When you wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing you do? Check your phone for social media updates, emails, and more? What about all throughout the day? Do you notice yourself constantly checking out your smartphone? And before you sleep, have you noticed yourself still checking your phone?
For many people, phone addiction is a reality. In a study done by dscout, it was found that on average, people touched their phones 2,617 times a day. This number is double (at 5,427 swipes, clicks and taps) for the top 10 percent of users. All of these phone touches and interactions amount to 2.42 hours a day for the average user and 3.75 hours for the heavy user. That’s a fair chunk of lifetime, right? And the problem is, you never even notice. (I know because I am one of these so-called heavy user phone addicts.)
This issue has become so pervasive that phone interactions, even when you’re around other people such as friends and family, are now treated as normal. In fact, there is even a term for this — “phubbing” which originated from “phone snubbing.” And this term isn’t simply made up. In fact, a study defines it as the “act of snubbing someone in a social setting by concentrating on one’s phone instead of talking to the person directly.”
'On average, people touched their phones 2,617 times a day. This number is double (at 5,427 swipes, clicks and taps) for the top 10 percent of users. All of these phone touches and interactions amount to... 3.75 hours for the heavy user.'Click To Tweet
Related Post: The Art of Slow Living: Chasing Less, Living More
But going back to the pervasiveness of phone interactions these days and the amount of time wasted in a day… don’t you think it is time to take back your own life? Admittedly, mindful living isn’t easy. Phone addiction, like all other addictions, can be very difficult to curb. Fortunately, help comes in the way of various apps that can help you monitor your own phone and social media usage and be more in control of your life, although somewhat a touch ironic given that we need to use our phones to monitor phone usage!
Anyway, to start, here are seven of the best mindful living apps that are currently available:
Mindful Living App #1: Moment
Cut down on your screen time by using the Moment app. It works by getting you to set up your daily screen time and sending you annoying alerts when you exceed them. What’s more, this app allows you to set the screen time of your family members as well so that you can get them to set aside their devices during dinner or those special family-only bonding. Moment is very convenient to use. Just download and install, set up your daily limits and then let it do its work. With Moment, you can also monitor your most frequently used apps.
Availability: Apple App Store (iOs). Cost: FREE.
Mindful Living App #2: Forest
Do you want a more exciting app that will help you monitor your phone and social media usage? Then use Forest. The app starts by allowing you to plant a seed. This seed will gradually grow into a tree. But, if you give in to your phone’s temptation and leave the app to check on your social media accounts, your tree will start to die. If you want the tree to grow and for you to get things accomplished, then the only way is to stop checking your phone.
Availability: Apple App Store (iOs) and Google Play Store (Android). Cost: $2.99
Mindful Living App #3: AppDetox
This is an app that definitely lives up to its name of detoxifying your life. AppDetox works by getting you to lock your apps, especially the ones that are often or heavily used. When you break down and use any of the locked apps, you will get annoying reminders. Plus, your every violation goes into a log so that you can monitor your progress. Parents also use AppDetox to monitor their children’s digital footprint and screen time.
Availability: Google Play Store (Android)
Mindful Living App #4: Offtime
Find digital balance with Offtime. The goal of the app is to help you take back control in a highly connected and distraction-crazy world. This allows you to focus and have more time with your family, friends, yourself and work. With Offtime, you can choose to block or restrict apps, calls, messages and notifications. Plus, you get an analysis of your phone usage so that you may be able to act on it accordingly.
Availability: Apple App Store (iOs) and Google Play Store (Android). Cost: FREE.
Mindful Living App #5: ShutApp
Make digital detox a social thing! With ShutApp, you can issue a challenge to your family and friends to stop using the phone and just concentrate on relationship bonds. So how does it work? Simply send an invite to your friends for the ShutApp challenge. Set a timer and mute your phone. A countdown will immediately begin. But if you are not able to resist taking a peek at your phone before the timer expires, then a notification will be sent to everyone. Fun, right?!
Availability: Apple App Store (iOs). Cost: FREE.
Mindful Living App #6: SPACE
Build a beautiful galaxy while taking control of your own life! This is the essence of SPACE, formerly called Breakfree, an app that has been downloaded and used by over 1.5 million users. SPACE offers several benefits: 1) it provides you with a personalised program based on your own phone usage; 2) provides you with the chance to set your own goals; 3) tracks your phone usage; 4) provides you with tools to help you disconnect from your phone; 5) sends you notifications on your phone behaviour; and 6) allows you to compare your results with your friends, family and other SPACE users.
Availability: Apple App Store (iOs). Cost: FREE.
Mindful Living App #7: Stay on Task
While not necessarily a digital detox app, Stay on Task helps you improve your work focus. This app simply provides you with reminders throughout the day to finish your tasks. The premium version of this app allows you to: customise your alarms, customise your backgrounds, track work sessions and even pause work sessions. The strength of this app is on its ability to check on you at random times.
Availability: Google Play Store (Android). Cost: FREE.
We recommend you read this next: Digital Minimalism: It’s Time to Declutter Your Digital Life
Ready to monitor your screen time, productivity and level of digital addiction? Download these apps and let us know how you go with your digital detox!
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