Your Relationships with Your Phone: Who Has Control?
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Your Relationship with your Phone.
Who has Control?
Often, people fail to realize when they lose control of their lives to their phone, but after reading this article, you’ll know who has power; you or your phone.
Who Has Control? You or Your Phone?
To answer this question, we have to consider that life has changed a great deal since the world was introduced to the smartphone, and by extension, social media. Smartphones make it very easy for people to have access to the internet in the palm of their hands and have created a new form of technology addiction, that is as addictive as the worst narcotics.
People have shunned human interaction in place of chats and social media DMs. Relationships are being ruined because individuals would rather be with their phones, than with friends and family.
The thin line between controlling your phone, or letting it control you, has become more blurry.
Many would claim they are in charge without realizing they lost the battle a long time ago.
This article will analyze what it means to have control over your phone and what it means for it to be the one in charge.
When Your Phone Is In Control
Sleeping with It
Those who sleep with their phones will always claim that they do so because it contains their alarm, or because they might get an emergency call before morning.
However, sleeping with your phone is a clear indicator that you are too dependent on it. And overdependency on a product is a sure way to get addicted.
Instead of sleeping with your phone, get an alarm clock instead. An alarm clock is as effective as the alarm on your phone. In fact, it is actually more reliable because they can’t accidentally be set to “silent” as often happens with phones, and they don’t run out of power if you get an alarm clock with a simple battery back-up.
It Is Your Last and First Contact
You may believe that you need to check your social media notifications or your work Email, but is it really that important that you must always check it first and last thing?
Wouldn’t it be nice to fall asleep by reading a nice book instead of getting side-tracked by work-related Emails right before bedtime?
And when you wake-up, you don’t need to be informed of everything that is happening on social media in real-time. You can instead catch-up later in the day and enjoy some quiet “morning time” instead.
If your phone is the last thing you have contact with at night, and first thing in the morning, then it is the one in charge, not you.
Having It on You at All Times
People forget things all the time, but some people seem to never forget their phones or become very upset if they forget it and will often return to their house to get it.
While it is necessary to have your phone available sot that people can reach you, ask yourself if you can do an activity without your phone on you and remain calm.
Do you need to have your phone at the dinner table so that you can quickly read a new text message, the latest Email, or check on a new notification?
Do you need to put your phone on “vibration” when you are in a meeting, at a gathering with friends, or even during a movie because having it entirely “silent” or even “off” is just too difficult an idea that you can’t fathom?
If the answer to all these is yes, then you already know by now what it means.. your phone is in charge, not you!
Your Phone Constantly Needs Charging
If you use your phone so much that you need to continually charge it, this often means that you are on it all the time, and it’s not because you are checking emails and texts only.
To drain your phone battery, you are usually doing much more than just simple messages, and that is a sign that it is being overused.
Frequent Notification on Home Screen
Although many people use notifications for some of their major applications, if you have set-up notifications for even the smallest and most insignificant apps, then your phone is in control.
If your notifications normally show on your home and lock screen, and the notification center is always empty, then it means that you are constantly checking, reading, and clearing your notifications, which is another warning sign that you are a slave to your device.
Hearing Imaginary Beeping When Your Phone Is Silent
As yourself this question: “Do I hear my phone ring or my notification tone in my subconscious, even when the phone is silent?”
Do I think I feel it “vibrating” even when the vibration mode is set to “off”?
If the answer is “yes”, then your relationship with your phone has gotten to a place where it permeates your mind to the extent that your eagerness to be on it makes you start to hear things.
When You Are in Control
After going through the points above and giving honest answers to the questions asked, if none applies to you, then you are lucky and are the one in charge of your phone!
Being in control of your relationship with your phone means:
Turning It Off Sometimes
Putting it away from view
Putting it on silent with “no vibration”
Turning off your internet
Turning off notifications
Leaving it at home when you go out
By following these suggestions, it helps you to stay in charge and helps prevent you from giving control to your phone.
Take The Power Back
A person can be in a toxic relationship with a phone, as it cultivates addiction habits.
But always remember that a smartphone is just a device in your hand and that you can choose to let it control you, or you to control it.
Take a moment to digest what you’ve read so far, and then ask yourself who has the control in your relationship with your phone.
What is your relationship with your smartphone?
Who has control, you or the phone?
Some Great Books on Learning to Take Control:
