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“You only have time if you take it” – Karl Heinrich Waggerl
The smartphone has become an indispensable companion for most of us. On average, we reach for our smartphone every few minutes. I have found recent studies ranging from 88 to 214 reaches to the smartphone per day. We also find this wide range of usage in our environment. Frequent users easily reach more than three hours of cell phone use per day. But why is the cell phone so appealing to us?
Hardly any other medium can satisfy our individual wishes and needs as quickly and in as many ways as the smartphone or the Internet. Almost everything is already possible with the smartphone today: communicating, dating, informing, photographing, shopping, banking, streaming and watching movies, listening to music, playing games or social media. The list of possibilities grows longer every day.
When we use them, biochemical processes are triggered and happiness hormones such as dopamine and serotonin are released. We feel good and want more and more.
Waiting times become smartphone times
Breaks or “just taking a break” are very important for people. They are a prerequisite for creativity and new motivation. The most important inventions were not created during busy periods, but during rest periods.
In addition to phases of activity, we also need regular phases of rest and relaxation. Unfortunately, these phases very often fall victim to the smartphone.
The smartphone influences our quality of work
“The more often we look at the smartphone, the less productive we become” says Professor Montag from the University of Ulm. He and his team have evaluated around 100,000 apps that record daily smartphone use.
We look at our smartphone many times an hour and thus divide our time into many small sections. This makes it almost impossible to work productively on a large task, as we are constantly pulled out of our thoughts. Concentration and creativity suffer massively.
After each disruption, the brain needs a few minutes to regain concentration on the task at hand. During this time, many users have long since looked at their cell phones again.
The studies also show that the closer the smartphone is to us, the more distracted we are. In three studies, the cell phone was once placed openly next to us on the table, once kept in our pocket and finally removed from the room.
The result: the closer the cell phone is to us, the greater our willingness to look at it regularly. Important regenerative rest periods and self-reflection fall away.
Six expert tips for dealing with the smartphone
* Consciously leave your cell phone out of the bathroom and bedroom
* Start the day offline in the morning – until you leave the house – if possible.
* No more surfing or phone calls one hour before going to bed.
* Set up offline times: at lunchtime, in the evening, on the road or on vacation
* Check messages and e-mails only at individually defined times
* Put the cell phone away completely or turn it off at times
— hp/picture: pixabay.com
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