You don’t need yet another person telling you that you’re spending too much time on your phone, I know, so with this post, I hope to instead share nicer things that you can do with it.
These six things also just happen to be healthier and more beneficial for your well-being.
1. Use All-in-one Wellness Apps
Some premium apps are overhyped, hard to use, and don’t have the best offerings. But a few stand-outs such HealthTap, Argus, Calm, MyFitnessPal, and Fooducate make forking over a monthly fee worthwhile. The best of these all-in-one apps include features to help you track a wide range of wellness data from your fitness efforts to your sleep, and nutrition.
Instead of mindlessly scrolling through social media, use your phone to track your fitness goals, create personalized workout plans and get nutrition advice.
2. Get Active in Groups With IRL Components
Skip the spammy Facebook groups and use a service built around forming connections IRL. The app I’m loving now for this is the Geneva app. It’s also where I’ll be hosting the free community version of my wellness club. What I and other “Homes,” as we’re called, are able to do on the Geneva app is use the integrated services for real chats and many of us try to foster offline meetups with Zoom calls and in-person meetups.
3. Get Organized
Go through your photos and delete the ones you don’t need. The 45 pictures you took while trying to take a photo of your breakfast, can be deleted to one or two, no? You can also clean out your email, do some unsubs, and move things to keep to folders.
4. Get Creative
From cooking to coloring there are many ways to get creative with your phone. KitchenStories is a great app that gives you step-by-step recipes along with videos and images. And if you love creativity as I do, Color Therapy and other creative apps are a good way to build those skills or just help yourself relax, not just mindlessly pass the time.
5. Get Down to Business
Using a note-taking app to help you organize your thoughts and ideas is one way to get down to business instead of mindlessly scrolling. When you have free time on your hands, you can also reach out to business contacts and get more active on LinkedIn.
6. Improve Yourself with Podcasts & Audiobooks
One of the healthy things about audiobooks and podcasts is that you can take your eyes off your screen to enjoy them but maybe the best benefit is the learning potential. One of my favorite podcasts, The Hidden Brain, has taught me so much in the 2 years I’ve been listening. Psychology and human behavior are my jam (and are career-related). You may also boost your career or personal development with just the right podcasts and audiobooks.
In conclusion, our phones don’t have to be a source of negative health consequences. By using it for healthier things habitually, we can make our phone usage more beneficial for our physical and mental well-being.
