Most people are working from home these days. The issue that I face most is my phone just keeps beeping with notifications every few minutes. Once this happens I must pick it up and see what the notification was and then one thing leads to another and I’m in a never-ending loop of checking everything on my phone. At the end of it, I don’t remember what I was doing or why I picked up my phone in the first place.
Thankfully there are a lot of options we can set. The main ones are:
- Constant Beeps from Notifications
- Unrestricted access to all apps on the Phone.
Thankfully your phone has the power to help you.
Do Not Disturb
This feature simply blocks calls and notifications when it’s turned on. But what if there is an emergency and I need to be contacted?
Thankfully there are lots of options that we can set. The main ones are
- Allow Calls from Favourites – This means your favourites list must have your emergency contacts. I usually fill this list with the people I contact the most.
- Allow Repeat Calls – If someone calls multiple times from a number which is not in your favourites, your phone will still ring.
- Scheduling – This can either be set to automatic for a specific time period or can be turned on manually. I use the manual setting, however if you have regular times in your routine (e.g. during office hours/school) that you need to avoid distractions, the automatic setting is a great choice.
Screen Time
Tracking
This will help you track how long you are using each app. It’s extremely interesting to see where all that time is going. Also, to get accurate readings set your screen off time to 1-2 mins. This means if your phone is put down with its screen on, it will go off in 1-2 mins.
In the iPhone it’s there directly in the settings. In Android phones there are roundabout methods like checking battery and deriving the screen time or even using third-party apps.
Limiting
In addition to tracking (which is done after you have used the app) we can also limit our time using an app. For example you may know that you are on WhatsApp for 6-7 hours per day but unless you are told “Hey! Time’s Up!” you may not reduce your app time.
Pick Ups
We can also see how many times we are picking up the phone. “Pick-Ups” means the phone was in standby (on a table or in your pocket/purse, and we then started using it. Expect surprising results!
Notifications
We can also see which apps are sending us the most notifications. Most of us will have WhatsApp at the top of the list. Check this list and see which apps are distracting you the most. Stop notifications of apps if you don’t need them.