Is Your Phone Stealing Your Life? - SECRET - It's your choice

Is Your Phone Stealing Your Life?


Is Your Phone Stealing Your Life? 

www.scrt.nz

If you are anything like me, your time is your most precious resource. Still, today's world is overloaded with distractions and 'things to do' that even I let time 'slip away' from time to time. To stress again how important 'time' is, if you asked one of the world's wealthiest (financially) men, Warren Buffet, if he would swap all his money to be in his forties again, he would do it in a heartbeat. And here we are, spending more time than ever, face down doom scrolling our lives away.

To be fair, though, it's not that we really want to be doing this; it's just the algorithms that have us by the b#@s. They know every trick in the book to keep us spending our time. Remember, if you are not paying for something, you are the product!! 

In this blog, I want to share a couple of simple ways that you can take action today to stop wasting your precious minutes. 

In our hyper-connected world, smartphones are with us 24/7,  calling out with every beep or vibration, providing entertainment, connection, and information at our fingertips. However, this convenience comes at a cost of something we can never get back, and once we have given our time to this, we can never get it back! 

Here are some shocking stats to make to make you think!

3 hours and 15 minutes: This is the average daily time spent on phones, according to a study by RescueTime. Imagine what you could accomplish with an extra 3 hours each day! That's nearly a whole extra day in the week if we didn't have a phone. 

Ok, let's now get silly with the numbers a bit more! If we stopped spending an average of 3.25 hours daily (sometimes more, sometimes less), we would have 49 extra days per year! Take away the 8 hours per night that we sleep, and this comes to the crazy number of an extra 65 days a year that we could have! Yes, it's that stupidly high! 

What would you do with an extra 9 weeks per year? What if you made some simple changes to your habits today that could even give you just half of that time back? Ok, I've got you hooked now; keep reading..

2,617 times: a person touches their phone a day, according to research by 'dscout'  (link provided below) - Come on, man, seriously, if that is you, you have to change and get this back under your control today!

50% Half of all phone pickups occur within 3 minutes of the previous one. Talk about interrupting your flow! And it just shows you how addicted we are to these devices. They have us bloody hooked and wanting more!

Consider The Unseen Costs: Beyond simply wasting our lives away, excessive phone use has real-life consequences:

Productivity drops: Constant notifications and the urge to check social media fragment our attention and basically turn our brains to mashed potatoes, and not that wholesome, skin-on kinda homemade mash, I am talking about the fluffed-up, came from a packet that's been in storage for 2 years kinda stuff/ thing/ food? This constant distraction makes our brains lose focus, and it's impossible to get quality work done.

Sleep quality decreases: The blue light emitted from screens is known to disrupt our melatonin production and affect our circadian rhythms, making it harder to fall asleep and impacting our overall sleep quality. The sad thing is that most people don't realise that when we sleep, our body and natural health systems go to work to clean house and rebuild ourselves! 

If you haven't heard this one before, you had better sit down... did you know that your body completely rebuilds itself every 7 years? That means that every single cell in your body today will have been 'renewed' in 7 years. 

Bringing this back to your sleep, when you are sleeping, your body is literally expressing your DNA, you really do want this to happen right, if THIS IS WHY, it is so important to get good sleep. It's not wasted time, as many people believe. It's the most crucial part of your day, and you should be treating it as such. Your phone is destroying your quality of sleep and life!

Anxiety rises: Social media can fuel feelings of comparison (keeping up with the Jones) and FOMO (fear of missing out), leading to heightened anxiety and depression. You are only human! It is hard not to feel this way. I have a saying I freely tell anyone who listens: "In your life, you will get to a point where you won't care about what others think / may think of you; it is up to you how quickly you get there."

Relationships weaken: Spending more time on phones than with the people around us can strain relationships and contribute to feelings of isolation. Laughter at the smoko table shouldn't be a thing of the past because everyone is catching up on the latest notifications about nothing. Be the first one in your group to put the phone away and actually make a joke. Here is one you can use of mine. "What did the triangle say to the circle? You are pointless! - Ok, Dad jokes are all I have for you here!

Physical health deteriorates: Excessive phone use can result in eye strain, neck pain, and even obesity due to increased sedentary behaviour. This is obvious, but again, it's not something that happens overnight; these are gradual changes happening to us, and the downstream effect of the increase in phone use is only starting to appear. 

EMF Exposure: While we need more studies on the long-term effects of cell phone radiation, there is a growing concern about the electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted by these devices. Heck, even Apple suggest not holding the phone within 2cm of your head! Studies are starting to show that this radiation may have negative impacts on sleep, cognitive function, and even cellular health! Have you ever experienced weakness in the fingers? I have. It was not a nice thing to experience, and it was a sign my body wanted me to listen to.

Phew, that was a bit heavy; how about another Dad joke? 

Want to hear a joke about construction? I'm still working on it!

And finally, here are my two solutions to help you take action and claim your life back:

Runner-up free solution- Embrace Greyscale:

If you're looking for a quick, easy and effective way to curb your phone addiction, switch your phone to greyscale mode now.

This simple change removes the vibrant and addictive colours that make apps and short clips captivating. Suddenly, Instagram feeds become less appealing, games lose there excitement, and notifications feel less urgent.

Why It Works:

Reduces visual stimulation: Our brains are naturally hardwired to look for bright colours. This used to be great for foraging for food, but nowadays that's not so important is it? Greyscale mode makes your phone less visually appealing, which can help decrease the urge to pick it up and can help you break the habit!

Increases awareness: The dullness of greyscale serves as a constant reminder of your goal to reduce phone usage and claim your life back!

**How to Activate Greyscale:**

- iPhone: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Color Filters. Select "Greyscale.

- Android: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Visibility enhancements > Color correction. Choose "Greyscale."

Reclaim Your Time and Your Life because if you don't act, no one is coming to help you. It will only get worse as marketing becomes even more persuasive, with our phones potentially listening to everything we say. They already know so much about us, and now we are unknowingly 'giving' them permission to invade our privacy, tracking where we go, what we search for, and what we are saying!

Switching your phone to greyscale may seem like a small change, but it can significantly impact your phone usage. By reducing the appeal of your smartphone, you can break free from the grip of phone addiction and reclaim your time, focus, and well-being.

"Bees Knees solution" - Disconnect Completely with a SCRT Faraday Phone Sleeve

Want to go beyond greyscale and completely eliminate distractions? Consider grabbing one of our SCRT Faraday phone sleeves. These phone pouches are triple-lined with a special material that blocks all incoming and outgoing wireless signals, effectively creating a "dead zone" for your phone. "When your phone is inside our SCRT phone sleeve, it's as if your phone does not exist."

How it works:

Our Faraday phone sleeves utilise the principle of a Faraday cage, which is an enclosure that blocks electromagnetic fields. When your phone is inside the sleeve, it can't receive calls, texts, notifications, or any other wireless signals. This creates a complete digital detox, allowing you to focus on the present moment without interruptions or distractions.

Taking your phone out of the sleeve will be yet another opportunity for you to recognise why you placed the phone inside and make a conscious decision in real-time. Remember, this could save you 3+ hours a day! Don't worry; when you do choose to take your phone out, your messages and notifications will come in hot at you, nothing is lost.

Benefits:

Ultimate distraction blocker: No more pings, vibrations, or that irresistible urge to check what your neighbour just posted about their new car or harvest the crops on your virtual farm game. With your phone inside the Faraday sleeve, even your smartwatch won't vibrate, telling you about the latest 'tweet' as there is no longer a connection to your phone.

Enhanced productivity and focus: Enjoy uninterrupted work sessions and deeper concentration. Work and relationships will become easier for you now that you are not constantly distracted. Promotion on the cards, perhaps!?

Improved sleep: Reduce exposure to blue light and late-night notifications, promoting better sleep quality, the most important part of the day!

EMF protection: Minimise your exposure to potentially harmful electromagnetic radiation. This may seem like a small win today, But I promise you more people will be talking about this soon as the long-term effect begins to show itself from this constant bombardment of EMFs.

Increased mindfulness: Be more present in your daily life and interactions. This is a skill we could all use a bit more. We don't need to go to the gym to flex our brain muscle and practice mindfulness, you know.

Why Choose the SCRT Faraday Phone Sleeve:

Signal-blocking effectiveness: Our phone sleeve is triple-layered in RFID-blocking fabric and has a strong magnetic closure. Yes, it is the best phone sleeve you will find. This Faraday sleeve completely blocks all signals, including cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

Durability: Our phone sleeve is made from high-quality materials that withstand daily wear and tear. This will last you for years of daily use. Once you have one, you won't need to buy another.

Size and fit: Available in two sizes to ensure you get a sleeve that fits your phone comfortably and can be fully sealed.

Accessibility: Our strong magnetic closure not only locks out all signals but also allows quick access and allows you to place your phone back inside it quickly and effectively.

A Faraday sleeve can be a powerful tool for taking control of your digital life and reclaiming your time and attention. This solution is worth exploring if you're serious about reducing phone usage and minimising distractions.

Take action today. We humans as a race have always struggled with controlling how we spend our time. "Once you have spent your time, you can never earn it back". ~ Blake Marston, Founder of SCRT.nz

"Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend" ~ Theophrastus (Greek philosopher, c. 371 - c. 287 BC)  

CLICK HERE TO VISIT SCRT.nz TODAY

Footnotes:

Links to research mentioned. 

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/we-touch-our-smartphones-at-least-2617-times-a-day/articleshow/53211326.cms?from=mdr

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352770481_Color_me_calm_Grayscale_phone_setting_reduces_anxiety_and_problematic_smartphone_use

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/19/opinion/location-tracking-cell-phone.html

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334214258_Is_My_Phone_Listening_in_On_the_Feasibility_and_Detectability_of_Mobile_Eavesdropping