Say no to smartphone effects at home

As many of us might have already known from the news - the mere presence of a mobile device during a face-to-face conversation negatively affects the quality of social interaction. If you are interested in the research about this topic, check out “The iPhone Effect: The Quality of In-Person Social Interactions in the Presence of Mobile Devices,” published in the journal, Environment & Behavior.

Also after breast cancer, I realize every minute with my family is so valuable - as it could be something that at one point I won’t be able to enjoy.  So I started paying more attention how to really improve our “family time quality.” I have noticed the smartphone effects at home - it feels we are glued to our phones and sometimes our conversations have been interrupted by notifications and our kids could see us as paying more attentions to our phones than to them. 

Technically nowadays I don’t have time to be online often due to the need of taking care of my new born son.  But I found out when I am breastfeeding or pumping, I am using my phone browsing randomly and it is waste of time. And Jia has been very busy after his role at work changed and he constantly was checking his phone as need to stay on top of things. I can feel how both of our smartphone usages negatively impact on our quality of time together with each other and our sons. 

After realizing that, I set up my goals to remove the smartphone effects at home. Currently I am on maternity leave so I am less obliged to check work emails so I am limiting my online time only to 15 minutes at the end of the day and one time after lunch to check whether need to respond to friends. 

I am using the following steps to be able to really shut off the cell phone mentally and focus 100% on spending time with my family. 

Here is how I do it:
I turn off all the notification except the very essential ones (like my bank or credit cards apps). Unfortunately, there is no easy way to turn off all the notifications on iPhones or Androids. You have to go to settings/notifications and start with each applications. I do have a lot of apps, so it took me a while to turn them off but after that, I really feel good about it. 
When I am with my kids, I put away my phone in the closet or my purse (out of the sight, out of mind).
In the cases I need to use my phone, I put it on air plane mode so I am not distracted by randomly browsing online. 
In short, try to imagine your smart phone is no longer a smart phone but the dial phone 15 years ago.

In the days I am able to follow the no phone/no internet rules, I am very productive and feel much more centered and connected with my family. 
If you want to give it a try, do let me know who it goes and what benefits you get.