Organize Your Cell Phone
Sometimes stress comes in small packages, like a cell phone. Do you open your cell phone and have a little anxiety over the experience of trying to find an app? Are there so many icons on your home screen that you have trouble finding what you are looking for? You may need to organize your phone.
ORGANIZE YOUR CELL PHONE APPS
The first step in getting your cell phone under control is to review your apps. If you have apps loaded onto your phone that you don’t use, uninstall them. If they are factory apps, disable them. For the apps you decide to keep, you can save yourself a lot of stress by going in and turning off notifications. That way the app is there when you need it but it’s not calling to (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) throughout the day.
OPTIMIZE YOUR PHONE
Using your phone’s tools, optimize your phone. Your phone will tell you which apps are draining the battery the most; it can kill apps that are lurking in the background, and it can adjust settings to make your battery last longer. This is also a great time to upload the 2800 photos on your phone to your preferred photo cloud storage solution or download to a passport or other storage device – and delete them from your phone. You should organize or delete other files that are collecting dust in your phone, too, like the PDF menu files from the last 20 restaurants you checked out. It’s also a great time to clean out your contact list.
SET DO NOT DISTURB TIMES
Do you find yourself scrolling through social media at night when you should be sleeping – or worse yet, during the day at work? You can help yourself avoid the call of the phone with a few rules:
Turn your phone off and keep it in your purse or a drawer during work hours
Set do not disturb hours on your phone from 10pm to 6am (or whatever times work best for you)
Do not bring your cell phone to the dining room table – and don’t allow your kids or spouse to do it either
Have specific cell-phone-free times, like during family movies, shared meals, dates nights, and other special times when you should be engaging with the people in front of you
Your cell phone is a tool and a lifeline, but it shouldn’t be a stress inducer. These tips can help you keep you in control of your cell phone instead of letting your cell phone control your life.