Digital Detox - A Guide To Smartphone Wellbeing

Whilst smartphones are integral to our everyday lives, many of us could be guilty of perhaps spending a little too much time glued to our handsets.

Luckily, assistance is at hand for the smartphone-addicted among us, with many dedicated apps and feaures available to help you achieve a healthy phone-life balance.

We take a look at some of the best options available...

Enable 'Do Not Disturb'

The Do Not Disturb option on a smartphone will stop notifications, alerts and calls from making a noise. To do this on an iPhone, simply swipe up from the bottom of your smartphone screen and tap the moon icon. On Android, just go into your notification settings, then Do Not Disturb to activate. You can also schedule your device to mute all notifications during certain times, which is perfect for switching off before bedtime.

Disable Push Notifications

Apps can send us lots of notifications throughout the day, but you can control which ones come through and which ones don't. To do this, simply go to your notification settings and run through the list of apps you want to see notifications from. You can choose to mute all, or just select the important ones like messages and emails.

Download the Forest App

To help prompt you to temporarily put your down for a while, we recommend downloading the Forest app. The app is known as a productivity app which allows users to earn credits when they're not using their smartphone and plant real trees around the world to help keep our environment green.

Make the Most of 'Shush'

Google recently announced that it's upcoming Android P system will give users access to its new Shush feature which will instantly activate the Do Not Disturb mode when the device is turned display down, switching off distracting notifications and messages helping users to wind down and disengage from their phones before bed. If you're awaiting an important message, you'll still be able to add a list of contacts who will be able to get through to you when the Do Not Disturb is turned on.

Take Note of 'Screen Time'

To help people reduce the amount of time they spend on their phones, Apple recently launched Screen Time, an app for iPhone and iPad users. This highlights how much time users spend using certain apps, how many notifications they receive on average, how often they pick up their device and how their usage patterns compare to the average. The app also lets users set daily time limits and a notification will be shown when the time limit is about to expire to ensure the user is limiting the amount of time they spend using the app.

Find the perfect handset for you over at Mobiles.co.uk and embrace digital-wellbeing with a phone that enchances your life instead of distracting from it.