Lisa Dunbar HealthLisa Dunbar HealthLisa Dunbar HealthLisa Dunbar Health
  • Home
  • My Story
  • Consultations
  • Talks
  • Corporate Wellness
  • Videos & Recipes
  • Blog
  • Contact
NextPrevious

5 Tips For Cutting Down on Internet Time

By Lisa Dunbar | Blog | 0 comment | 7 June, 2020 | 1

I recently wrote about giving up my smartphone and how this has really helped me cut down on the amount of time I spend (and waste!) online.
Lots of people have told me it is something they too have thought about doing, but they just aren’t quite “ready” for such a big leap! So, here are a few things you can try instead to start cutting down on your smartphone and internet use…

1 – Decide on Some ‘Internet-Free’ Times

When I first started cutting down, it was really important to me that I didn’t feel like I “couldn’t” or “wasn’t allowed” to go on the internet, because that’s the digital equivalent of going on a diet, and we know how I feel about those!

So, instead, I set internet-free times during the day, for example at meal times, during ‘working hours’ and at bedtime…

2 – No Phone at Bedtime

Spending lots of time on our phones is problematic enough, but when this is done in bed, right before sleeping, or even worse, during the night, it becomes incredibly disruptive to our sleep – something that is vitally important for our health.

Thankfully I never actually got into the habit of using my phone in bed. I always left it on a dresser on the opposite side of the bedroom before getting into bed (having to physically get up to turn off the alarm in the morning was actually really helpful in waking me up!).

I also turned off my data and wifi at nighttime so my phone wasn’t connected to the internet and no notifications would be pinging during the night! The fact is there is nothing THAT important that it should be waking you during the night. Unless there is an emergency of course, in which case the person who needs you will not be sending you an email or Facebook message! They will phone you!!

3 – Review Your ‘Friends’ List

Ok, time to be really honest with yourself. Of all the “friends” you have on Facebook or other social media platforms, how many of them would you actually stop and talk to if you passed them in the street?

I looked at my Facebook friends list and there were quite a few people there that I hadn’t spoken to in years and, as harsh as it may sound, I had to admit that I didn’t really genuinely care about what they were doing, and especially not about what they were liking or commenting on. Honestly, I think I was just being nosy.

Try to review your friends lists on social media and unfriend or simply unfollow the ones that you couldn’t honestly call your “friends”.

4 – Review Your ‘Likes’/Pages You Follow

There is a booming nutrition and health industry and I fell into the trap of liking and following EVERY SINGLE health related page I came across. It was too much!

I was also following every news site, gossip site, wedding site from when I got married years ago, airlines, random hotels, brands, etc, etc, etc! It meant that no matter how much scrolling I did, I would never reach the ‘end’ of my news feed.

So I took a piece of paper and tried to write a list of the Pages that I truly got value from. The ones whose posts I looked forward to seeing, that taught me something, the ones whose videos I would actually watch and whose links I would actually click on. I could genuinely only think of a handful of pages and it showed me that I didn’t really get anything from the vast majority of pages and posts that filled my news feed and kept me scrolling.

So unfollow or unlike those pages that you don’t actually engage with or get value from (…fingers crossed I haven’t just lost all my followers!!)

5 – Remove Notifications (or better yet remove the Apps!)

This is a good first step towards quitting your smartphone. Because it’s all well and good setting internet-free time, but if your phone is there beside you, pinging constantly, sometimes willpower is just not enough to keep you off it!

So at the very least, change the settings on your apps so that you don’t get notifications. Because, let’s face it, how many times has one single notification been the thing that sucked you into what turned out to be an hour of mindless scrolling!?

Better yet, try removing social media apps from your phone, making them harder to access.

 

So, there you go, a few tips for getting you started on cutting down on your internet time. I hope you’ve found them helpful!

Lisa xox

Friday 5, Internet, Mental Health, Smartphone, Tips

Related Post

  • What Happened When I Ditched My Smartphone

    By Lisa Dunbar | 0 comment

    In last week’s blog I outlined the reasons why my husband and I decided to switch our smartphones for dumb phones with no internet.Read more

  • Why I Ditched My Smartphone

    By Lisa Dunbar | 0 comment

    Two months ago, my husband and I did something we’d been threatening to do for a while. We ditched our smartphones in favour of “dumb phones” – mobile phonesRead more

  • 5 Tips For Getting More Exercise

    By Lisa Dunbar | 0 comment

    Like I mentioned in a recent video about being more physically active (click here to watch it), our bodies are not designed for our modern-day sedate and inactive lifestyles!Read more

  • A Year Without A Smartphone

    By Lisa Dunbar | 0 comment

    At the beginning of 2018 I wrote about why my husband and I decided to give up our smartphones and replace them with “dumb phones” and also what happened when we did.Read more

  • 5 Things You Should Know About Mental Health

    By Lisa Dunbar | 0 comment

    If you’ve read my story on the website (click here to read it) you’ll know that I developed some mental health issuesRead more

NextPrevious

Contact Lisa

lisa@lisadunbarhealth.com

Follow Lisa

Lisa Dunbar

Newsletter

Search

Recent Posts

  • 3 Years Since I Quit My Smartphone

    3 years ago I gave up my smartphone and went back to

    21 January, 2021
  • December’s ‘Mind Yourself’ Tips

    Drink Sensibly There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a few tipples now and

    31 December, 2020
  • Home
  • My Story
  • Consultations
  • Talks
  • Corporate Wellness
  • Videos & Recipes
  • Blog
  • Contact
Copyright 2018 Lisa Dunbar Health | Website Freshly Made by The Digital Bakery | Photography by Ciaran Dunbar
  • Home
  • My Story
  • Consultations
  • Talks
  • Corporate Wellness
  • Videos & Recipes
  • Blog
  • Contact
Lisa Dunbar Health