How To Reduce Your Screen Time

While everyone has been staying safe indoors, I think it’s safe to say that most of us are now guilty of spending way too much time on our phones and tablets. Even those of us working from home and spending all our time in front of laptops on Zoom calls are surely guilty of checking our favourite apps just a little too much.

I noticed I had started a bad habit of looking at my phone while watching TV in the evening time, and even having one last sneaky look at Instagram and Facebook while in bed. And when someone told me you could go into your phone settings and see how much time you’ve spent on your phone, the feeling of guilt is hard to shift.

So, if you and the whole family think you’ve been on your devices too much and want to reduce screen time, what can you do? I have some foolproof methods to curb these bad habits, and even help you sleep better in the process.

Phone Free Zones

This first tip is less something which feels routine and boring but can turn out to be a fun game. Tablets at the dinner table are a real bug bearer for me, and there was a point when no matter where the family was all gathered, at least one person would be mindlessly flicking through their phone. This all stopped when I heard about having phone-free zones in the house.

The idea is simply to have one room the family spends time in where no one can bring a device in. I decided to go a little overboard on it by putting up some leftover hazard tape (from an old Halloween thing) and having a plastic box by the door like it is airport security. We even take turns being the security if the phone-free zone is somewhere like the kitchen with safety checks in place (i.e. the security guard for the day has to be in as we come in to check).

If you make it competitive and have fines in place for those found to be breaking the rules, there can be more fun in trying to make people break the rules. It honestly has become a whole thing in our home, with everyone trying to outdo and confuse each other.

No Phone Nights

Obviously, disregard this if you live in a bungalow, but for anyone who has all their bedrooms upstairs, think of your phone as your TV in the living room. When you’ve just finished squeezing that extra episode of your latest binge-watch in before bed and have turned the TV off, leave your phone to charge downstairs.

It can be hard to break the habit of bringing it up to bed with you, but forcefully leaving it be, and finally getting to dig into that stack of books on the bedside table, is a must!

The Dark Day

Ideally suited for the weekend, pick a day where the house goes digitally dark. That means no devices are on, and everyone has to figure out what to do with their day. If you really want everyone to stick to it, turn off the Wi-Fi router at the wall. The only exception I’d allow is if you play music through a smart speaker.

Count You Reps

Think of lifting your phone to check it like you’re lifting a weight at the gym. You want to count every repetition as you go along. Do it for just one day, and you’ll be shocked at how often you lift your phone to check it for no real reason. Like everything else I’ve mentioned in this article, try and make a game out of it by counting your reps, and then attempting to cut down as the days go by.

Simply don’t reduce screen time

My last tip is a bit of a bait and switch. Going cold turkey can be difficult, and one of the main reasons I’d advocate for less screen time at night is because the blue light emitted from phones and tablets can send confusing signals to the brain. Even though we’re lying in bed or on the couch to chill out, that source of light is essentially saying HEY BRAIN I WANT TO BE WIDE AWAKE!

You can avoid this by getting a reliable pair of blue light glasses. These are non-prescription glasses you can wear later in the day, which helps block out artificial blue light. I think they’re great if you’ve been using your phone late at night and experiencing that all too familiar feeling of strain on your eyes. They’re also quite decent if you’ve been working from home and are using a laptop instead of your old desktop computer with a protective screen.

Want more helpful tips on improving your daily routines?
Read the latest health and fitness posts from the blog here, with articles covering topics like tackling stress, getting used to running outdoors now that gyms are closed, and how to prevent injuries when exercising.

How To Reduce Your Screen Time

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