What can you do?

Is your smartphone’s allure too strong? Rosen and other experts recommend a simple treatment:
• Assure yourself you can check your phone any time you want.

• Turn off your phone and place it face down.

• Promise yourself you’ll check your phone in five minutes.

• Go away and do something pleasant and non-electronic for those five minutes. Watch clouds pass by, have a face-to-face conversation with a colleague or family member, dance to your favorite song, etc.

• Realize nothing dangerous happened because you didn’t respond immediately to emails, Facebook posts, tweets and other alerts — if, indeed, any arrived.

• Gradually lengthen the “away time” to 30 minutes. With time, you’ll declare mastery over your smartphone instead of the other way around.

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