4 ways my phone helped with my personal development & mental health
Smartphones have changed our lives!
We work on them, we socialise on them, we even date on them, they are the modern day tool that connect the world.
That is until we become addicted to that little device that absorbs an average 3 hours of our day!
Stats show that we check our phones 47 times a day, with a staggering 69% of us checking our phones within 5 minutes of waking up (guilty). Smartphone addiction, also known as Nomophobia is an addiction known as ‘having a fear of not being with your phone’, FOMO (fear of missing out) on social networking, news updates, shopping, gambling and more.
Studies show a direct correlation between smart phone addiction and negative mental health impacts such as anxiety, stress, depression, and loneliness. We have all compared ourselves to beautiful people on Instagram, people we wish we looked like, people who have riches and luxury in their lives, lives we can only dream of. As Theodore Roosevelt said ‘Comparison is the thief of Joy’, and yet we do it daily, and continue to get sucked into the ecosystem of online ‘reality’.
Personally my green eyed monster appeared when looking at people on holidays in these exotic locations that have been on my bucket list for years. I of course felt ugly when I saw celebs wear the most beautiful dresses on their size 6 bodies, a body I would never have (and never want to). I felt unaccomplished when I saw my peers post new job updates on LinkedIn and criticise myself for not doing better. I looked at my followers on Instagram and Twitter and wondered why I didn’t have hundreds of followers, why I wasn’t worthy. The breaking point for me was when I looked on social media, spent hours mindlessly scrolling to suddenly feel CRAP about me and my life, and THEN try create content that would make me ‘cool’, ‘worthy’, ‘loved’, ‘wanted’, add in other ridiculous feelings I craved!!!
So I decided to make a stand!
*FYI I did not stand on my iphone
I realised smartphones are going nowhere, so decided to make mine work for me and my mental health! Yes I stopped checking my phone when I first woke up, yes I tried to limit screen time, and yes I tried SO hard to not scroll for more than 5 minutes, but it was these apps/tricks that helped me drastically!
1. Turn off What’s App Read Receipts
We all use What’s App to communicate and we all wait to see if we got the blue tick on the message we just sent. For me if I didn’t get a reply and my message was read (blue tick), I would questions myself, my message, my tone, everything until the response came in. How silly right? Some of it boiled down to self-belief, self-love, & self-worth, but while I was figuring all of that out, the read receipts notification was off and I felt FREE. I didn’t know who read my messages or when, and I couldn’t care less if they did or not. A simple thing to do in your What’s App privacy setting, see below, but one that will ease your mind completely!
2. Download Apps that will keep you focused, inspired and at peace
Ok so this involved three apps for me:
A-The Calm app, available on itunes and the play store now, with a yearly or monthly fee.
This app is my daily ritual to find peace in the chaos of life. This app was recommended to me two years ago when I was suffering with anxiety and just couldn’t escape the haze. The app is like a little Buddha Monk who lives in your phone and tells you that everything will be ok. From daily meditations of 10 minutes, to hour long meditations, to sleep stories (I never make it past 2 minutes on these), to beautiful calming music, this app has all you need to feel at peace in your day. I listen to the daily meditation every night before bed, followed by a sleep story which I never make it through, but best part is each session ends with a quote (below) that I wake up to and just warms my heart in the mornings. PS- Matthew McConaughey narrates one sleep story called ‘Wonder’, and it is truly the next best thing to him whispering sweet nothings in my ear!
B- Habitat App, available on the above platforms for free.
I don’t know how I came upon this app but I am so glad I did. This app is like a nagging mother but more subtle. You create habits you want to stick with, choose a time, choose a day or every day, and the app will send you notifications to do what you intended to do. For me I want to write in my gratitude journal daily, my success bank (thank you Sarah Doyle!). The nightly reminders to do so happen just before bed for me, this allows me to get ready for bed feeling grateful, proud and happy! This app will work for any habit you want to nurture whether it is going to bed earlier, exercising more, or calling your mam more! The accountability function works for me as that is what I need to do most things in life, I crave the blue hexagons, the accomplishment of having all the hexagons coloured in! Give it a try see if it can work for you too.
*For more on the power of a gratitude journal and what exactly is a success bank, please see The Better Life Project by Sarah Doyle.
C- Idillionaire App, available on the above platforms for free too!
This app was suggested by my lovely friend Dylan who knows about my love for affirmations and a good positivity quote! Similar to Habitat, this app sends you notifications daily to inspire, motivate and just affirm your greatness! I like to call this the universe’s way of texting me, where he/she sends around 4 messages a day reminding me that I have the power to do anything in my life, that miracles are waiting for me, and that I got this!!
Words are powerful to me, especially written words, and these daily pep talks make me smile, push me to keep going, and in basic terms, they’re just really lovely too!!
Below are some I received today, and if you want to feel all of the above I suggest you download now, go go go!
*PS Idillionaire also has a great Instagram account to follow here.
3. Listen to life changing podcasts!
I became an avid podcast listener during my time in New York where I needed something to keep my mind off the crazies on the subway. I started off listening to hard hitting, business and life aficionado Gary Vee on his show ‘The Gary Vee Audio Experience, followed then by Gretchen Rubin on her ‘Happier’ podcast, with a lot of Oprah’s ‘Super Soul Conversations’ thrown into the mix.
Podcasts became my education, my therapy, my news outlet, and much more. When I moved home from New York I struggled hard for months, struggled to see the goodness in Ireland, and how I would reach the happiness level New York had given me. I am not saying this lightly but podcasts helped me immensely through this time. I KNOW if I didn’t have my daily dose of inspiration then that dark mass above me would have taken longer to move.
I love shows that interview people, I love learning about how people against all odds became successful in career, love, family, finances and personal life. Back to the comparison disease again, I compare myself to many of the interviewees on these shows, BUT in a way where I compare their growth and success and realise I can do it too! Hell yeah I can!!
I have always loved learning, hello 8 years in college!!! So podcast education for me is an addiction, it is something I really enjoy, uplifts me, motivates me, and gets me excited about the future.
The following are my current Top 5 podcast shows I listen to weekly:
1. The School of Greatness with Lewis Howes. In depth interviews with some of the most inspiring people on earth, with valuable lessons from the perspective of how they created their success.
2. On Purpose with Jay Shetty. Jay a former Buddhist Monk delves into the lives of people from Khloe Kardashian, to Deepak Chopra, and also creates solo episodes where he discusses topics such as effective goal setting. Jay has an inner calm about him that shines through each episode.
3. Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations. Need I say more, it’s Oprah, of course it is amazing! I particularly loved her conversation with Lady Gaga and Amy Schumer where I left the episode wanting to hug them both to death and just appreciate all we have in this life.
4. The Happiness Lab with Dr Laurie Santos. Yale professor Dr Laurie explores what it means to be happy, and what we think makes us happy. She mixes science with emotion, and gives us a perfect education on how we really become happy! Hint- it’s an inside job!
5. Happy Place with Fearne Cotton. I have loved Fearne from the early tv days, but I love her vulnerability and openness in these interviews. Fearne speaks with people such as Ellie Goulding, Jonathan Van Ness and even the former U.S. Secretary of State, Senator and First Lady Hilary Rodham Clinton to discover what makes them happy.
As you may have guessed most of these are American, with some British one’s thrown in, but in Ireland I cannot get enough of The Good Glow with the wonderful Georgie Crawford who inspires us all daily! Her latest show with Andrew Fitzsimons is a must listen for helping you reach your goals and dreaming big!
4. Use the Notes section on your phone for daily check ins
As an iphone user I have the little Notes app on my phone, and it has 159 notes in it right now! *Other mobile devices available also!
I use the app to write down my daily thoughts, if anything bothers me, or just to have a catch up with myself. If I am away from home and forget my gratitude journal or success bank, I also use the notes app to write them down so I can put them in the next day.
We have all felt overwhelmed at times, frustrated at life, upset, angry, and everything in between, but do we ever ask ourselves why we feel this way? I never used to, but found when I took control of these feelings, asked questions of them, I was then able to manage them and the anxiety, stress, despair would dissipate and the sunshine in my heart shone again.
Yes I am a ball of cheese, but you should know this by now!!
If you have a spare few minutes in your day, don’t scroll on Instagram or Facebook, write down how your day was, what made you happy today, everything you are grateful for today, and I guarantee you this will change your life!
These are all my tips and tricks for better mental health via your smartphone. If you have any that work for you, I would love to hear about them, email me downey.lisa@gmail.com.
Love and Happiness,
Lisa x
