In recent years, there’s been a lot of attention paid to the various ways in which smartphones, tablets and other digital devices can have a detrimental impact on people’s lives.
In addition to books being written on the ways in which these devices can lead to issues with things like our attention spans, documentaries such as “The Social Dilemma” have underlined how some of the apps most commonly used on smartphones — specifically social media ones — can be predatory and detrimental. Statistics show that in the year 2022, most cellphone users will consume and spend an average of 4 hours a day using social media, thus making them vulnerable to any negative impact when overused.
At the same time, though, smartphones can also do a lot of good, with things like smartphone apps for hearing aids potentially helping to significantly impact the quality of life of a broad number of different individuals.
Here are a few tips and suggestions on using your smartphone to add more balance to everyday life, instead of the opposite.
Use simple apps that help you to manage habits and to-do’s
When you think about the kinds of things that cause a lack of balance in everyday life, an inability to properly manage everyday to-do’s and habits are certainly likely to feature prominently.
Today, there are many different apps available that can allow you to more easily track your assorted habits and to-do’s, and to stay motivated to keep on top of them.
Ideally, you should look into using apps that help you to do this in the simplest possible manner, without excess complexity — as achieving “balance” in this way will tend to have a lot to do with reducing excess complexity in general.
Try out apps for “down-shifting,” such as meditation, deep breathing, and sleep story apps
Chronic stress and related issues — such as a lack of adequate sleep — can be extremely detrimental over time, and in a wide variety of different ways.
Some of the most potentially beneficial apps to be found are those that help you to “down-shift” more effectively, so that you can switch between the concerns and duties of the day, and of your work life in particular, and can unwind and relax.
There are many different categories of apps that can help with this, including a range of different meditation apps, apps based around deep breathing exercises, and even apps that allow you to listen to restful or uplifting audiobooks or short stories.
Avoid apps that naturally seek to hijack and capitalise on your attention
When people criticise apps, tech companies and services, and smart devices in general, a big part of their focus naturally falls on those apps and services that seek to hijack our attention by design.
Major social media players are notorious for this — but any time a service is “free” you should be skeptical, as the business model supporting it will usually involve maximizing your engagement and selling your data to advertisers and other third parties.
Avoid apps that naturally seek to hijack and capitalize on your attention, and you will likely be in a much better situation so you can use your smartphone to get things done!
