Kaitlyn Bruneau (Mindful Phone Use)
Licensed clinical social worker Kaitlyn explores how phone usage affects mood and mental health. She offers practical strategies for reducing reliance, like setting time limits, tu...
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How can technology be more beneficial for your mental health?
It's also great to look at how technology can be more beneficial to you instead of just mindless or even detrimental. At this point, you might have some insights into the apps that you want to spend less time on, as well as those that actually help your mood. Social media apps may fall into both of these categories. I really love to advise my clients to take some time to curate their social media feeds, unfollowing or muting accounts that can curate more distress or pressure while purposefully following accounts that promote mindfulness, joy, and self-awareness. Maybe take some time to look up some mental health or good news accounts to add to your view. Another way to use technology for good and mood improvement is to take time to download apps that are geared at promoting mental health, such as apps for mood check-ins, mindfulness, productivity, or even relaxing games. There are a lot out there in a lot of different categories, so hopefully you can find a few that you enjoy. It's also quite possible that there are apps available that could help you improve your functioning or address needs or stuck points that you have. For example, if you often struggle to remember certain tasks, you can use a productivity or reminders app to make it easier. If you want to be better about keeping in touch with your loved ones, there are apps that might help you do this with check-in reminders or prompts to each. Share your thoughts and feelings. With this, your phone can easily become more of a resource for your mental health instead of just a trigger for it.
How does your cell phone impact your mood and mental health?
First, I'd like to challenge you to check in to think a bit about how your cell phone impacts your mood and your mental health. What apps do you spend most of your time on, and what emotions do you usually notice when you're on them? How do you react to new notifications? Do you feel anxious when you see a new work email coming in? Does endless scrolling on social media lead to feeling unfulfilled and craving more entertainment? Or alternatively, do you feel gratitude for the moments where you can easily connect with friends and family from afar or feelings of lightness and joy? Being able to easily access content that makes you laugh? In addition to having emotional reactions to the activities we engage in, you might also check in with the ways your phone or technology drive your thoughts and feelings when you are not using them. Do you often feel like you are missing something important if you do not have access to your device? Or do you feel guilty if you take some time to disconnect and therefore maybe less responsive reactions like this could be a sign that you could benefit from less reliance on your phone, as well as from taking steps to promote more positive emotions than negative ones.
What practices can decrease your reliance on your phone?
To start, let's talk a little about practises that can decrease your reliance on your phone or at least help you think about it less. It can often be helpful to take some time away from your phone, maybe at times that it could also be beneficial to be off of it, such as when you're with friends or family or right before bed. By practising small increments of time without your phone, you'll help recognise the benefits that this may bring and reduce the impulses to be on your phone that might have been there before. As you practise this, try and take note at any of those impulses you feel and the benefits you gain from time away from your phone for an added challenge. You can also practise taking time away from all types of screens. Just make sure that you have a plan for how you want to spend your time during those break. Another way to be more mindful of how you are spending your time on your phone is to set time limits for the apps that you tend to get sucked into more easily. Most of these are available through your phone's, screen time settings, and some apps Also have it built in. Looking at your screen time data can also give you some better insight into how you are spending your time. Does it align with what you think it would look like? There are also a few other ways you could adjust your settings to better serve your mental health. Maybe there are applications that draw you in with notifications that you might otherwise spend less time on. For those, feel free to turn off those notifications. For others. You might want to remove the application from your home screen or log out when you are done so that you have to take a few extra steps before engaging with that application. Again, this can be helpful to challenge any mindless engagement with your phone and help shift it to be more purposeful and mindful.