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We all waste time on our screens. Companies pay to find ways to encourage people to use their sites. They use psychology to make you want to spend more time online. People with ADHD are at risk due to their executive management issues with time management, impulsivity, and more. Screen addiction isn’t an accepted diagnosis yet in the US, but excessive screen use certainly is a problem for many people. Learning to set personal screen time limits is one way we can make a positive impact on our own lives.
How much time do you spend?
See where you spend your time.
Do you check messages and notifications before you even get out of bed? Does that help or hinder you getting started in your day?
My guess is you could use that time for a much better purpose.
Mindfulness is a great way to start your day. Just getting out of bed and getting ready for your day will keep your parent off your back – which in itself is a better start to the day!
If you spend 3 hours a day doing mindless stuff online checking social sites, playing games, and watching videos, that’s 3 hours a day you could be productive. Limit it to a reasonable amount of time and then stop.
Take back your time!
Tracking and limiting time on your phone
Find an app that can help you track your time online. Many will work across several social site platforms as well as general browsers.
Some will allow you to set a daily reminder for a custom interval that pops up an alert when you’ve spent your chosen limit in the app for that day. It won’t lock you out, but sometimes we all need a gentle reminder to get back to real life.
Go to your app store and search “time on phone tracker” or “phone addiction” or check out these popular apps:
I already have parents, why do I need this?
I know some of you will think this is too much like when parents set limits, but for many with ADHD, it is too risky to have full access to phones and all of their distractions.
Websites, gaming sites, advertisers, and more pay people to look into the psychology of what makes people want to play and participate.
We get a dopamine hit each time we play. We need to fight the urges that they’re trying to create.
In short, we need to stay in control of ourselves. You don’t want anyone or anything controlling your brain, right?
Bonus: If you show your parents that you are responsible in this (and all things) they tend to give you more freedom. It’s all part of growing up and showing maturity!
Schedule time
Schedule time to check your messages.
It’s important to know what’s going on, but you don’t need to check every few minutes. People can wait.
Trust me, it was much better years ago when people didn’t have instant access to everyone and everything. People had less stress. Return to that mindset. There’s a time and a place for everything. Focus on what you’re doing at the moment, whether that’s talking with a real live person, paying attention to your teacher, working or studying. Especially if you’re driving. Messages can wait!
Ask your friends and parents to join you in this. You can set times to check in, then do other things at other times. If they know you limit your time checking messages, they won’t get as anxious when you don’t reply in 2.4 seconds… It’s that need for instant gratification and response that is a huge driver of anxiety in some people. Let it go…
Trust me.
Turn off notifications
If you get into the zone writing a paper and a notification box pops up, you’ve lost the zone.
You waste time responding to the message and your focus is gone.
You’ll have to get back into the paper writing mindset, which wastes your time and energy.
Use the online time management apps listed above to help with this.