Or shut it off completely and let yourself exist for a day without it?

What did we do when we were only reachable once we were home? What did we do when phones were only phones?

Now they keep our entire lives running. Calendars, notes, GPS, pay for parking, email, text, social media, pictures, videos, podcasts, music, food delivery, books, books on audio, flashlights, games, measuring tool apps, workout apps- so much of our lives depend on our phones.

But I found myself filling up every gap of free time by mindlessly scrolling. Or being instantly available for every last request. My time wasn’t mine anymore.

So, I put in phone boundaries.

THREE of the best phone boundaries I have for myself are:

1) I took email off my phone. Yep, haven’t checked email by phone in years. I’m either working or I’m not- instead of “kind of always working.” Best decision ever.

ALL of my notifications are always off- including texts. No banners, no sounds, no vibration, no alerts. No apps can message me- nothing. The only thing that can come through are phone calls and I often have my phone on airplane mode so those can’t come through either.

2) I touch my PLANNER before my phone. Yes, I keep a pen and paper planner (two actually!) this has helped start my day out on a much better note than scrolling from bed first thing.

3) I want to be proactive when using my phone instead of reactive. I want to decide when I’m reachable instead of hearing the ping then automatically interrupting what I’m doing just to see.

If you feel like your phone has become your fifth limb, it might be time to be more discerning over how much access the world gets to you and what you’re doing to fill up every gap of your day.

Yes, you’ll probably need your phone to tune into my latest podcast (and I hope you do!) but I also hope that you’re able to put your phone away more often so that you’re not a 89 year old wondering where your life went as you scrolled on through.