Why We Should Change The Way We Are Using Our Smartphones

Smartphones are good. They’re great actually. With only a few taps we can do almost anything – send a message, order a pizza or run a business. The possibilities are endless. Especially if you’re into programming. You can make a software nobody has ever seen before and make millions out of it.

You don’t even have to program it yourself. If you have the idea, you can hire a developer to do the programming part for you. There are lots of options on Fiverr or Upwork to choose from when hiring someone to do a job for you.

Okay, you got me, it sounds fun – having a phone. It’s basically a cornerstone of your success if you use it right. Sadly, most people do it backwards - instead of using their smartphones to reach their goals, they’re getting used by their smartphones or how they’re often called – cellies.

Today we're looking at ways to improve your life by changing how you're using your smartphone. 

How We're Using Our Smartphones

As you can see in the statistics below, we are spending more and more time on our phones and most of the time it's entertainment and scrolling without any real goal. You can say it's a way to take a break from the real world but in reality, it's a habit and it's a bad one.

Spending more than an hour a day on social media apps is like throwing away money you haven't even earned yet. Many people are saying they don't have the time to run a business or a blog but at the same time, they're scrolling their time away without even thinking about it.

As a result, people become unhappy and they stop believing themselves. Social media creates unrealistic expectations which can lead to depression when the expectations are not met. It's a wheel we must all get out to stabilize our lives and become independent.

Interesting Statistics

• The average time spent on smartphones is 171 minutes a day (2 hours and 51 minutes)
• The average time spent on smartphones AND tablets is 261 minutes a day (4 hours and 33 minutes)
• The average user spends 76 minutes a day (1 hour and 16 minutes) on the top 5 social media apps
• The average user will tap, swipe, click their phone 2,617 times a day
• The average smartphone user checks their device 47 times a day / 17,155 a year
• 80% of smartphone users check their phone within 1 hour of waking or going to sleep, 35% of which will do within 5 minutes of waking up.

Smartphone Addiction

The official name for smartphone addiction is Nomophobia which is defined as having a fear of not being with your phone. And yes, it’s a thing now. Besides - it's growing faster than ever – according to the statistics, mobile internet has grown 504% in daily media consumption since 2011.

If you want to know more about the dark side effects of smartphone addiction, go to BankMyCell.com to read the DEFINITE GUIDE of smartphone addiction and usage statistics that will shock you.

It’s definitely the best guide out there. And it’s featured in CNET, the Guardian, COMPUTERWORLD and others.

How We Could Use Our Phones

Now about the bright side of smartphones. To see it – you have to look at your smartphone from a different perspective. You have to see it as it is – a device. A tool for you to use in your path of growth. It’s something you were dreaming about when you were little and now it’s in your hands!

There are many positives a smartphone can offer but it all starts with you! It’s within you to change your whole life and the best way to do it is by changing your daily routine.

Once you get the grasp of it and the smartphone is no longer using you, you’ll start creating and developing yourself. You’ll become more efficient and overall happy about the life you’re living.

Learning New Things

The best way to stay young is to keep learning. That way your mind won’t become rusty since you’re constantly making it work out.

With smartphones, we can access almost any information we need to learn something. It’s not only that – there are tons of applications on every subject you wish to learn about.

Starting with apps like Duolingo to learn languages to apps like Knots to learn how to tie every knot there is (it’s a thing too).

Organizing Our Lives

Use applications like Trello (for Android and iOs) to organize your work list and plan your success. Instead of checking out the latest news or memes, spend some minutes thinking and structuring your work.

With Trello, you can make boards for every project you're working on. It's easy to add board members and share your plans with others.

Replacing Habits

Create new positive habits and replace the bad ones. There are many similar apps to use like Loop Habit Tracker for Android and Habit Daily Tracker for iOs.

Essentially they’re pretty similar so go with the choice that is more appealing to you because if you’re going to make the habit stick – you will use the app every day.

Writing

It doesn’t matter if you’re a writer or not. Write for yourself. You can get many ideas from within yourself when you finally get your juices going but in order to do that – you must write. Even if it’s for 5 minutes a day, it’s more than zero.  

There are many apps for writing and you will have to look for the one that suits you the best. Starting from personal journals (dream journals, gratitude journals) to ebook and fiction writers where you can add characters and their personas.

Taking Photos

Nowadays – smartphones come with really good cameras. Take photos and use the camera you have. You can later sell them or participate in photo contests with apps like Agora (Android Store, Apple Store) and others.

Improving Your Sleep

Apps like Sleep Time for Android and Sleep Cycle for iOs can help us improve our sleep. They calculate the perfect time for you to get up so that the cycle is not interrupted in the middle.

Waking up at the right time allows us to be fresh and energized, ready for the day. In contrast - if you have to wake up when you're in the middle of the cycle, you're more likely to be grumpy and tired for the first part of the day.

Saving Money

You can easily track your financial situation with money managing apps like Expensify for iOs or Money Manager for Android. That way you can get a good overview of your budget and set goals!

Eventually, you'll start noticing patterns and expenses that you need to limit in order to achieve your goals! Make it a habit and improve your financial situation.

I started spending less money on snacks and eating out after

Earning Money

Earn money by switching from corporate social media to Steemit.com, dTube, 3Speak, and others to get paid for posting and commenting. It’s better to earn a dollar a day which will result in more than 300 dollars at the end of the year than to be feeding yourself with all the useless stuff on Facebook or Instagram.

Earn by walking with Sweatcoin app. Read more about it in our post about Sweatcoin and its reward system (hint - you can earn a paid holiday trip).

Meditate

At some point in your life, you may have thought about meditation. If you started it back then and now it’s already a part of your life then it’s a success and we're happy for you!

Unfortunately for most of the people, it’s hard to start anything new and get out of their comfort zone. Luckily – there are apps like Headspace for iOs and Calm for Android. They remind you to meditate and guide you through it.

Try doing it once and maybe you'll enjoy it, therefore, you'll continue doing it regularly. If you won't try, it's definite that it won't become a habit in your life.

Conclusion

In the end, it all comes back to you. You're the one with a choice to act now and grow or leave it to later but it's important to remember - later never comes. If you really want something - start working on it right now!

Use your smartphone as a tool to help you build whatever that comes to your mind. Write down your ideas and organize your work. Break bad habits and replace them with positive ones. Ones that will lead you to success.

We, at BOI, know you're capable of achieving anything you set your mind to. Being consistent and passionate about the thing you're doing pays off.

Sources

It's always a great feeling to be appreciated therefore we are sharing the source of every image in this post. All taken from Pixabay which is a wonderful place to find images for your posts.

Image list with a link to Pixabay- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

As for our progress on BOI, it's slow but steady. We've implemented a Twitter Feed on our homepage and soon we are bringing more posts and categories.

P.S. Until we meet the next time! Start creating to feel wonderful!

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