6 practical tips to make your smartphone healthy
You do not have to install any extra apps to use your smartphone healthier. Instead, use these standard features of your Android phone.
Making your smartphone healthier: 6 tips
A smartphone is of course very useful, but staring at the screen for too long is anything but healthy. There are plenty of apps that let you use your phone more sensibly, but this is not always necessary. Even without additional apps, there are plenty of ways to make your smartphone healthier.
1. Turn off notifications
Apps compete for your attention. An incoming email, reaction to an Instagram photo or new WhatsApp message: there is no shortage of notifications. Every time you hear the sound of these notifications, you are distracted for a moment.
It is therefore better to turn off notifications completely, or at least be critical of which apps they are allowed to send. To do this, go to ‘Apps and notifications’ in the settings and go through the list of applications. As soon as you tap on an app, you can indicate whether it can send notifications.
You can also switch off notification dots under the heading ‘Notifications’. These are the dots above an app when a new notification is ready for you. Don’t want to be distracted at all? Then turn on ‘Do not disturb’ by swiping down the notification bar and pressing the icon.
2. Consider the noise
Too loud a sound is harmful to your hearing. A lot of people turn their phones on too loud, slowly deafening them. This is a major problem especially among young people.
It is therefore important to choose a reasonable volume, especially if you often listen to music through earplugs. Go to the settings menu and under ‘Sound’ choose how loud media, calling and your ringtone will go.
3. Turn on night lights
In addition, looking at a bright smartphone screen is tiring and bad for your eyes. Therefore, enable the option ‘Adjust brightness’ under the heading ‘Display’ in the settings menu.
The screen brightness is now adjusted based on your ambient light and what you are doing. In the same menu you can turn on night lighting, which gives the display an orange tint. This is easier on your eyes and helps you sleep.
4. Digital Wellbeing
Do you have a phone with Android 9.0 (Pie) or higher? Then you can get started with Digital Wellbeing. This is a bundle of functions and services that should ensure that you spend less time with your phone.
You can set timers so that you are not on Facebook for hours on end, turn on a day and night clock so that the screen turns gray at night and automatically mute all notifications after a certain time.
Moreover, thanks to the statistics you get insight into your smartphone use. You not only see how long you are working with your device, but also which apps you use the most. Also check our initial Digital Wellbeing review for more information.
Digital Wellbeing
Google LLC
5. Remove jammers
Do the statistics of Digital Wellbeing show that you are actually too busy with social media apps? Then remove them from your smartphone and avoid being tempted to use them.
You can delete an app by pressing and holding the icon on your home screen or from the app overview and then swiping it to the top of the screen (the trash can icon). Instead of endlessly scrolling through Facebook and Instagram, it is better to visit the website version on your computer. You thus raise the threshold and deal more consciously with your social media use.
Also check out our tip video to speed up your smartphone:
6. What is your plan?
The last, and also the most difficult tip to use your smartphone healthier, has to do with your plan: why do you actually pick up your smartphone? We are now used to aimlessly grabbing our device without having a specific goal.
Then the well-designed apps do their job and grab our attention. How often do you open your phone to check an email, after which you open all kinds of apps for ten minutes without reading the message? Instead, it’s important to only use your device when you need it.
