If you’re using your phone to read this article, then you most likely need a digital detox. These days it’s as if our smartphones, PCs, and TVs rule us rather than the other way round.

If reaching for your phone (unless it’s acting as your alarm clock) is the first thing on your mind every morning, you need a digital detox. If surfing on your smartphone is the last thing you do at night before you close your eyes, you need a digital detox. If the idea of spending thirty minutes of your waking hours in a day without needing to reach for your phone is unthinkable, then you most definitely need a digital detox.

A study notes that the average person checks their phone an average of 200 times in a day and one in four people answer es’ to the question, “do you spend more time online than you do asleep?” That’s an incredible trend of digital addiction. It’s even more perturbing when you consider that phones were made for human beings to use and not the other way round.

Digital devices are highly relevant in today’s fast-paced world, but it’s a whole different thing once it starts to cause problems in our lives. But moderation is key. While it’s not an easy addiction to break, you need a detox if you want to become more productive with your time.

Start small

It’s not advisable to just jump into the detoxing head first.

Detoxing, like exercise—or any other lifestyle change—is best done gradually. If you suddenly try to go one day without gadgets, you’ll develop withdrawal effects and end up right where you started. So instead, start by banning devices from the dinner table. The next day, you can decide to take an hour off. Then two. Then three, and so on. Within a month, you’ll wonder why you’d not started this earlier.

Remove distractions

Blake Snow, the author of Log off: How to Stay Connected after Disconnecting, explains the burners theory: we all have four burners: family, work, friends and health. He advises that anything not essential to these burners be kept away.

Be conscious of why you need your phone

In essence, mentally ask yourself “why?” each time you have to pull out your smartphone. Smartphones might be the quickest ways of getting information and keeping in touch, but it’s also really easy to get out of touch. If I earned ten dollars every time I told myself, “I’ll just check quickly look this up” and ended up spending two extra hours online; I’d probably have enough money to spend three months holidaying in Paris.

Get yourself a detox buddy

Like an exercise partner, getting a detox buddy will most likely check you if you get tempted to slip up. It’s also good for motivation. It’s always a lot easier to engage in things like this with a friend so that you gain support and encourage each other.

Take evening walks without your gadget

Regularly taking evening walks is healthy for you. Going on evening walks relieve stress and improves moods, plus you get a chance to get more in touch with the world around you. So, leave your phone at home. I know your iPhone takes awesome sunset pictures, but I once read in a book that you’re more likely to make a moment more memorable when you experience it than you are when you try to

capture it digitally.

Keep your phone as far away from your bed as possible

If you’re the type that likes to fiddle with your phone in bed, you need to discipline yourself. Those last-minute visits to Instagram that usually stretch to two hours are cutting down on your sleep time. Plus, the blue that your phone emits is not healthy for your eyes or your head.

Research shows that you’ll have a more refreshing night’s rest if you stay off your phone at least two hours before bed. Stop shortchanging yourself. Turn everything off an hour before you sleep and your body will be grateful to you in the morning.

If you use your smartphone as an alarm clock, stop. What’s to say you won’t get a text that you have to quickly reply to while you’re setting the alarm? And another. And another. Buy a proper alarm clock. It’s very cheap.

One more thing – use this hypnosis download to help keep your digital detox on track.