By Lisa 
She sits there on the seat beside you. A red light blinks and you reach over to grab her, despite knowing that it is against the law to do so.
Siri can wait, especially when you are driving.
But you can’t. You tell yourself you will only check email when the car is stopped. You will only look at Facebook once a day at work, then once after work. You will limit the amount of time online to one hour a day, tops. But when the red light blinks, you find your phone in hand before you even have time to think. You are a slave to your phone.
There are so many reasons to break this addiction. It is definitely not safe to text or read while driving. You know that by the (many) times you have swerved over the center line or had to jerk your car out of another distracted drivers path. You know that waking up during the night to stare at a bright phone is affecting your sleep. Your neck hurts from looking down. You know that hours wasted staring at social media only give you more information not wisdom, and despite connecting with so many people, it leaves you lonely and depressed. Interactions with family and friends become a room full of people staring at their phones. You really do not want to look back on your life and realize you have spent the majority of it with cyberfriends and garbage news.
What can you do?
ONE: Stop carrying your phone everywhere. Find one spot in your home, office and car where Siri can live. This is the first step of disconnecting and reconnecting your life. When you come in, your smartphone goes out of your hand and into its place. The good news is, you now have two free hands instead of one–BONUS!
TWO: Create accountability. Tell people you communicate with regularly that you will check email only a certain time each day. If there is truly an emergency, tell them to make a (gasp!) phone call to you, no text or email. If you feel like you need to alert your Facebook or other social media buddies, put a status update on social media saying the same.
THREE: Create reminders for why you want to disconnect. Such as:
Reconnect with friends and family
Become more productive at work
Become more positive and creative
Be safer driving
Enjoy life more
Print out and tape the reminders to cover the phone screen for the first few days. If you have a clear cover, put it under the back so you (and others) can see it. Tape a copy on your desk at work, your car dashboard and on your refrigerator at home. If you keep your phone next to your bed at night, keep it taped over the screen to remind you when you wake up–just the step of having to rip the paper off will help overcome the habit of picking it up without thinking.
FOUR: Make technology work for you. Turn off notifications for everything except VIP emails, texts and phone calls. If you want to go all in, turn the phone completely off for certain times of the day and make the outgoing message state that you will return calls at XYZ time. On the Iphone, you can use the Do Not Disturb feature along with Notifications to only allow certain calls (Favorites) to ring through. Turn your Internet connection to Airplane modeto create another step to accessing website and social media. Remind yourself that you can turn these features back on during your designated time.
FIVE: Find new activities. Like any addiction, you need to find a positive replacement. Find a buddy (or buddies) who also wants to disconnect from their phone and reconnect with people and start a lunch club. Resolve to keep your phone in its place whenever you are with people. Schedule time to walk with a friend. Pick up a book you have been wanting to read. Start a hobby you have always wanted to try. Take classes at a local college–you get the idea.
Now is your time to take control back and create your life. Keep at it. You got this!