Not Looking at Your Phone for the First Hour of the Day: Here’s What the Experts Say
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Do you find yourself waking up each day to immediately roll out of bed and check your phone? It can be easy to feel like you’re missing out if you don’t check your phone – in this connected world, it’s hard to resist! Many studies, however, suggest that not looking at your phone for the first hour of the day could be a huge boost to your productivity and overall well-being. Read on below to hear what the experts say.
Begin the day with focus instead of distraction
Choosing to begin the day without looking at your phone can help you put your brain in a focused state before you get to the bulk of your workload for the day. As said by prominent psychiatrist Dr. Nikole Benders-Hadi, “The information overload that hits you before you’re fully awake interferes with your ability to prioritize tasks.”
If you choose instead to leave your phone down for the first hour of the day, you can begin your day by focusing on the tasks you have ahead of you, taking one thing at a time. This will help you to be efficient and productive with all your work for the rest of the day.
Take control of your time and energy
According to brain and memory coach Jim Kwik, people who check their phones first thing in the morning “give away their sovereignty and their power first thing in the morning. First thing in the morning, they’ll just pick up their phone, and they’ll check everything, because the way it’s set up, they’re getting their dopamine fixes, and it’s really rewiring their brain. So it’s training them just to be distracted all the time.”
Kwik goes on to say that he chooses to stay off his phone for the first and last hour of the day, because those are the hours you have the most control over. It’s easy for the middle of the day to fill itself up with meetings, errands, and appointments, so take control of the first hour at least by staying off of your phone and dictating your own time.
Stay off of social media early in the morning
Social media is one of the biggest sources of negative effects from phone use, so it’s particularly important to stay off it in the early morning when your brain isn’t fully conscious. If you wake each day and are immediately looking at what everyone else is posting, you’ll start your day with unrealistic expectations of what daily life is supposed to look like, and it can be easy to get down when you have to enter the real world.
Social media presents an idealistic but false image of the world, and many studies have shown that those who stay off it experience less stress and anxiety. Consider doing yourself a favor and staying off social media for at least the first hour of the morning.
Do other things with your morning
So you’ve decided to leave your phone down for the first hour of the morning, but what are you going to do to fill that time and make the most of your morning? This is possibly the best benefit of not looking at your phone right when you wake up: It provides at least an hour of quality focused time where you can get things done without being controlled by your phone. Go for a walk, complete that household task you’ve been putting off, or just spend some time with your family. You’ll thank yourself!