Raise your hand if you feel like you check your phone every five seconds — and often, for no good reason at all. ?
Well, if you're raising your hand, you're not alone. For starters, our friend, celeb makeup artist and mom of three Mally Roncal does — so we challenged her to 48 hours (yep, two whole days!) without her phone.
"I have this huge addiction to Instagram," Mally tells us. "Or actually, maybe even just an overall addiction to my phone."
"I am constantly on social media, talking to my customers, answering questions, giving tutorials," she continues. "It's really a never-ending cycle."
When one of her daughters came up to her and said, "Give me your phone, because I'm looking at you," Mally got teary-eyed and knew it was time for a detox.
So we called in the author of How To Break Up With Your Phone, Catherine Price, to coach the mom of three through her two-day tech-free challenge.
Watch to see how Mally did without her phone.
Now, if you need a digital intervention of your own, Catherine has a few ingenious tips and tricks to becoming more present and checking your phone less. (And don't worry, they're much more manageable than a two-day detox, which Catherine herself called drastic.)
"Breaking up with your phone is not about dumping your phone," Catherine stresses. "It's about [developing] a healthy relationship."
1. Jolt Yourself Off Autopilot
"You can't change a habit if you don't even recognize you're engaging with that habit to begin with," the author tells us.
Catherine suggests putting a bright-colored rubber band around your phone so that when you pick it up, you stop and wonder what a rubber band is doing there. That one moment you take to stop and think will also force you to reconsider why you're really picking up your phone. Was there a purpose behind it or did you do it without even noticing?
"[The random rubber band] jolts you off autopilot," Catherine says.
2. Change Your Lock Screen Image
Catherine created a bunch of lock screen images with thought-provoking words and phrases that will remind you to think twice before mindlessly unlocking your phone.
This one actually gave Rach chills:
Download one of Catherine's lock screen images here.
3. Turn OFF As Many Notifications As You Can
"[Notifications] are there to steal your attention from you," Catherine says.
She suggests going into your Settings and turning as many as you can off. In fact, she recommends just starting with text messages and phone calls and working your way back up to others.
"Remember, you're not trying to punish yourself," she reminds us. "You're giving yourself a gift."
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