Do you want to use technology more mindfully?
Maybe you’re sick of constantly scrolling on your phone every evening, wondering where the time goes.
Maybe you feel like you’re addicted to social media, but you want to change.
Maybe you’re not even sure what using technology more mindfully means, but it sounds like something that you need in your life.
In this article, I’m going to teach you how to cultivate more mindful habits towards your technology use – this includes your phone, TV, games, apps, tablets, and whatever devices you use on a daily basis.
Using technology mindfully can help you have more free time, make your life more enjoyable, and help you to be more productive and fulfilled.
Principles from “mindful eating”
Have you heard of mindful eating? People who practice mindful eating put a big focus on listening to their body and responding to their natural cravings and feelings of fullness.
These people have practiced listening to their body so much that they’re really good at recognizing the moment that they’re full. When they recognize that they’re full, they can stop eating right then, and thus avoid overeating.
When you’re still learning to mindfully eat, you may overeat on occasion, but mindful eaters will pay close attention to how they feel after a meal as well.
If they ate too much and subsequently don’t feel too good, they’ll notice it. They’ll purposefully make that connection of “I ate too much, so now I don’t feel good.”
Making those types of connections helps form new pathways in your brain. Your brain realizes that it’s not a good idea to overeat. It may take some time for your brain to fully internalize that, but eventually you’ll form the habit of not overeating, and it will feel easy – because it’s what your brain and body want.
How can I use technology more mindfully?
You can use the principles of mindful eating to evaluate how you use technology. You can pay attention to how you feel as you’re consuming content, learn how to stop when you’re “full,” and pay attention to how over-consuming makes you feel.
Here are some ways that you can approach your digital consumption in the same way that mindful eaters eat.
1. Pay attention to how you feel when you consume.
When you’re scrolling on TikTok or YouTube, listen to what your mind is telling you. Is it feeling sluggish and overstimulated?
When you’re on your 3rd episode of a Gossip Girls binge, are you feeling lazy and guilty?
After a certain amount of time, your brain will start to feel “full” – like it’s full of other people’s ideas, full of entertaining videos, full of content.
As you notice how you’re feeling as you consume, you can get into the habit of stopping when you’re full.
2. Notice how you feel after you’ve spent a long time on your device.
If you’ve spent an hour and a half on Reddit, and you didn’t intend to… you might feel some negative emotions. It might feel like frustration, shame, guilt, annoyance, or a combination of those.
Those negative emotions are unpleasant, and we don’t like to feel them. Therefore we might try to push that emotion away and not dwell on it.
“Yeah, I feel crappy after scrolling for so long, but whatever. I won’t do it again.”
My invitation to you is to feel that emotion for a little while longer and be curious about it.
Don’t wallow in it and make yourself feel worse, but just observe the emotion and make a clear connection between that negative feeling and the action that led to it.
When you do that, you make connections in your mind that will gradually help you to have a new perspective on the habit.
Too much time on phone → leads to me feeling bad
These connections can take time to internalize, so be consistent in reflecting over how you feel. It may take a while before your brain starts to get the message.
3. Be aware of the emotional cues that lead you to consume.
Just like how we sometimes eat not because we’re hungry, but because we’re bored, sad, lonely, or any number of emotions, sometimes we reach for our phones for the same reasons.
It’s important to ask yourself: Is that how you want to respond to those emotions?
In some cases, it may be the right thing to watch a TV show when you’re sad – I’ve been there 1000 times before. Just remember to refer to the point above and notice how you feel.
For me, when I’m feeling bored I may reach for my phone, but I’ve quickly realized that scrolling on my phone, for me, is, well, boring.
I’ve learned that a better choice for me when I’m bored is choosing an activity that I truly find fun.
Recommended: 100 Ways to Have Fun as an Adult
What actions can I take to be more mindful in my phone use?
Set a timer.
When you pick up your phone to check Facebook while you have some downtime after dinner, set a timer for 10 minutes.
When the timer goes off, ask yourself, “Am I having fun??”
Another question you can ask yourself is, “Is this activity a 7 out of 10?” In other words, if you’re feeling anywhere from 1 = ugh this scrolling habit is so annoying but I can’t stop up to 6 = eh, I mean I guess this is kind of pleasant but it’s definitely not anything exciting, then you might want to reevaluate what you’re doing and choose to do something that’s at least a 7 out of 10 instead.
Recommended: The Best Productivity App On My Phone… The Timer
Pause before you do something.
Rather than react to every impulse your brain tells you (invitations, I like to call them), pause and think for a few minutes about what you’d really like to do.
When my brain gives me an invitation to do something, I’ll take a moment to visualize myself doing it, to see if it gives me any sort of satisfaction. Usually, the things that my brain tells me will bring me pleasure… don’t even give me pleasure in my visualizations.
Here’s how this might look in action:
*nothing’s going on*
Brain: “You should check Instagram.”
You: *pauses* “I could… but does that really sound fun at the moment?”
Brain: “Yes yes yes yes yes.”
You: *thinks for a minute or two, visualizes getting on Instagram and seeing videos, posts, etc.* “Actually, it doesn’t really sound that fun. Or fulfilling. And I kind of want to do something that’s both.”
Brain: “But… but… what else is there??”
You: *thinks for another minute* “You know, I have a random urge to go rollerskating. That sounds so fun right now! Imma do it!”
Keep a journal or a tracker.
If you want to take your “how-am-I-feeling” reflection even further, grab a notebook or journal. Write down how you feel after you’ve interacted with your phone, TV, or tablet.
You could do this after your 10-minute timer goes off, or just when you finish a scroll session.
Writing down your feelings will help your brain to make connections even faster. You’ll be able to see clear connections between overconsuming technology and how it affects your feelings.
Conclusion
Just like practicing mindful eating, practicing mindful technology use can be an amazing practice to help you be intentional about what you’re consuming.
As you mindfully notice how you’re feeling and listen to your brain as you use your phone or other device, your relationship with technology will transform.
It may take some time for these mindful habits to stick, so don’t feel bad if you’re not perfect at first. Just concentrate on pausing and noticing.
Best of luck!
