How to stop checking your phone in the morning (and what to do instead)

Using the phone in the morning has become a popular way to start the day. In fact, one study found that 70% of people check their phones first thing in the morning. Are you part of that percentage?

Today, I’m going to show you how to stop checking your phone in the morning.

Using your phone too often can cause physical and mental health problems, especially if it’s the first thing you do in the day.

But, many of the bad consequences of checking your phone every morning go unnoticed and often, you blame other things for your lack of time, focus, and energy.

Answer the next question honestly:

How many times have you looked at your phone this morning?

You probably don’t remember, right?…

Even if you do, that number would be far from reality.

Like most people, you have no clue how often you check your phone and that’s because when you interact with it, you do it subconsciously.

That means that it has become a habit and because you have little or no awareness of it, it’s more difficult to change it.

Although that’s not the only reason, there are other things in your day-to-day that keep you stuck to your smartphone.

Let’s look at the reasons why you can’t stop checking your phone right after you wake up.

Why do you check your phone in the morning? 

If you are like most people, you use your phone to work, communicate, search for information, scroll social media, and more. There are so many advantages that this device can have that it is difficult to not use it. Right?

It is not a secret that phones have changed our lives. But, there is now growing concern about how much use is too much.

It’s the one thing you use all day and still want to use as soon as you wake up and at bedtime. And you have become so dependent on it that your heart almost stops completely whenever you don’t see it.

Have you felt that weird feeling when you don’t know where your phone is? We’ve all experienced the same thing at some point in our lives.

To understand more about this feeling, take a look at the reasons why you can’t stop checking your phone in the morning.

Reasons you can’t stop checking your phone in the morning 

Humans are always in search of satisfying their needs, and it has been like that since the beginning of time.

First, humans look for activities to help them satisfy the need to survive. Now we look for things that satisfy other needs like entertainment.

According to the Uses and Gratifications theory, your phone satisfies these needs:

• Sociability
• Entertainment
• Instrumentality
• Psychological reassurance
• Status
• Mobility
• Immediate access

This theory explains how you meet your needs using different media sources and what’s most interesting is that three of these needs are essential in young people: Sociability, enjoyment, and practical (mobility) purposes.

Those are the main reasons why you can’t stop checking your phone in the morning

Now that you know that you get attached to your phone because it fulfills certain needs that you have, let’s take a closer look at why you do it after waking up.

Researchers have found three important things that make people stick with their phones.

1. Your fear of missing out (FoMO)

FoMO is a phenomenon that has been on the rise in recent decades and it’s what you feel when you think you will miss an event, announcement, or significant situation in your life.

These worries can cause a lot of stress on your body and in most cases, the way to ease that tension is to do things like biting your nails, touching your face, or checking your phone in the morning.

If you get anxious when your phone is not around, you may be experiencing FoMO and it’s also because you have a reduced sense of self-control, also known as an external locus of control.

2. You need for touch

If you go to the supermarket and touch all the products you see, it is because your “need for touch” is high which is the desire to experience everything through your hands.

In many cases, the way to please this need is by using your phone and touching the screen and it feels so good that that’s why you want to do it again and often.

This isn’t common to everyone, but it could be why you check your phone in the morning.

To see if this is the reason you check your phone every morning, you will have to be more aware of what you do with it.

Tip: Every time you hold your phone, stop and think about why you are using it.

3. Your habits and routines 

If you have read my posts before, you know that you can create a habit by doing something repeatedly.

In this case, you have made it a habit if for years you wake up and pick up your phone.

Also, any feeling you have while holding it makes you stay with it.

For example, if you feel relaxed when you check the messages you received at night or you feel connected when you check the news that day, those feelings make you repeat the same action the next morning.

Since you get those good feelings (rewards) from checking your phone, you are more likely to stick to it to the point where you don’t remember you did it.

The name of this action is “checking habits” and it refers to the times when you pick up your phone for a short time to see any new content.

How to stop checking your phone in the morning 

Checking your phone in the morning becomes a problem when you do it often and for a long time. One study found that 92.6% of 1.519 participants checked their phone between 5 and 60 minutes after waking up.

Below are strategies to stop checking your phone in the morning.

1. Find out what makes you check your phone in the morning and change it.

There is a high possibility that you have made a habit of checking your phone in the morning, which means you look at it even when you don’t need to.

In that case, there are a few things you can try to break that habit.

A) Change your environment:

When creating or breaking a habit, you should pay attention to the things around you when it happens.

What time of day is it? Who is with you? What sounds do you hear?

In this case, you know that the time of day (morning) triggers your response to pick up the device. Now, look deeper and try to discover more triggers.

Tips:

• Use the bedtime feature on your phone, so you don’t get notifications.
• Use a traditional alarm instead of using your phone.
• Leave your phone in another room.

B) Find another activity that gives you the same feelings:

For this, think about the benefits (good feelings) you get when checking your phone.

Does it make you feel more relaxed? Or in control? Or you just like to feel something in your hands…

Now find an activity that meets the same needs you please by using your phone.

Tips:

• Meditate if you want to feel relaxed instead of looking at your phone.
• If you want to get new information, read a book or talk to your partner.
• Take a walk if you want to be more aware of what is happening around you.

2. Mention to others that you are not available in the morning.

Since one of the problems you may face is FoMO, there are two things you can do:

A) Tell others that you will not be able to answer calls or messages in the morning.

This will help you not feel anxious about the things you’re missing out on during that time and you will feel better knowing that when you pick up your phone again, you will be able to get all the new messages or calls.

Getting too much information first thing in the morning puts a high pressure on your brain and that can increase the level of cortisol and sugar in your body.

More on the effect in your brain of looking at your phone in the morning later in this post.

B) Plan a half-hour in the day to update on everything.

Schedule a half-hour during the day that you can spend checking your phone, that way you avoid feeling that you are not updated with all the surrounding events.

The idea is that you do it with the intention of seeing what has happened.

Another option is that instead of checking your phone, you talk to your friends or family to get an update.

3. Plan a morning routine that doesn’t involve your phone.

A relaxing and intentional morning routine is beneficial for the body and the mind, so instead of checking your phone in the morning, plan on doing something else.

Here are some activities you can do instead of using your phone in the morning:

A) Take care of your Spiritual Wellness in the morning:

• Do a meditation session
• Write in your journal 
• Listen to your favorite playlist
• Read a book on any subject

B) Take care of your Physical Wellness in the morning:

• Do a stretching session
• Exercise 
• Go for a walk
• Do your skincare routine
• Make a healthy breakfast

Reasons you should stop checking your phone in the morning

When you check your phone first thing in the morning, different things happen to your body and mind.

Here you will see a list of the reasons why you should stop using your phone in the mornings and how you can create better habits that help you get to the life you want.

#1 You should stop checking your phone in the morning because it changes your brain

One study used two groups of participants: One with little experience with technological devices and one with extensive technological knowledge.

In the first phase, all participants had a brain scan to see their activity while they were browsing the internet.

The tech-savvy group showed greater brain activation during this activity.

Two weeks later the tech novice group received technology training.

In a new brain scan, they found that the novice group now had brain activity similar to the expert group.

This means that the use of electrical devices changes the way your brain works, and depending on which zones are active, this may or may not be beneficial.

Using the phone in the morning can cause:

• Reduction in attention
• Loss of numerical processing ability

Thus, if you want to maintain your mental abilities, it is important to not overuse your phone.

#2 You should stop checking your phone in the morning because it affects your mental health and mood

The things you do in the morning set the tone for the rest of the day and that’s why it’s essential to start the day with intention.

When you use your phone in the morning, your body becomes more impulsive and hyperactive, and it’s not a surprise.

While you sleep your brain is in a state of relaxation and when you wake up it gradually activates.

When you start your day with activities like reading the news or your emails, you put a heavy load on your brain.

This information you receive in the morning from your phone is overwhelming to the point of generating anxiety or even depression.

Of course, these last two will depend on many other conditions in your life, but checking your phone in the morning may be throwing off your mental health.

The idea is to start each day with activities that little by little wake up your brain generating a little load on your brain.

That’s why in previous paragraphs I shared simple ideas to start each morning.

#3 You should stop checking your phone in the morning because it causes physical issues

Being sedentary increases the risk of many cardiovascular diseases.

Many times when you use your phone in the morning lying in your bed, you can spend anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour in the same position (not counting all the hours at night while you slept).

This prevents your blood from circulating, causing endless problems in your body.

It is important that at the beginning of the day, you move your body and allow it to stretch,

This will help to be more flexible and avoid possible injuries.

It is not necessary that you do an hour of exercise as soon as you get up, but it is indispensable to add some gentle movement like stretching or walking in the kitchen while you make your breakfast.

Conclusion

Starting the day without checking your phone in the morning is one more step towards a healthier lifestyle.

You can consider it a bad habit depending on how often you do it, but this simple act (checking your phone) can create different reactions in your body and mind at the same time.

It causes you to reduce your productivity, changes your mood, increases the risk of certain diseases, and much more.

To avoid all this, there are three things you can do to stop checking your phone in the morning:

1. Find out what makes you check your phone in the morning and change it.
2. Mention to others that you will not be available in the morning.
3. Plan a morning routine that doesn’t involve your phone.

I hope you can apply these tips and start living a healthier lifestyle.

Do you consider checking your phone in the morning a bad habit? Let me know in the comments.