By now, many of us have already broken our New Year’s resolutions. One reason is that is that we often rely on brute-force willpower, which is not the most effective way to create new habits. Wendy Wood, a leading authority on habits, states that you need three things to change a behavior into a habit (more here)
- Change context cues
- Repetition
- Rewards
Wherever you are, it seems that people are always staring or at least glancing at their cell phones. Let us examine how you can use these three strategies to reduce cell phone use.
One method I use to change context cues: I put my phone on do not disturb from 9PM to 3PM each day. So, I do not hear when I get text messages, phone calls, or emails. You can also shut your phone off so that every time you look, you must power it up. While that only takes about 15 seconds, it is sometimes enough to prevent you from checking it. You can put your phone in your backpack, a zippered pocket, or somewhere where it is hard to reach.
Whatever you choose to do to make using your phone more difficult, do it consistently, with repetition. I remember as an athlete I was told to make something a habit you need to do it 21 days in a row. Science however, has shown there really is no specific number. You need to keep repeating it until you no longer think about it
Thirdly, reward yourself for shutting off your phone and not checking it. You can read a book, play an instrument you enjoy, talk with a member of your family, or maybe have a favorite snack. It is important you give yourself a reward to help turn the behavior into a habit.
At first it is going to be difficult to shut that phone off or put it away in your backpack. However, as you continually repeat this action it will turn into a habit that you no longer think about.
If you fall off the wagon, do not worry, it is not like you are starting from zero. Just pick up the next day where you left off.
Cell phone use might not be the habit you are trying to break. These three strategies. However, work for developing or changing all habits.
My challenge to you is to pick a habit either you’d like to either add or break. Then get to work implementing these strategies.
I think the part about the rewards is very important for this practice. This post made me realize that we pick up bad habits in the first place because we find the outcomes they produce "rewarding" in the short term, even if we know this is not the case in the long run. It only makes sense that we can hack our brains into following behaviors that we know are good for us by creating a new positive feedback loop for these "good" actions. I also liked the part about turning your phone off to stop yourself from checking it (I had never even thought about it like that, but it completely makes sense). I usually continue a bad habit without even thinking about it. It's usually triggered through the smallest environmental cues, however insignificant they may be; however, turning your phone off is a perfect example of something we can do to override this quick impulse and allow our brains to think about what we are actually doing. Great post!
ReplyDelete-Casimir Pozecki