Make a Smartphone Box
The Gift of Attention is the greatest gift you can give someone, including yourself.
If you are serious about changing your smartphone habits, make a smartphone box. Using cards, scissors and glue, is an inexpensive but powerful way of implementing habit change.
You can download and print our Swap The Scroll template (which will fit phones up to 150mm x 82mm) or find a box template of your own. The most important element in this creative exercise is to make a promise: when you put your smartphone in this box, you commit to taking part in a screen-free / digital device-free activity instead.
Activity Suggestions:
Have an uninterrupted meal with your family
Play a board game with your kids
Read a book for 20 minutes
Go for a walk around the block
Stretch your body for 5 minutes
Write in your journal
Keep your promise. When your phone is in this box, ensure you are fully present in whatever activity or conversation you are in.
Ingredients
To make this smartphone box, you will need:
a printer,
cardstock,
scissors,
PVA glue,
paper clips.
Instructions
Print the template onto A4 paper, at 100%. Do not scale to fit otherwise the box dimensions will not be accurate. If your printer has the capability, print the template directly onto the card.
If you have printed the box template onto paper, cut the template out and draw around it onto the card.
Fold the card along the dashed lines. It helps to score these lines first very lightly with a craft knife or scissors.
Glue the sides together. Tip: use paper clips to hold the sides together until they have dried.
Decorate the outside of the box with pens, paper, paint, collage. Feel free to be creative here!
On the inside of the box write a phone free or distraction free promise to yourself:
When my smartphone is in this box, I promise to..................................(see suggestions above).
Download Your Smartphone Box
Download your smartphone box. Instructions included.
Fits smartphones up to 150mm x 82mm.
Inspiration
The Science Bit
Research shows that even the presence of a smartphone challenges our cognitive abilities. A study from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin showed that people whose phones were in another room performed better on a test than those whose phones were on the table or in their bags.
What is more, even trying not to think about checking a phone, uses the brains cognitive resources.
The researchers found that it didn’t matter whether a person’s smartphone was turned on or off, or face up or down on the desk in front of them. Merely having a smartphone in sight or within easy reach reduced the person’s ability to focus and perform tasks because part of their brain actively works on resisting the urge to pick up or use the phone.
Reflection & Enquiry
Did you complete the task, make the box and take part in one of your promised activities?
How did it feel? Did you find the time productive? What was the response of your family, if you chose to spend the time with them? Did you resist the urge to check your phone? Did putting the phone in the box help the urges? What else did you notice?
I would love to hear more! Email your creations and thoughts to info@georgiestclair.com or tag me @georgiestclair if you are on Instagram.