Keeping Control Of My Phone

It’s been a couple of years since I started taking a hard stance on how and when I use my smartphone. Many of these foundational principles [largely inspired from reading Digital Minimalism] I still use today. As the tech world moves just about as fast as I can blink, my tactics have changed a bit over time. Here is a couple I implemented recently.

Simplicity has been a continual theme in my phone usage, including habits like creating time away from my phone and deleting apps/accounts that are time wasters, like social media. A relatively new tactic I implemented has been taking control of notifications. Most smartphones default to allow notifications full reign to buzz and distract 24/7. All you have to do is wake your phone and there they are, enticing you to take action. That’s where notification center comes into play, and it is a game changer-at least how I use it. So what is notification center? It’s an area separate from your lock screen where all your notifications live. So instead of cluttering up my lock screen with notifications, I quietly push them straight to notification center. This way, I can check them when I want to. I liken it to a security firewall, allowing me to decide what notifications I want, if any, to come through to notify me. Although it took some time to set things up, [you need to adjust notification settings for every app] once I did, I was good to go. This allows me to focus on what I am doing at the moment without getting distracted by text messages and other random notifications. 

Another seemingly small UI change that made a big difference was turning off those pesky red badge app icons. For me, those red icons cause a sense of unneeded urgency whenever I do something on my phone. Turning them off keeps the peace so to speak, while further reinforcing the use of notification center.

This brings me to my last tactic-priorities. The most significant priority on my phone is, get ready for it…actual phone calls. This means things like text messages and email are not. So if someone really needs to get a hold of me right away, they can call. What about spam calls? That’s taken care of with a new setting I found, at least for iPhones, which allows you to silence calls from any numbers that are not in your contacts list.

I apply these tactics to all of my other devices as well. This has helped me take back the reigns of my digital life. Which is really the goal for me. Smartphones are powerful little devices that make our lives easier but if left unchecked, they can take over. Power to the User!