It has happened to all of us. You’re out with your friends, at a restaurant with family, or in a business meeting…when the feeling hits. You can’t believe it’s been, like, a whole hour since you’ve seen your beloved. Your palms are sweaty, and the butterflies start in your stomach. You can’t bear to be separated this long.
Desperate to steal away for a few minutes with the object of your affection, you finally excuse yourself and head to the nearest exit.
There, safe in the secluded hallway, you pull out your smartphone from your pocket. You furtively scan your emails, Facebook updates, tweets, pins, texts…and relief washes over you.
You are officially attached to your smartphone.
And so are a lot of us.
From Mobile Mindset
If you can’t seem to go 10 minutes without checking your phone, you’re actually not alone. In a recent survey, at least 73% of people admit they would panic if they lost their cell phones and 14% would feel desperate.
According to a recent Mobile Mindset survey, smartphone users also admit to checking in from some…uhh…interesting places. And as ridiculous as some of these sound, we have to admit to a few of them ourselves:
By KSRuprai
- In bed at night (54% of survey respondents do this under the sheets so their spouse/partner doesn’t know).Walking down the street (which is actually more dangerous than you might think!)
- On the toilet (Yep, you read that right. 40% of respondents actually admitted to this).
- In the car (Oops- hopefully NOT while driving!)
- Under the dinner table
Don’t get us wrong. Being in love with your smartphone isn’t necessarily a bad thing at all. Many people rely on mobile devices as their primary methods of connecting to the internet.
Plus, smartphones save us time and money. You can check the weather, update your to-do list, pin new home decor ideas, check sports scores, and do some price comparison shopping.
With everything smartphones do for us, it’s only natural that we should get attached.
But there’s a time and place for everything. In some situations (for example, when you’re about to walk across a busy intersection), it’s a good idea to let your status updates wait.
Feel like you’re becoming a little too dependent on your phone? If that magical *ping* of your message notification makes it unbearable to resist the urge to check your phone, here are some detox tips to help you unplug when the situation requires it:
- Try Apple’s new Do Not Disturb app. It will temporarily hold your calls and messages, and you won’t get those tempting notification sounds in the middle of your cousin’s wedding.
- Put it away. Out of sight, out of mind. While you’re at work or grabbing coffee with a friend, leave your smartphone in your purse or backpack. Try to avoid keeping it physically on you- like in your back pocket- where it’s so easy to pull out at a moment’s notice.
- Go cold turkey. This exercise really is as simple as turning off your phone for a few minutes. Don’t just silence it; you’ll only end up mesmerized by the little blinking notification light. Turn your phone off completely, get used to the temporary discomfort of being disconnected, and then you’ll start to get over it.
