11 Tips for A Healthier Relationship with Your Tech

 

Breaking The Habit: 11 Tips For A Healthier Relationship With Your Tech 

 

While it’s never been easier to track your health and fitness using technology, ironically, overusing electronics can be hugely detrimental to a healthy lifestyle. Hunching over a smartphone screen constantly leads to bad eyesight, poor posture, and can even increase anxiety.

On top of that, our phones are major distractors– recent surveys indicate Americans check their phones 96 times per day, or about once every ten minutes! But that doesn’t mean you have to throw your phone away completely to form a healthier relationship with your technology.

We’ve put together a list of simple ways to stop doom-scrolling and be more mindful of time spent online. If you’re looking for a way to unplug more often and break your screen addiction, these ideas should help.

 

1. Start keeping track of your screen time.

Nowadays, most phones offer an easy way for you to see how much screen time you’re logging in a day. Just seeing the numbers can be a great incentive to take control of your time again, and to stop aimlessly using your phone out of habit.

2. Schedule a little phone-free time daily.

Set aside a designated “phone-free” time, where you don’t plan to use your phone, and try to keep it out of reach during that period. Many phones also offer the option to limit your screen time, making it easy to take control of your schedule and regulate your usage.

3. Don’t be available 24/7.

This is crucial if you want to have phone-free time without spending every second stressing about what you’re missing out on. A healthy family/work/life balance means that no one should expect you to be available 24/7. Let the people you’re close to know you’re trying to unplug a little to better manage expectations. You’ll quickly find it’s okay not to respond to every message instantaneously.

4. Avoid looking everything up first.

When’s the last time you tried out a new restaurant without looking at reviews, or stopped by a museum before reading about their collection online ahead of time? Try to avoid the impulse to Google everything immediately, and you’ll rely on your phone a lot less (and maybe add a little spontaneity to your day, too!).

5. Try an app to boost productivity.

It might sound counter-intuitive to use technology to help you stop using your phone as often, but there are tons of productivity apps that can help you cut down on distractions and use your tech more mindfully—whether that’s by making a smarter to-do list or setting aside time to focus on one activity.

6. Turn off a few notifications.

Constantly seeing messages on your phone screen is tempting, and keeps us in a repetitive cycle of unconsciously scrolling through new notifications— and likely getting off task. Turning off any app notifications you don’t need can help keep you from mindlessly grabbing your phone.

7. Turn on ‘Do Not Disturb.’

Check your settings, and you should find a ‘Do Not Disturb’ option. This setting delivers notifications and calls without using sounds or alerts, making it ideal for times when you’d rather not be distracted by your phone. You can turn on ‘Do Not Disturb’ manually, or schedule it for whenever you’d like. Try setting it from 30 minutes before bedtime until about 15 minutes before your alarm goes off.

8. Don’t charge your phone near bed.

Find yourself staring at your phone screen in the middle of the night a lot when you should be sleeping? Try moving your charger. Keeping your phone across the room when you’re headed to sleep keeps you from staying up looking at memes. If you use your phone as an alarm clock, even better– it’s the perfect encouragement to get out of bed in the morning instead of hitting snooze from your nightstand.

9. Stay offline until after breakfast.

This step is a lot easier if you’re not scrolling through social media in bed before even getting up. Stop browsing before you brush your teeth to help get your day off to a productive start. Feeling extra motivated? Try setting aside a few minutes of mindfulness before you grab your phone for the day.

10. Put a rubber band on it.

Find yourself mindlessly browsing Instagram before you even realize you’ve picked up your phone? Try putting a rubber band around it. That way, there’s a physical barrier that you have to remove before you can use your phone again. This is a great way to make your tech usage more mindful!

11. Make it a game.

If you have friends who are also interested in reducing their screen-time, turn your next lunch date into a competition by stacking your phones in the center of the table as soon as you sit down. The first one to grab their phone has to pay the bill.
If no one succumbs to temptation before the meal is over, everyone pays for their own food instead. It’s a win-win; you’ll get to spend time connecting to friends, and have a shot at a free meal while you’re at it!

 

Start 2021 off right by committing to healthier online habits, and spend more time IRL doing what you love. Break internet addictions so you can use your technology, instead of letting it use you.

AUTHOR

---

Kiyoko Hill

Kiyoko is a technical writer who loves devouring books, anime episodes, and charcuterie boards. When she's not busy hunting down the latest tech news for uBreakiFix, she can usually be found caring for her two cats and countless plants.

More Buyers Open to Relocating

 

Home Buyers Say They're Open                                                                    to Relocating Remote work has Americans spreading out and the trend doesn't look likeit's going anywhere any timesoon. More and more, Americans are moving further from city centers and into suburbs and exurbs.  In fact, according to one recent survey, two-thirds of participants said they either already had, or would like to, move  somewhere within 50 miles of their current home. Some even  wanted to move further, with 4 percent saying they moved more than 50 miles away and 10 percent said they'd like to in the future. In short, there are a lot of Americans who are using their newfound ability to work from home as a reason to move elsewhere - whether for extra space, privacy, or to save money. It's not surprising. It's also likely to continue. That's because, just 17 percent of respondents said they thought their work-from-home arrangement would end when the pandemic subsides, while 72 percent said they expect it to be permanent. More here.

Mortgage Demand Rises 17% After                                                                  the Holidays According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, demand for mortgage applications was up 16.7 percent during the first week of January. The increase includes an adjustment for the holidays, but represents a significant spike from the previous week. Refinance activity was up 20 percent, while purchase demand rose 8 percent. Joel Kan, MBA's associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting, says the numbers contain evidence that first-time home buyers are becoming more active in the market. "Sustained housing demand continued to support purchase growth, with activity up nearly 10 percent from a year ago, " Kan said. "The lower average loan balance observed was partly due to a 9.2 percent increase in FHA applications, which is a positive sign of more lower-income and first-time buyers returning to the market. " Also in the report, average mortgage rates were up slightly from the previous week, with increases seen for both 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances and loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration. The MBA's survey has been conducted since 1990 and covers 75 percent of all retail residential mortgage applications. More here.

MORTGAGE NEWS

More Buyers Buying Homes Sight Unseen How we buy homes has undergone a significant transformation in the past year. The proof is in newly released data that shows a record number of recent home buyers made an offer on a home without having ever visited it in person. The numbers, from an online real-estate portal, show 63 percent of buyers who purchased a home last year made an offer without having seen the property. That's up from 32 percent one year earlier and 45 percent in July 2020. So what's driving the trend? Well, mostly it's the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus caused us all to changethe way we do things,including buying a home. After its onset,home buyers became more comfortable using technology like virtual home tours to further explore listings that caught their eye online. It also meant more Americans working from home,which lead home shoppers to look for houses in areas that weren't as easy to get to for an in-person walkthrough. The combination of pandemic, technological advancement, and remote work means an increasing number of us have had to - or have chosen to - take our home search virtual. It remains to be seen, though, whether or not the trend will continue after the virus subsides. More here.

ECONOMIC NEWS

Will There Be a Buyer's Market In 2021? A buyer's market means there are more homes available for  sale than there are interested home buyers. When this happens, home shoppers have more negotiating power and time to choose - since sellers are less likely to have more than one offer to pick from. This was the case after the housing crash and financial crisis, when the market was flooded with homes but had few buyers, outside of real-estate investors looking to capitalize. So what should we expect from 2021? Well, most likely, not a buyer's market. The number of homes for sale fell significantly last year and remains low. Conversely, home buyer demand is elevated and has been for a while. That means, more buyers than homes,  which leads to competition and higher prices. But while home buyers aren't likely to find a buyer's  market, they will find conditions softening from last year. With mortgage rates still at record lows and  new-home construction improving, experts expect home-price increases to moderate and inventory to begin its recovery. In other words, the 2021 housing market won't be a buyer's market, but it should be  better than last year. More here. Thanks to Sue Baxter at FM Home Loans for sharing this information