There is no denying that due to the ongoing pandemic, our smartphones have taken up a more significant portion of our lives. Despite these devices allowing us to connect with others and access information with just a click, the rapid increase in screen time can also adversely affect how we live. A Time Magazine article links prolonged screen time with the adverse effects on sleep, body activity, vision, and mental health. These negative impacts can lead to reduced performance at work and school, as well as impaired social interactions. If you want to reduce your screen time by using your smartphone in more mindful and regulated ways, try checking out these apps that can improve your productivity, health, and overall life.
1. Forest
Too much screen time often hampers the ability to focus on tasks and finish them on time. The Forest app offers a timer that utilizes the Pomodoro technique to ensure you stay focused and take short breaks between work.
Forest also teams up with tree-planting organizations that plant real trees in exchange for the in-app virtual coins you earn whenever you finish a task. Talk about growing your productivity while also helping the environment!
2. Headspace
On days when the barrage of information online makes your brain overload, it’s essential to take a moment to relax and recalibrate. Headspace is an app that helps you center your thoughts and ground yourself through guided meditation and mindfulness.
What makes Headspace stand out from other meditation apps is its variety of categories—ranging from whether you want to reset your brain before sleep, or whether you need help processing challenging times. Dr. Joanne Frederick explains the benefits of meditation on improving your sleep and lowering your stress levels. Even if you just play Headspace in the background as you go through your day, it can help you respond to stress and anxiety better and do wonders for your mental health in the long run.
3. WeightWatchers
Spending too much time with your eyes glued to your screen can lead to you living a sedentary lifestyle. Fortunately, the personalized weight loss programs at WeightWatchers help you get a head start on living a healthier and more active life.
The WeightWatchers mobile app gives you access to a customized food plan so you can eat according to your needs without giving up your favorite foods. The app also includes healthy recipes; water, weight, and activity trackers; and weekly progress reports. This way, you can transform your lifestyle, one healthy habit at a time!
4. Longwalks
Beyond habits related to health and productivity, it also helps your overall lifestyle to cultivate a habit of gratitude. Longwalks is an engaging app that helps you do just that by prompting you to answer deep and meaningful questions every day.
It combines the positive aspects of social media and journaling by encouraging you to share these life insights and collaborate with others in your community. Using this app daily can thus nudge you towards living a more contemplative and connected lifestyle.
5. Coach2Go
Another way to use your phone more meaningfully is by investing your screen time in an app that will walk you through your growth journey. Dr.Melanie|Coach2GO is a digital coaching app designed to walk you through your personal development journey, in a way similar to how I would as your live coach, to uncover the changes you want to make in your life and the actions you can take to achieve them.
Coaching insights inside the app are designed to help you navigate areas such as emotional and mental wellness, personal and professional development, relationships, communication, and more. A big part of navigating through the programs revolve around creating a vision for what you want in your life, and then creating a set of action steps to work towards that vision.
Dr.Melanie|Coach2GO also uses science-based assessments of your personality and behavior, so that the coaching tips provided by Coach2Go are personalized and designed to fit into your daily lifestyle. Through this app, you can gain clarity and understanding of major life aspects like communication style, leadership skills, and motivation, while having access to
While these mobile apps are easily accessible, living a healthier and happier life still requires the hard work of staying consistent and never giving up. There will be times when you find yourself falling into old habits, but you can always remind yourself of how far you have come and how far you can still go.
