9 Ways to Avoid Wasting Time on Your Phone

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Avoid Wasting Time on Your Phone

I recently realized that I spend way too much time on my smartphone. If I’m honest and add up the time that I spend playing on my phone, I probably waste at least an hour a day. And that’s being conservative.  

So when I came to this realization, I felt kind of guilty. I, like I’m sure most working girls, often complain that I don’t have enough time in my day to get everything done. I have plenty of excuses for not getting stuff done, but in reality, I probably would have ample time to be productive during the day, if I just got off my phone.

In fact, if you do the math, the one hour that I estimate I waste on my phone is 4% of my day. While that doesn’t sound like a huge percentage of my day, I know that I can accomplish a lot in that time.

Smartphones Keep us Connected, at a Cost

According to Pew Research Center, 95% of Americans have a cell phone and 77% have a smartphone.

That means that a majority of us are connected to technology wherever we go. We can access the internet, our email, social media and variety of other apps at any given time.

While I think we can all agree that in this mobile age, the convenience of being connected is to our advantage. We no longer need to be strapped to a computer to access work or find a payphone to call home (some millennials might not even remember payphones!)

Yet, as we become more and more reliant on our cell phones, we lack the skills to live in the moment. Or to remember to disconnect from work, email and social media to actually do other things in life.

When I think about being more productive in life, that extra hour a day (or more!) could truly come in handy.

Ways to Avoid Wasting Time on Your Phone

As the knowledge of gaining a whole new hour each day sinks in, think about all the possibilities to fill that hour. I’m sure there are countless productive activities you could come up with, but here are my top picks

Work Out

I know from experience and from talking to coworkers and friends, finding time and energy to work out is usually difficult.

Once you find your nine to five life, it becomes more and more difficult to prioritize exercise. Add in any other obligations – kids, family, friends, volunteering, after-work events- and you’re probably exhausted!

But just imagine how conveniently you could fit in some movement instead of wasting time on your phone.

Just think for each time you open a social media app to innocently scroll for 10 minutes, you could squeeze in a super quick workout. Even if it’s doing some jumping jacks next to your desk or going for a quick walk around you building.

Those ten minutes could quickly add up to a full workout that fits seamlessly into your daily routine of “quick” social media breaks. Easy peasy! Work out – check!

Writing/Blogging/Journaling

The idea of having an extra hour to do something you’re passionate about is almost overwhelming.

While most writers know that sitting down and writing isn’t always easy (i.e. that little thing called writer’s block), if I had an extra hour each day to write, I could inevitably get a lot done.

Whether it’s writing a few pages of a book or a blog post, catching up on your journaling or doing other tasks that just seem to fall down the priority list, now’s the time to go for it.

It’s time to ditch the excuse that you don’t have the time! Get out your laptop or notepad and start writing!

Reading

This is a big one for me. I love to read. I seriously have stacks and stacks of books that I can’t wait to get through. But, you guessed it, I don’t have the time.

Imagine how many books you could read in a year if you could spend an extra hour a day reading.

Depending on how fast you read and how long the books are, I would venture to say SO MANY!

I recently did some simple math and realized that reading just 10 pages of a book each day would add up to roughly 10 average-length books a year. I know that an hour would add up to way more than 10 pages a day.

I’m no math wiz, but that sounds like a lot of books. Even if you don’t spend the whole hour reading, you could certainly still read more.

Crafts and hobbies

I used to do crafts all the time. I feel like finding something fun to do like scrapbooking, crocheting or other craft or hobby can be really relaxing.

But again, finding the time to do crafts seems hard to come by these days. If just for an hour or so each day, you could get a bunch of projects done!

It’s also great to keep occupied if you decide to watch TV at night. I like to do something productive while I watch TV so that I don’t feel like it’s completely wasted time.

This is also a good trick to help from snacking in front of the TV. It keeps your hands busy and your mind occupied so that you don’t think about snacks!

Research and plan a trip

Traveling is one of my favorite things to daydream about and also research and plan!

Instead of wasting time on your phone, that extra hour or so could go toward research and planning for your next vacation.

Depending on what type of traveler you are, it can sometimes be a daunting task to plan a trip. There’s researching destinations, hotels, airfare, weather, activities, restaurants, etc.

Also, depending on what type of traveler and planner you are, the time could also be used for figuring out costs and how to save for it.

Budgeting is also important when it comes to travel, and I love finding deals for vacation packages or hotel stays. This can take even more research and planning, so the more time you can allot to it, the better.

Volunteer

I think volunteering is so important to personal growth and development. No matter what cause you’re passionate about, there is probably a non-profit or charity waiting for someone like you.

Volunteering can take many different forms, from spending time with residents at a nursing home to walking shelter dogs to using office skills to help a local charity with social media or administrative tasks.

It’s also important to remember that most non-profits will value whatever time you can give them. If that means just an hour each week, that’s great. If you can find more time, even better.

The trick, again, is to find something that meaningful to you and to utilize your individual skills to help others.

Relax

I betcha didn’t think that plain-old relaxing would be on a list of how to be more productive instead of wasting time on your phone.

But how many of you complain that you’re so busy you don’t even have time to just sit down and relax?

I know I’ve been guilty of feeling this way. My head will be spinning because I always feel the need to stay connected, respond to one more email, check social media or send a text message to make plans for next weekend.

Yet, at the end of the day, we never really take time to just relax and decompress.

Use the extra hour a day to one hundred percent fully relax. Whether that’s taking a bubble bath, doing meditation or yoga, or finding your own brand of relaxation, take the time for you.

Visit a friend or family member

Do you often find that the older you get the more difficult it is to make plans with those you love?

Maybe it’s just me, but that busyness excuse seems to also overtake time that used to be so easy to come by to see family and friends.

Most of time, I need to make plans several weeks in advance to make sure I can see the people I want often.

But remember the days when you could call a friend and see them half hour later? Or even better, just show up at their door and hang out?!

Imagine if you got back an hour each day that was now your free time to spend as you wish. Would visiting family or friends be on your list?

Take a class or learn a new skill

I love to learn new things, but doesn’t the thought of finding time to take a class seem impossible?

But again, maybe we do have the time each day to fill with things we really want to do, yet instead we’re wasting that time our phones!

There are plenty of options for taking a class or learning a new skill. You can easily learn something from the comfort of your home with an online program or course or you could sign up for a class at a local community college.

And in this case, taking a class could truly be about something you want to learn, as opposed to a required course for school.

The sky is the limit for learning – you could pick up a new language, learn a new craft or hobby, start a blog or many, many other things. If there’s something you’re interested in, it’s almost guaranteed there’s a class for that!

Final Thoughts

I’m sure this list could go on and on. But the ultimate idea behind this post is that modern technology and the notion that we always need to be connected often disconnects us from the more basic and important things in life.

I now realize I can’t complain about not having enough time in the day, when I spend a bunch of time playing on my phone.

The first step is realizing how much time you are truly wasting on your phone and then taking steps for fill that time with other more productive activities.

For most of us, I think it’s safe to say that just an hour each day could really add up to some great ways to be more productive. Even if it’s just to relax, the idea of completely decompressing could make all the difference.

Do you feel you waste too much time on your phone? What are some things you would do with an extra hour or two each day? Let me know in the comments below!