Are you a mobile phone junkie?

Good Monday!

The smartphone is everywhere—in your pocket, on your desk, on the dashboard, on your nightstand—everywhere. We never go far from it. If we forget it at home on our way to work, we turn around and get it, no matter how far we've gone.

Think about your behavior with your mobile phone. How much do you use it every day? When do you use it? Is the smartphone the first thing you check when you wake up and the last before sleep? Do you pull it out every time you have a small break? When you're waiting for the bus? When you're walking the dog? While you're at the cinema with the kids? When are you having a beer with the guys?

A survey shows that the average adult British citizen spends a whopping eight hours and 41 minutes staring at a digital screen every day—more than the time they spend sleeping.

Even worse, most of this time is spent staring at a smartphone. On average, Britons check their phones 150 times per day!

As smartphones get more features, we use them more and more. Younger adults, in particular, tend to be glued to their smartphones in all kinds of situations.

The digital gadget is addictive. Sharing and liking on, for example, Facebook stimulates the production of dopamine in our brains in the same way as sex, alcohol, drugs, and gambling. And we want more!

What happens then is that the smartphone steals our time and attention—time we should use to tackle important tasks, have meaningful conversations, and foster social closeness and interpersonal communication.

It’s no coincidence that people used to joke about Nokia:

Nokia. Connecting people. Disconnecting families.

Tanya Goodin, founder of Time To Log Off, says it's about undergoing a smartphone detox. It's a process similar to quitting alcohol or other addictive substances.

To start, you can set limits for your phone usage. When and where should you not use it? For example, you can create a rule that says you don't use your phone (or social media) after 10 PM or that you never use your phone or social media on Sundays.

It can be as simple as never having your phone on the table while eating or in a meeting with someone. Or not having it on your nightstand when you go to sleep.

Brain research shows that the brain needs rest. It needs to be disconnected entirely for 7–8 hours a day. During this time, your brain processes and stores all the information it receives and works with while you are awake. If it doesn’t get this time, your memory will begin to suffer, your ability to solve problems will weaken, and you'll become tired, stressed, and eventually sick.

Brain research has also debunked the myth that multitasking is effective. The opposite happens when you try to tackle multiple tasks at once. Tasks are completed with poorer quality as you try to squeeze in more things simultaneously.

Being busy is different from being efficient. It's a self-deception that too many suffer from. Many say having two thoughts in your head at once should be possible. That is also a myth. The brain processes only one thought at a time. If you want to have multiple thoughts in process simultaneously while awake, you'll have to move one thought aside to make room for another—and then jump back to the first one. This is logistics that slows down the process.

So, don’t be impressed by these super-busy people who don’t have a second to spare and only listen to you with half an ear. They may be super-busy (or give that impression) but also super-inefficient.

So next time you’re talking to someone, turn off your phone, put it away, and focus on catching all the essential information during the conversation. Learn to listen actively and take notes from memory after the meeting while it’s still fresh. Don’t take notes during the conversation. That shifts your focus from the conversation to your notebook—and you miss much information while writing.

Here are a couple of tips I’ve implemented myself with great results:

I ask for permission to make an audio recording in meetings where details are essential. I use my phone to record directly in Evernote, where I supplement with pictures of presentations and notes on the whiteboard.

Otherwise, I will focus on the conversation and take notes from my memory after the meeting. This is a technique I learned as a journalist. I never wrote down more than numbers and names during hours-long interviews. So, if a journalist ever interviews you, remember that the interview isn’t necessarily over just because the journalist has put away the notebook.

In conversations where the other person is more occupied with their phone or computer than with me, I stand up and leave without saying a word. It usually takes a few seconds before they realize I’ve left the room. Rude of me? Well, I don’t know who’s ruder. I take the hint…

Here, you can check your mobile addiction!