Rethinking your Relationship with screens

“Focus on how to be social, not on how to do social.”

Jay Baer, Convince & Convert

In today's day and age it is virtually impossible to get ourselves away from any screen. Our lives are dominated by social media. The famous documentary "The Social Dilemma", on Netflix, opened my eyes to how social media sites take your data and work hard to have your attention on their sites as much as possible. In my quest to reduce my screen time, I have tried many different techniques that could be helpful in order to get our head out of our screen and enjoy the world outside. Here are some tips that can be used to better manage the complicated relationship we have with our screens and devices.

• Keep your phone away when you sleep: What is the first thing and the last thing we do in our day? As soon as we wake up, we take our phone and check the notifications, in our beds. And when it is time to go to bed, we take our phones again and check if we have missed out on any notification during the day. Putting our phones away and far from your bed would help you start your day on a positive note and would nudge you into getting out of bed and starting your day.
  



• Make a timetable: Plan your day to day activities. put in time for reading, taking a walk or a run, working out, work and time for family. This would automatically help you reduce your screen time and make you feel much more connected with the people around you. You could add a few minutes to sit, relax and browse your social media accounts during the day. Most importantly try and follow the time table you have set for yourself religiously; don't give up.

• Talk: We often forget to engage with people around us when we are engrossed with our devices. Make the effort to talk to your roommate, flat-mate, parents or siblings around you. If you live alone make the effort to either make new friends by going out or talk to the people working around you; the guards, receptionists, cleaners, etc.

• Exercise: Make it a point to do some physical activity during the day to distract yourselves from your phones. Workout, take a run, take a walk, cycle or any other psychical activity. If you have a pet, take a walk with your pet as often as possible. Trust me your pet would be grateful.

• Just go out: Go to your local pub or club, watch a football, cricket or rugby game in a stadium, feed the ducks in a pond or lake, or any other place you can connect with the environment, atmosphere and nature in whole. If you like you could click pictures as well. May be you could post it on your social media later when you have set the time for your screens.





Taking a break from your screens would not only help your physical health but also your mental health. So what are you waiting for? Get moving and shut those screens. See you soon.