A smartphone addiction is not just a fantasy of older generations of people who are frustrated by seeing young people constantly using their pocket devices. It is a real problem which can be detrimental for your productivity, social life and even health. That is why you should do your best to start using your smartphone in a mindful way so that you will be able to get most of it and not lose anything.
Paradoxically, you can use technology against your technology addiction.
Analyse the nature of your addiction
Even though it is obvious the term technology addiction refers to technology, it actually covers a variety of behavioural patterns. You should understand what exactly you are hacked by in your smartphone is order to be able to fight with this issue successfully.
Among the most popular issues related to the scope of technology addictions are certainly an addiction of social networks and a game addiction which became even more severe with the development of state-of-the-art smartphones. Yet, there are many more of them. Online gambling has become even closer to people as well as compulsive shopping which is now even more dangerous as you can buy ne things without a stop through your smartphone.
There is also an addiction to reading news which can be noticed in many people who are not interested in any advanced functions of their smartphones. Another addiction is tracking your physical parameters with various fitness programmes. On top of that, another fo0rm of an addiction is an addiction to downloading different files whether it is music, films or images.
Finally, there can be a pure addiction to your phone, when you just need to have access to it all of the time and are feel like leaving everything behind and immediately checking it whenever you are getting a notification.
The best applications you can use for tracking your smartphone habits
In order to analyse what exactly is taking your time while you are using your phone can be done with special habit trackers. It is recommended to use one of such apps for a week while using your phone as usually. Then, you will get an insight into the statistics and you will see what exactly you are doing with your phone.
Checky
For example, you can use Checky which is available for both Android and iOS. This app will create statistics with the times you have unblocked your phone. It is possible to compare the statistics for different days.
BreakFree
Another interesting app is BreakFree. This one has advanced functionality analysing the frequency of using particular applications and informing you whenever it finds out you are using your phone too frequently. Moreover, it will allow you to set some limits on different functions of your phone. For instance, you will be able to turn off notifications or Wi-Fi for a particular period of time.
RescueTime
A great app which is currently available exclusively for Android is RescueTime. This app was designed in such a way as to make a quite advanced analysis of the functions of the smartphone you are using. This is not only about the time spent on particular applications, but also about particular websites. The app will track time for an entire week and make a report for you which you can get on your email address after registration.
This application is free, however some of its advanced features can be used after paying.
QualityTime
QualityTime was also developed for Android smartphones. Just like the previous application, this habit tracker will estimate the time spent on each app. In addition to it, you will be able to set limits for the usage of each of the apps. QualityTime will inform you once you reach too close to the limit.
This app is available for free.
Moment
Moment is a free app designed for the users of iOS. This one does not have advanced functionality of tracking time spent on each app, yet, it will let you know how much time you have spent using your smartphone in general. It is also possible to block some of the apps with Moment.
Programmes for blocking other programmes
Once you know, which parts of your phone are draining you out of energy and make you waste your time, you can use special tools for blocking these apps at least for the time which you really want to spend in a productive way.
Freedom
A great free programme which can be used on any device including not only smartphones running on Android and iOS. With the help of this programme you will also be able to manage your time spent on your PC.
You can install Freedom on your device and create a list of apps and websites which you would like to block. The blockage will work as long as you will be keeping Freedom open. It is also possible to set limits on the time in various ways, for instance, making it work for 25 minutes and turn on for 5 minutes.
Freedom is a free tool.
Other great tools you can use are Stay Focused, Focus Lock and Clear Lock. All of them were developed for Android.