alarms to remind you of the time you are spending with your phone. Make a to-do list and work target list daily, use the phone for few minutes as a reward for completing your work. This will help you prioritize things.

5. Switch off the phone an hour before bedtime

It is important to switch off your phone or any digital devices at least an hour before going to bed. These digital devices emit blue light that hinders a sound sleep and hence keep you cranky even if you take a long sleep. So, if you want to get up fully refreshed stay away from your phone. 

Few small steps to digital detox can work wonders by giving you more time for yourself and bringing you more peace.