I’ve been trying to break my iPhone addiction for awhile. I’ve written about it in several posts, most notably in I Love/Hate My iPhone last spring. I haven’t had complete success- I still check it far too often, and carry it around with me far too much- but I have changed a few phone-related habits that seem to have tipped the balance, and now I don’t feel quite as connected to it.

First, in an effort to keep my writing time sacred- because, after all, I have a limited amount of time during the day when Edwin doesn’t need me- I started a “no phone in my office” rule. So while I’m writing, I’m not getting interrupted by texts or email alerts. It’s not a huge period of time, and I expect most people can wait for an answer until I’m done working. If I was at work, no one would expect me to text or call them back right away. I need to treat my writing time just as professionally. As a result, I feel more focused and I can get more accomplished in each time period.

Second, I don’t bring my phone to bed anymore. That is HUGE for me, and I would have done it awhile ago, except that I didn’t have an alarm clock I was happy with. I don’t actually need the alarm- Edwin wakes up as early as I’d want to, and my husband sets his alarm for work, too- but I like having a backlit clock to check if Edwin wakes in the middle of the night, and first thing in the morning. I had a travel-sized one for awhile, but it was too light- it kept skittering off my night-table- so I was using my phone for the clock. I finally re-acquired an old iPhone-dock alarm clock (I’d given it to Nick to use for the speaker, but his new iPhone doesn’t fit). After that, I had no excuse for having the phone in the bedroom. (Ironic that an iPhone-enabled alarm clock is saving me from needing my iPhone.) Now I power it down every night and leave it in the kitchen until morning. As a result, I’m actually getting to bed earlier, because I’m no longer reading AND playing Words With Friends- I’m just reading. And I’m enjoying turning my phone on in the morning and actually finding something interesting that I missed before bedtime.

Third, when I am using my phone, I’m using it for good. My Facebook app takes forever to load, and when it does, it often shows posts that are days old. My Words With Friends app also takes a long time to start up, so I don’t waste a lot of time on either of those time-suckers. My Feedly app, however, works great, so I’m able to keep up with my blog reading, which is good for making connections with other bloggers and inspiring posts for my blog. When I’ve read all the new posts there, I put the phone down. (Or I look at pictures/videos of my son. He’s really, really cute.)

Are you addicted to your smartphone? Have you tried taking steps to disconnect? How successful were you?