WellBeings: Dominic Bowden talks to Catherine Price. Is your phone your most toxic relationship?

The Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” showed us how social media companies are collecting our data and keeping us engaged for longer amounts of time. Episode 3 of WellBeings is all about learning how to fight back with Catherine Price, the founder of Screen/Life Balance and author of the Global Best Seller, “How to break up with your Phone”.

The big question is, what are we giving up by spending our life on our phones? For Catherine it was time with her daughter, I know that a lot of parents will really relate to this. 

In this episode we learn some amazing tips on how to create a better relationship with technology. We learn about everything from dopamine hijacking (yes you will learn what that is), the negative effect of digital distractions on your mood and really just how we can spend less time looking down and more time living life. 

Here are some tips on where to start. 

Catherine talks about a technique that works well for smokers trying to quit, we have to ride out the cravings. She recommends instead of fighting the urge or punishing yourself when you reach for your phone just pause, take a breath and notice the craving. Don’t surrender to it or try to distract yourself, simply recognize it and “see what happens”.

We have all heard this before but a great place to start is to turn off all notifications, including emails. For those that are worried you might miss an important message from a friend, family member or boss, put them on a special VIP list so they alone have notifications. Price also talks about no phone zones like the dinner table and the bedroom, and time limits like no phones after 6 p.m. 

Our lives are what we pay attention to. When we decide what to pay attention to in the moment, we’re making a bigger decision about how we want to spend our time. The people who design all the apps on our phone desperately want our attention, because that’s how they make money. Advertisers are the customers — and our attention is what’s being sold. So ask yourself: What do you want to pay attention to?

Finally everyone knows someone that has a little too much love for their phone (maybe its you) and it is such a challenging thing to change that relationship - but it starts with one small step. Leaving it charging in the kitchen, rather than by your bed or trialling a digital free day on the weekend.