From smartphone notifications to phone calls from the office, your smartphone may seem like it’s doing a great job at keeping you on top of your business and personal life. However, in reality, it is simply doing so while also adding on stress. With the clutter of social media, like Facebook, also being added to the mix, could stepping away from your smartphone actually do more good in making you more productive? There are others who may say that the time away from your smartphone can add stress to your life. Regardless of your view, we will take a look at seven reasons smartphone detoxing is a good thing.
Improving Your Sleep
Any form of stimuli right before bed can affect the way that you are sleeping through the night. Unplugging yourself from your smartphone will offer you less of a temptation to want to connect right before bed. As many smartphone users know, it is so easy to check email and Facebook right before bed, and to catch up on what you missed right when you wake up the next day. This resting of the brain is coupled with the recommendation to also cut out television and bright lights at least an hour and a half before you hit the sheets.
Enhanced Memory
A smartphone is considered a second brain for many individuals. It is the place where they keep information that they would otherwise be unable to remember on their own. When you cut out the smartphone in this equation, you are forced to have to remember things using your own brain or to fall back on more traditional note-taking methods. In the end, this will enhance your brain to remember more information and for faster recall in the long run.
Solidified Social Interactions
In a post-Facebook world, friendships are given a new definition. A friend is now any form of a connection you may have after *possibly* meeting at least once or twice. When you cut out the smartphone in this equation and by proxy lessen your involvement on social media websites, you are able to have meaningful connections with individuals. The individuals who will truly be a connection for you will be those who are in your vicinity and you will be able to tune out those who you may not find are truly in your life.
Increased Efficiency
Cutting down on your smartphone usage will allow you to tackle more important issues tactfully and efficiency. You become efficient because you don’t have issues that arise such as the need to charge your device, storage being full, applications crashing, and loading times. In addition, instead of waiting for a message reply, you will be more prompted to meet with individuals face-to-face. All in all, this will allow you to distinguish between a true emergency situation and one that can truly wait or be solved in person.
Become More Resourceful
Without resources from your smartphone being readily available at your disposal, you will find yourself becoming more resourceful in how you are able to tackle problems that you may encounter. Instead of simply looking online to find information about something, you may check out resources like other individuals or books to find the information that you need to know. This, as hinted above, will also spark you to want to only find information that needs to be figured out, not simply something you want to know as a fun fact.
Less Stress Overall
In the end, you will find it nice to not have to deal with the constant flow of both necessary and unnecessary information being sent to your device. The ability to also not have to care about maintaining an expensive device is a great incentive to detach yourself from your smartphone as well. This amount of stress that is lifted from your shoulders is enough to make any individual want to detach themselves from their phone for at least a day or so.
Able To Make Necessary Adjustments
Once you have made yourself detached from your phone, you are able to find out what necessary adjustments you can make in choosing which features you truly need in a phone and what you can do without. You may find that you don’t need a certain program or feature that is the main selling point of your smartphone after all. This can be what prompts you to make a device change, which can be simpler and even cheaper in monthly payments.
Let us know in the comments below which incentive you find best draws you to detach from your smartphone.
Featured photo credit: Huffington Post via i.huffpost.com
