7 Healthy Steps to Live a Healthier Digital Life + Free Wallpaper for Your Phone

Guest Article by Elisabeth Freeman

This article includes steps to creating a healthier environment on your phone by keeping your apps minimal, organized with adjustments that will free you from your phone. These settings are based on my iPhone 6s and what I keep in here, what apps I use, how I organize them, and how I keep it all minimal for my digital wellbeing. 

Intro

Whether you're watching television, reading, working, or shopping — our domestic lives have completely gone digital. There was no warning, not even a gradual slope to provide the comfort and support to reduce the pain and ease our problems. A minimalistic-based phone gradually offers comfortable support, reducing neck and shoulder pain, eye strain, and easing sensory overload. It's a protective layer of love for our highly sensitive souls composed of a calm that adjusts your nervous system and keeps you cool.

My Story

At the beginning of this September, I experienced an intense sensory overload, likely due to my new digital lifestyle. In this post, I want to share my personal experience as a fellow HSP who came into some positive tools and tips through countless trials and errors. This journey helped me overcome digital addiction and transform my challenges into empowerment. I practically live online, and sometimes it feels impossible to get off the screen. Until one day, I had the most intense response from my nervous system. I can't even begin to describe the feeling. My nervous system felt shredded, and my energy level was through the roof that led to a whole month of sleeplessness. My body was trying to tell me something. It was prompting me to pause, breathe, check-in, reflect and listen to get to the root cause. So I sat down to write in my journal about this. Journaling is my favorite tool to exercise self-awareness and figure things out. The notes were very revealing—my phone was the issue. With urgency, I vigorously researched cell phone settings and found ways to reduce their overstimulating effects on our highly sensitive systems. I experimented on myself for a month and kept note of the tremendous results that inspired me to share my experience with you in a way I hope will help you too. In this article, I'm sharing the steps I took to reduce digital chaos that helped me overcome sensory overload by reorganizing my phone. 

Please visit Julie Bjelland's HSP blog post for a clear understanding of Sensory Overload and how it impacts you as a highly sensitive person (HSP)

The more I learn about the trait of high sensitivity, the more I realize that sensory overload has caused many of my challenges. When I'm in sensory overload, my system goes into shock. I get dizzy and nauseous. I can't process anything mentally. This healing journey inspired me to find and create gifts that could help other highly sensitive ones, including myself.

By the way, this process inspired me to create a calming wallpaper for our phones as a reminder to keep calm, so be sure to download it FREE for this practice here.

Let's get started with tips on how you can organize your phone and keep it minimal for your digital wellbeing.

Would you mind grabbing your phone?

Step 1: Use a Foldable Case

First of all, I have an iPhone 6s and a foldable case. Having a foldable phone case lessens the amount of time I use my phone and look at my phone, so I don't see my notifications as often. I don't get distracted by my phone as often, and in addition to protecting my phone, it is also lovely to have the phone screen covered. 

Step 2: Turn off Notifications

I want to share some things that I customized to set up my phone minimally and less destructively in this step.

Choose settings and enter notifications. I turned off a lot of reports for my apps, went through all the lists, and turned off notifications for the apps that gave me notices pretty often. Instagram and YouTube are also off for information. I believe something that you could do on your phone to make your phone just less distracting for you throughout the day. 

Step 3: Turn On the Do Not Disturb Setting

The other thing that I like to do is turn on the Do Not Disturb setting. You can do this whenever you want to by going into the shortcut and pressing the moon symbol. Still, I also schedule my Do Not Disturb from bedtime until morning time. I don't receive any notifications or calls on my phone. This is the time that I sleep. I don't want to be disturbed by any random texts or calls. Of course, you can customize this to allow calls from significant people like family or close friends. Still, I like to keep this on every day to keep my resting time peaceful, well-rested, and not be distracted or waken up during the middle of the night. 

Step 4: Adjust Display to Dark

One other thing that I like is the iPhone feature where you can go to settings to display in brightness and use you'll see the light or dark and turn on dark. Having a dark background and dark theme, in general, keeps the stimulation level low for me, so it's less stimulating for me to look at my phone. It's easier on my eyes when I use my phone. 

Step 5: Organize Apps with Widgets

Let's get into all the essential apps that I use. I organize many of my apps into folders, and I usually maintain them on two screens and two pages. The first screen is where I keep apps as widgets that I want to see to start the day with gratitude, inspiration, and positive thoughts. I made a Pinterest widget to display my vision board: calm trust. I fill this board with positive quotes and images that remind me of my goals and dreams and stay on course. 

On the same screen, I also have a widget of the Day One Journal that generates a prompt for me to write about each day. I like using it to brainstorm blog posts, ideas and generate various lists. I use the Day One Journal app for all my daily and work-related tasks. I take care of my tasks here and put down what content I want to create. Day one has been excellent for me to keep track of everything on business and work tasks.

Step 6: Organize Apps with Folders

Folder 1 Page 1

I keep the bulk of apps that I use very often in a folder labeled "Daily Apps." I want easy access to these apps that I do not find very distracting. I find them useful, and I need them quickly whenever I want. 

I have the calendar, and in this folder, I have the weather, another Google Calendar, which I use for my business and work purposes, and of course, reminders. I like to use reminders for grocery lists and things like that. Other settings include the built-in clock/timer app, which I use almost every day to meditate in the morning right after I wake up. These are my go-to apps on the first page, and at the bottom, I have my regular apps like the Google Map I use for travel or whenever I go outside. I use the Toggl app, a time tracking app, to keep track of everything I do for work and business because I freelance and do part-time jobs and create content. 

I put most of my apps in this first folder. I like to use folders because it's less distracting to see on the screen instead of having all the apps laid out. Too much information in front of you that you need to read and process in your mind makes you more impulsive, and you know it's so easy to click one app and get into the app. Still, it's less impulsive and less distracting for you when everything is in folders, especially if you have several pages in the folder. You have to get in there, swipe, and then click on the app. This process helps me become more purposeful and have more intention before using and opening a specific app. This helps me minimize the amount of time I am on the phone and be more mindful of my phone use. 

Folder 1 Page 2

I would also like to share the LastPass app. Last Pass is a great app to keep track and store all your passwords for online accounts or websites, and it can help you generate strong, secure passwords. It helps keep track of them and access them whenever you want, so you don't have to memorize all these complicated passwords. I think this is a must-have for me. 

I also use the email app Spark. I'm not particularly eager to use other email apps because they're a bit distracting. The way it's organized or displayed is not what I prefer, so I find that Spark is very streamlined. It's straightforward to delete emails or unsubscribe, so this is a great app that I use. I only have one email account on their email, so I don't look at my business email on my phone. I prefer to be on my computer and be intentional about when I check my email. I don't have any other business or work type of email on my phone.

Folder 2 Page 1

Getting into the second folder, I have a lot of audio and reading on the first folder page. I love listening to Julie Bjelland's HSP podcast because I learn a wealth of information about high sensitivity. I have the music app Musi. It is just another kind of music listening app where I can listen to YouTube audio. 

And the other app on this page is  Libby, a library app that I like to use with my local library. I love reading ebooks and also checking out audiobooks.

Folder 2 Page 2

In this folder, I have my financial and social media apps on the second page. Buddy is a budgeting app that I have used in the past. I might start using it again in the future. 

I have Instagram and YouTube because I like to educate myself and look at other videos, such as art-related videos and personal development videos. Instagram is a social media app that I'm active on, the most active outside of YouTube. I usually don't spend time on Instagram because I use it to post and share my photos, my stories and connect with people, especially on DM. I don't explore a lot of other different posts or scroll mindlessly. I like to use Buy Me A Coffee to post my blogs, vlogs, podcasts, send direct messages, daily prompts, and provide digital downloads for members-only. I use the Buy Me A Coffee platform to share my creations for HSPs and guided journaling to help HSPs find joy in journaling as a tool to practice self-awareness and overcome challenges. Please visit my page on buy me a coffee at the end of this article. There are many ways to support my work:

1. You can follow me without creating an account.*

2. You can become a member every month with exclusive member-only benefits.*

3. You can buy me a cup of coffee.*

*Please know that a portion of your contribution will help other HSPs in need.

Lastly, the Apps I have on this page are my message apps. I use WhatsApp to stay connected with my friends and family and Skype to connect with clients, so maybe these might be the most-used apps. I also use Mighty Networks because I'm an active member of the Sensitive Empowerment Community. I highly recommend joining this group if you're looking for positive tools and resources to help you overcome the challenges of being a highly sensitive person within a supportive community.

The iPhone App Library

I keep everything I don't use in the app library, a feature on the iPhone when you swipe left on the last screen. For example, I have a camera and calculator I keep there. I don't need that app anywhere else on the first or second page. 

That's all that I have on my phone. I try to keep everything minimal and get rid of apps that I haven't been using for a while. Now and then, I check and see what I can delete and what I'm not using because it's just a waste of space if I'm not using it. 

Step 7: Decrease Screen Time with Grayscale or Black and White

Still, I want to share some tips that may be helpful for you in terms of decreasing your screen time and being more intentional about your digital life. The first tip is to make things black and white. If you go to settings and accessibility and display again, you can see a color filter down here. If you turn this on, you can choose grayscale. If you have your phone on grayscale or black and white, then I find that it is significantly less distracting for people when they use their phones and less enticing. It's just less stimulating and even fun for you to be on your phone constantly if you want to minimize your time on your phone. You may want to try this out to see if it works or not. This adjustment encourages you to spend your time on your phone intentionally and not just for mindless consumption like scrolling or using your phone because you're bored.

Here are some more tips: 

• I highly recommend organizing things into folders, making it less likely to use your apps impulsively. It's just more clean and organized, of course, when you use your phone. 

• The next tip is to experiment with deleting some apps you often use or delete apps you don't use. Delete them because it's taking up space. To decrease your time on your phone and time on social media, I invite you to try deleting those social media apps on your phone for a week. See how you feel during that week and how that affects your mind and how that affects you emotionally. If you do need to have an app on your phone, then you can download it again. Still, I think it's nice to get over the fear and delete the app and see what happens. You might learn that it feels better without that app on your phone. 

So that's all I have for my phone. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and find it helpful. If you would like the video tutorial of this article, you can watch it when you become a member at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/findjij.

Would you mind connecting with me and letting me know what apps help you and what helps you minimize your screen time and phone use? 

You can connect with Elisabeth on the following sites:

Buy Me A Coffee: @findjij

Instagram: @findjij

Visit my Pinterest Boards: @findjij Essential Apps for HSPs Board, Vision Board

Website: Diary Of A Hungry Artist

Mighty Networks: Sensitive Empowerment Community

Thank you so much for reading this article.

---

Elisabeth Freeman is a highly sensitive Artist, Writer, and ESL Teacher from Upstate N.Y. In her joyful journaling journey, she hopes to shine a light on the bright side of journaling. It has been an insightful navigation tool in her personal life to acquire self-awareness and personal development as an HSP. Through her practice, you'll learn the joy of journaling with its countless benefits. Perhaps you'll find new ways to journal and understand yourself better. In gratitude for your tremendous support, please accept some unique gifts she created to support you when you join her journey.♡

---