To ask for help to stop being addicted to my phone?

[FredandFloReadyToGo]

Please help me - I know it's ridiculous to be addicted to a phone as an adult but I just can't get a grip of it and I feel my life is passing me by and my children are growing up as I stare down at it.

I can't just get rid of it as need to be contacted by school/elderly parents etc. however I'm constantly scrolling, checking, refreshing.

I will admit I'm probably quite lonely as I'm on maternity leave at the minute and my good friends I have (I've been ditched by a lot of the last year with DC3) live far away.

If anyone has any practical tips rather than judgment I would honestly so appreciate it.

I have an iPhone and set timer for certains apps. That really helps. Also have borrow box on my phone so rather then go to social media I read books on my phone r

I find having an Apple Watch helps as messages and phone calls are alerted on the watch so I put my phone in my bag/ another room and I'm not mindlessly scrolling.

I use my iPhone quite a lot due to being isolated. I’ve ordered a couple of Rachel may Stafford’s books about being hands free. I’m hoping after reading her tips I’ll be able to wean myself off it gradually. I am trying to curb my use to only on a night or first thing on a morning. It’s really hard in this day and age as the internet is needed for a lot of things.

Read Smart Phone: Dumb Phone by Allen Carr - it takes you step-by-step through why you are addicted (it's not your fault, online content is designed that way) and then helps you put the phone down. Really useful book.

I hear you OP, I'm very conscious of mine. I find 'out of sight, out of mind' works well. I turn the ring volume on loud

That’s a really good tip.

Making it greyscale instead of colour is meant to help… makes it less addictive.

Sorry posted too soon.

I put the ringer on loud and the out of the way. If it's not there, I can't scroll out of habit. But with the volume on, I can hear if nursery/grandparents call.

Stayfocused app. You can block everything bar specific apps for example. Or just website.

Op, I feel exactly the same.
The guilt I feel from using my phone so much is crap - I think Im going to start by putting it in another room when at home.

Im also only on 1 social media- Fb , several friends are also on snap chat and instagram,
I would be on my phone 24-7 if I was on more social media outlets, so maybe downgrading to 1 social media will help?

My Samsung has timers for apps that you can set so once you've used all the time you can't use them again that day. Would that help? In fact, it has a whole 'Digital Wellbeing' section in Settings so you can track screen usage and put targets for your usage, so you want to use it for max 4 hours a day, or whatever. I have Bedtime Mode, so the screen goes greyscale at 10pm - great visual reminder and also does make it less attractive as a pp said.

It is hard, definitely. When I first started using the above settings it made a massive difference to my usage. I've slipped since but will be reinstating for the summer holidays, as I want to DO things in my time off, not stare at my phone.

I'm not always great at following my own advice, but...

It was beginning to really piss me off that I wasted so much time on my phone, and I realised there were much better things I genuinely enjoy doing, which I could do instead (in my case knitting, crochet, reading, listening to foreign language podcasts or audiobooks, yoga). I suddenly thought how ridiculous it is that sitting down and knitting or reading for 15 minutes would feel lazy, indulgent etc, when actually I spend much, much more than that scrolling pointlessly.

So (in theory!) every time I feel the urge to mindlessly scroll on my phone, I use that feeling as a prompt to immediately go and do something else better instead, even if only for 5 mins. <takes own advice and gets off MN >

Meant to say... the restricting methods don't work for me. I just ignore or stop using them. They make me feel guilty, whereas my method feels like a carrot rather than a stick!

The guilt is unreal. I have used the screen time function but I do tend to ignore it ashamrfly and put 'ignore for today'.

I look at instagram, Mumsnet and FB a lot. I suffer with GAD and OCD so a lot of what I see can flare up my anxieties etc, so I know I shouldn't do it, I just can't seem to help it.

Poor excuse I know.