This is how you kick off from your phone

It is seven o'clock in the evening. Otis has just gone to bed and Jon and I finally have an evening off together.

Our phones are in the ‘holy box’, an antique chest that we have had in the hallway since our wedding (back then, a week without a phone really felt like a breath of fresh air) where we put our phones in the evening so we can't use them anymore. After an episode of La Casa de Papel, I walk towards the bathroom past the holy box: should I sneak a peek? What if someone has something important to say and I don't see it in time? It takes effort not to grab it, but I stay strong. Before going to sleep, I move my phone to the charger and can't resist the temptation to take a quick look. At that moment, Jon comes around the corner with a stern look: ’What did we agree on?‘ Caught in the act. I feel guilty and at the same time sad: I am more addicted to that phone than I thought.

And I am not the only one: a quarter of mobile phone users feel that they are too preoccupied with it and want to reduce their usage. You can download the app ‘Moments’ that tracks your smartphone usage per day, down to the app level. And that is quite confronting, I can tell you. I even know a friend who has installed WhatsApp on her computer so she can trick the app and her hours of phone usage seemingly get reduced. Of course, the intention is that you actually lower your usage when you see the results, and that is exactly what I am going to do. Not drastically because I don't believe in that, but in moderation.

Set a maximum for yourself on how long you can spend on your phone each day (per app) and stick to it. Look around you when you are waiting for someone in a restaurant and consciously note what you see, instead of immediately grabbing your phone. Take a look around you in the tram or train and who knows, you might even have a conversation with someone without a device involved. It may sound silly, but I really believe that this way you are more in the here and now than when you continuously lose yourself in your phone and are not open to what is happening around you.

It is five o'clock. I just picked up Otis from daycare and come home after an intense workday. You know what? I'm throwing that iPhone into the holy box right now. Just enjoying the here and now with that little one, nothing can beat that Insta feed.