How to Make Peace With Your Phone

Nir Eyal: “How do you know when you’re facing a technology that might lead us down a real slippery slope versus one that you’re just annoyed by? That is the question that Clive Thompson attempts to answer by speaking with philosopher Evan Selinger, an expert in the social, civic, and existential effects of technology. Together they talk about how to discern a slippery slope from a mere more panic concerning technology.”

NE: “Dr. Andrew Przybylski, a psychologist at the Oxford Internet Institute who has studied the impact of technology for more than a decade, conducted a study that found mental well-being actually increased with moderate amounts of screen time before declining for excessive users. He also told Buzzfeed that screen time is pointless as a measure because it's too simplistic—a variety of factors could influence wellbeing.”

NE: “‘Almost a third of Americans would rather give up sex for a year than part with their mobile phone for that long,’ according to one survey. My wife and I used to routinely bring our smartphones and iPad into bed with us rather than focus on each other. This article discusses the rules and strategies we adopted to not let our technology interfere with our intimacy.”

NE: “In a rebuttal to The Atlantic article that said kids are on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades, Dr. Sarah Rose Cavanagh, a Ph.D. and associate professor at Assumption College in Boston, wrote in Psychology Today that ‘the data the author chooses to present are cherry-picked’ and that other studies suggest screen use is not associated with depression and loneliness. Cavanagh also reminds us that smartphones may have positive effects as well as negative effects.”

NE: “Technology has given people more ways to connect, but has it also given them more opportunities to lie? David Markowitz, an assistant professor of social media data analytics, wanted to look into the belief that lying is rampant in the digital age. Re-creating a 2004 study by communication researcher Jeff Hancock, he recruited participants and studied interactions across different forms of communication to uncover the rate of lying in each.”

NE: “Tony Stubblebine, editor-in-chief of the popular Medium publication, Better Humans, calls his phone’s set-up the ‘Essential Home Screen.’ Stubblebine was the sixth employee at Twitter, so he knows both the promise of social media apps—and their peril when all that information is immediately accessible to you on your phone. He shares recommendations for organizing your smartphone to make it less distracting.”

NE: “A great way to build a better relationship with your phone is to turn off notifications. Developers take advantage of notifications by pinging you with promotions and other useless messages. This article runs through ways to thwart those notifications on your Android.”

NE: “Jonathan Wylie, a digital learning consultant, aims to help people get the best out of their iPhones and iPads by managing push notifications. He breaks down the various types of notifications and how to control them.”

NE: “Ever had a friend who was on their phone the entire time at dinner? What about a colleague who tapped away on their device during a meeting? Our personal technology use can become a bad habit, but there are steps we can take to be aware when it’s becoming a problem.”

NE: “Though this essay by Tony Schwartz focuses more on the internet and email, it also applies to phone use. People everywhere are glued to their devices. Many of us, like Schwartz, struggle to stay focused on tasks that require more concentration than it takes to post a status update. But by the end of the essay, Schwartz finds some balance in using technology.”

NE: “Jake Knapp describes how a one-week experiment to disconnect from distraction has now become his lifestyle. He makes the point that sometimes we must take serious action to resolve our distractions. But it has always been true that the first step in overcoming any compulsion is to admit that it exists.”

“Related: In 2017, I tried to ditch my smartphone for a card phone—no social media, no internet browser, no email—but I missed it too much. I wanted it back, but I didn’t want it exploiting me. So I experimented with changing elements of my smartphone so I could have the best of the technology and avoid the worst. In this article, I share steps to reduce the distractions smartphones cause in just one hour.”