It’s no secret that teenagers and even adults are addicted to their phones, but taking a break from them is much easier said than done. Apprentice editor Amy Grunther is guilty of phone addiction and often uses her phone as a crutch in awkward situations, but knows it’s too much. To limit the amount of time spent on the phone, she tried three different techniques. This is what happened.

Greyscale
Since changing the color of the phone does nothing to the functionality of it, I did not think that making the color black and white would stop me from wanting to watch YouTube videos, look at social media or text my friends. But I was wrong. The second my phone turned from bright, happy colors to dull greyscale, its appeal was completely gone. Looking at the mundane black and white colors made me sad and bored and almost bothered my eyes. The vibrancy of Instagram posts, Snapchats and YouTube videos was gone. Another reason that this kept me off of my phone was because it was kind of embarrassing. I was worried that people would think I was a weirdo for having this setting on my phone. I became self conscious that people would think I had some type of strange fetish for a greyscale phone. This stopped me from going on my phone as much in public places and stopped it from being a crutch during awkward interactions. Overall, if you are looking for a way to take the appeal away from your phone without affecting its functionality, this is the perfect technique.

Charging in a Different Room
I often have a hard time falling asleep at night because my mind won’t shut off, and after this experiment, I think that my phone has a lot do with my sleepless nights. I tried charging my phone in a different room at night to see if it would help me sleep better, and I fell asleep in less than five minutes. I felt more relaxed and calm throughout the night and any drama that might have occurred on social media was not on my mind as I slept. This technique pretty much did nothing for me during the day, but it helped me sleep and feel more energized.

Changing the Passcode
All I can say about this was that it was quite annoying. Everytime I wanted to go into my phone, I needed to type “mynameisamyandthisisannoying.” I often made typos and found myself typing the passcode multiple times. I spent a good five minutes just unlocking my phone. Despite the extra effort, this did not really stop me from using my phone much because, for me, going on my phone
is worth typing a long passcode. The only time that my passcode really stopped me from using my phone was in class when I was not supposed to be using it. Typing in the passcode without my teacher seeing was difficult, so I found that I was not on my phone during class. Overall, I feel that this technique just increased my phone use because I spent so much time unlocking it. It helped me stop using my phone in school situations, but it did not do anything else except frustrate me.