If you’re like most people, your phone has become an extra appendage to your body. You compulsively give it a glance any time you get a new message or notification — and sometimes as an unintentional response to boredom or downtime. But your little tic may not only create problems in your personal life, but also at work.
More people are spending more time getting sucked into the apps on their smartphones, doing things like scrolling through social media, texting or checking emails. While our growing reliance and use of our phones has become normalized in some social environments, it has the potential to be detrimental to your career if you’re not careful. You could miss important information, lose productivity or leave a bad impression. That could result in the loss of leadership opportunities, promotions and even jobs.
“It’s really hard to reverse someone’s perception about you, even if it’s wrong,” said Andrew McCaskill, a career expert at LinkedIn. “Relationships matter. They’ll save you in your career when results wont.”
About 58 percent of U.S. adults said they use their smartphones too much, a jump from the 39 percent that felt that way in 2015, according to a Gallup survey. The problem even extends into job interviews, during which candidates can make the mistake of looking at their phones while talking to hiring managers, LinkedIn said.
If your friends and family, who know and love you, get annoyed by your phone habits, think about the impressions you may leave on people that are less familiar to you.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to us. We’re totally capable of managing our phone usage, right? But what if — just what if — we are actually the problem?
Here’s what you can do to assess and control your relationship with your phone at work.
Track your usage
Start tracking how much you use your phone, when and for what purposes. You can keep a mental tally of the time or document it somewhere. People who want to change a behavioral pattern take a similar approach, first gauging how much they actually drink before dealing with the problem, said Jeff Hancock, a Stanford professor and psychologist who studies social media.
If you have footage of you working, like from a home security camera, review it to get a better sense of how often you pick up your phone, said Julia Briskin, a research data scientist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Or you can simply go to trusted people in your circle and ask them if they find your phone usage problematic or distracting, she said.
Do a detox
Take a week or month where you substantially reduce your usage, where possible (don’t ignore your bosses if they text you). You can even challenge your friends to reduce usage and make it a social activity, Hancock said. This may help you reset and understand both your current relationship with your phone and the one you’d like to have. If you find yourself feeling anxious, frustrated or experiencing the fear of missing out, you may be more attached than you realize. And you may have to figure out what to do with your body during those awkwardly long elevator rides with strangers.
“Many people who we paid to reduce their usage felt really glad that they did,” said Matthew Gentzkow, a Stanford professor who has studied digital addiction. “Consistently, a substantial group of people recalibrate to make their usage trend downward” afterward.
Change your settings
A benefit of feeling addicted to technology like our phones is that they come equipped with capabilities to curb overuse, Gentzkow said.
Change your notification settings so that you’re only alerted by key apps or reduce how often you get notifications by grouping them together and selecting specific times such as lunch and before and after work. Set limits on how long you can use specific apps via Screen Time on iPhones and in digital well-being on some Android phones. Third party apps like Forest gamifies focus time, and Moment can help curb social media use. Take our social media quiz to find out if you need a reset.
Take advantage of Do Not Disturb features on your phone or set timers, on or off your phone, to alert you to when you can use or should stop using your phone.
Read the room
Not all workplaces are the same. So try to get a sense of cultural norms and expectations before whipping out your phone.
Corporate culture is often defined by modeling the behaviors of others, especially those seen as leaders in the company, Hancock said. That also means potentially calling out and being prepared to be called out for bad habits. But approach every situation with grace, Hancock said.
“It’s going to come back to all of us being much more conscious and intentional.”
Tell people what you’re doing
Most people have to use their phones in some capacity at work. But there are times and ways to do it without upsetting others.
Don’t use your phone in any setting where engagement and eye contact is expected, McCaskill said. So that means keep your phone down during group meetings, one-on-ones, interviews, presentations and even in casual conversations with colleagues. Review any emails or notes you may want to discuss meeting with someone beforehand. “You don’t want your co-workers to have questions about your respect for them or their work,” he said.
If you do need to pick up your phone to research something related to the discussion or handle something urgent, voice it so that others know what’s happening. A simple “let me look that up” can change people’s impression of what’s happening, Briskin said.
“Because they don’t know, others might assume you’re looking at Instagram,” she said. “If you don’t tell them, it’s up to them to decide or impose what they think you’re doing.”
Go old school
Don’t be afraid to keep your phone out of sight and out of mind — if you can still do your job that way. If your phone is within reach, it may prompt your compulsive response to pick it up even if you’re not consciously intending to do so.
Use your laptop for work communications to keep yourself from being tempted by your mobile apps and notifications. If you’re going to an interview, consider taking handwritten notes instead of digital ones to avoid unintentional bad impressions.
When in doubt “old school is a safe bet,” McCaskill said. “Sometimes that eye contact and a smile on your face can go far.”
