Thankfully, there are strategies to combat this so that you can focus on what’s most important and create an intentional daily schedule. Here are some techniques to add purpose to your mobile experience and make your actions more meaningful.
1. Stop to Ask Yourself Reflective Questions
Completing your intended tasks in a tidy and ordered manner is rarely achieved in the digital world. You may have a set list of priorities to get through but soon find yourself doing irrelevant things, especially if you’re struggling to overcome a mindless scrolling habit.
Asking yourself reflective questions on set occasions helps bring you back to reality and realigns you with your priorities. These styles of questions can help redirect your attention to the present moment and can take many forms:
“Am I focusing on what’s important?” “Is this a priority?” “Am I on track?”
Questions like these are simple to ask yourself but are often forgotten amid the chaos of rapid digital media.
The good news is you can use a simple app like Flexible Recurring Reminders to set up repeating reminders to prompt these questions. To add a recurring reminder, tap the plus (+) icon in the lower right corner of the main menu and select Detailed reminder. Here you can give the reminder a name and initial start time, then have it repeat hourly or a set number of minutes.
Applications like this help make this technique a habit and are a useful tool for catching yourself off-guard. Addressing these questions and adding intentionality to your daily routine keeps your goals front of mind and helps avoid the feeling of being overwhelmed.
2. Make Applications Harder to Access
This is another strategy that can help with using your phone intentionally. Setting up barriers between you and the applications you use can help add meaning to what it is you’re doing and emphasize why you’re doing it.
Delaying the time between you picking up your phone and accessing applications is key for this strategy. Thankfully, there are many strategies you can adopt to prevent you from mindlessly using your applications.
Remove Apps From Your Home Screen
This is one of the most effective ways you can use applications intentionally. The home screen is the very first thing you see when unlocking your device, and with recent research from Zippia revealing that the average American user unlocks their phone around 96 times a day, it’s no surprise that many people open applications with little thought.
Clearing out your home screen will guide your eyes to the applications you need, so you won’t become overwhelmed by an ocean of them.
Log Out of Applications
Logging out of applications is another effective strategy for using your phone more intentionally. Requiring yourself to log in to apps helps give reason to whatever it is you’re doing. It also adds space for you to question yourself and mentally assess your priorities before jumping into something without thought.
This strategy is vital if you want to spend less time on social media. Utilizing this technique, social media will become a leisurely activity rather than something that takes over your day.
PIN-Lock Apps
Locking applications adds an additional step required to access them. AppLocker is a smart Android app that can lock any application via a PIN, pattern combination, or fingerprint scan.
To make accessing apps more difficult, it is recommended to use either the pattern lock or the PIN lock method. Just head to the Security tab in the app and select either option, ensuring Lock Frequency is set to “Always.”
Increasing the effort needed to access applications helps make your actions more purposeful and justifiable. With this psychological hack, you’ll be able to fill your days with more meaningful tasks instead of focusing on irrelevant minor details.
3. Set Dedicated Time Slots to Complete Similar Tasks
Focusing on one broad category of tasks at a time nourishes your mind, well-being, and stress levels. This approach—called task batching—also helps you stick with whatever it is you’re doing without being constantly distracted.
Many features of smartphones are designed for multitasking. While this can be useful for switching between apps, it can also worsen your focus and increase stress levels. Completing similar activities, such as checking related messages, during a set period helps you remain present and limit distractions.
Using this technique, you can prevent accidental taps away from what you’re doing and remember the reason you’re using your phone. To help add clarity to the time slots you allocate to phone usage, you may wish to try out these effective day planner apps to schedule your tasks.
4. Get a Notification-Compiling App
In the era of push notifications, it’s incredibly easy to lose control over your time and peace of mind. Having messages that appear immediately on your screen often gives them a false label of urgency and steadily builds feelings of stress and anxiety. Because of this, being distracted from the important task you’re working on becomes less of a temptation and more of a habit.
Applications like HelpMeFocus help prevent this distortion of priorities by compiling notifications over a set period of time for you to review later. Using this approach helps enhance deep work sessions and prevents any disturbances from anxiety-inducing emails while you’re in a present and creative state.
To set up the notification-blocking feature, tap the plus (+) button in the bottom right corner of the home page and select Instant Block. On the following page, you can select the apps you want to block. Ensure the checkbox Mute restricted app’s notifications is ticked, then you’re ready to start using your phone without unnecessary distractions. You can also automate the process by creating a profile.
Retain Your Attention, Be Present, and Live More Meaningfully
Using these strategies, you can prevent wasted time on your phone and pursue more meaningful tasks in your daily routine. Incorporate these techniques to regain control of your awareness and focus to live a more intentional life.
