One less thing

You know all those who say their iPhones rule their lives? How they go everywhere including the bathroom with it because they couldn’t imagine missing out on something? Well, I go back and forth with being one of “those” people. It is my lifeline so I do tend to bring it everywhere with me, but there are moments where I’ll leave it at home for a quick errand or in the other room just to see how I’ll cope. Baby steps are happening here.

Over the weekend, after much debate with myself, I finally made another step in my ‘you won’t have a hold on me, iPhone!’ stance. I turned off the Instagram notification. Sounds silly, right? What’s the big deal having it on? But any time I post a photo, I constantly glance at it to see if the screen lights up with a ‘like’. Or I imagine it lights up, so I’m always looking at it. Or I’ll push the home button to see if I missed one. I’ve had to turn my phone over in the past to keep from looking at it, but I actually went in and turned it off, so the only way I’ll see if someone liked it is by going into instagram itself. What’s funny is I’m not all that popular on there, so it’s not like I get a ton of likes in the first place, but something about it has me addicted to the attention.

Somehow someway, my twitter is like this. I don’t know what happened, but a month ago, it stopped telling me when someone tweeted me. I have yet to look into why, because I found it was nice not knowing unless I got into twitter. The exact same thing happened the moment I turned off Instagram. It was almost instant relief. The pull I always feel from my phone wasn’t as strong anymore.

Little by little I’m getting myself away from my phone. It’s definitely a good feeling. My computer on the other hand is quickly taking over the time I was spending with my phone. I blame needing it for school, but I’m on it well after I’ve stopped doing schoolwork, so I guess the school excuse isn’t holding like I wish.

While I was traveling to Utah, all I brought was my iPad and that was mainly for my audiobooks. Given I had incredibly long drives, I downloaded two books to listen to. Anne of Green Gables and The Hunger Games. I didn’t realize how much fun I’d have listening to these books. They kept me entertained the entire trip. They’re both 11 hours long, and if you’ve never heard Anne of Green Gables on audio, I highly recommend it. It’s only $3.95 in iTunes. An unbelievable steal and believe me, you won’t regret it. The Hunger Games is equally as good but at $25 is a little harder to stomach.

I left my computer at home though, and it was such a nice feeling not being tied to it. I’ve noticed over the past year I hardly read anymore. When I finally close my computer, my arm automatically reaches for my phone. I can’t seem to be still anymore. Stay quiet and let my brain rest, not to mention my eyes. Maybe it’s because I don’t want to think, so to keep myself from any and all thought, I busy the mind.

Regardless, I could handle a step away from electronics.

Do you have any tried and true tricks to keep off the phone? Or reduce your computer use? I’m all ears.

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