The Best Tips to Help You to Stop Using Your Phone on Your Vacation

When you go on a relaxing vacation in the Caribbean, you may have many reasons to want to use your phone. But, if you can find a way to disconnect from the constant usage of your electronic devices and the continual need to check messages and emails throughout the day, you could elevate your experience to a new level of serenity where you say “Wow, that's serene!”

In this brief article, I am going to give you the steps that you need to heighten your relaxation and successfully limit your phone usage during your tropical escape. In this way, you will be able to let go of everything going on back home and simply let yourself drift into optimum tranquility and inner peace. 

Sound good? Awesome. Let's begin!

Start by setting the limits

Being able to disconnect starts with a plan. No, not a phone plan. It is not enough just to say that you will use the phone less. You need to know what sorts of situations you will allow yourself to use the phone and what sorts of circumstances need to be a big “No-no”.

For example, if your work contacts you and requests help, will that be something you allow? What about if someone in your family wants to talk about a family matter? Is it OK to use your phone to take photos? (Yes, it is) Or, maybe a friend wants to follow up and see how your vacation is going.

There are no right or wrong answers to the limits that you set yourself. But these decisions do need to be made so that you can know beforehand how much phone time you are going to allow and what sorts of situations you will permit a place within your vacation. 

Silence the stress

Something that can be very important to pinpoint is the things in your life that cause you anxiety, stress, or distress (distress is ironically not the opposite of stress). This could be a certain person in your contacts (you know who this is), a group, or even just a newsfeed. Whatever the case, if there is something that will interrupt your tranquility and peace of mind or prevent you from saying “Wow, that's serene!” this is something that you need to isolate and remove for the duration of your retreat.

A simple way of doing this may involve silencing a social group or removing notifications from your phone. Get rid of the “ding ding”. But, you could also go as far as temporarily deleting an app or game until the end of your vacation period. (Yes, maybe even Candy Crush)

Take a break before you travel

Whilst you may think that cutting out the phone will be easy, most people in today's world use the phone as a regular part of their daily routine making it a very difficult part of life to give up straight away.

Instead of desisting one hundred percent on the first day of your vacation, it may be wiser and easier to try and slowly wean yourself off your electronic devices before the vacation even begins or start by adding smaller restrictions like not using your phone at dinner. 

Make your phone less inviting

The Caribbean is a beautiful paradise that is attractive and welcoming largely because of its vibrant hues and exuberant colors. But this is also what makes your phone so alluring. Yup, it's pretty. 

This is why, you may wish to try and make your phone slightly less captivating and colorful. Consider putting your color scheme into a grayscale mode so that everything appears dull and dreary in comparison to your gorgeous surroundings. When your mind sees the turquoise blues and emerald greens around you and then stares down and the less interesting black and white screen, it can be easier to disconnect from your device. 

Be reasonable with your usage

Letting go of your phone does not necessarily mean that you cannot look at it at any point during your vacation. In fact, when used correctly, it can be a useful tool that allows you to examine apps like The Excellence Collection App and more that can enhance your vacation experience. (I recommend downloading this. It's pretty helpful)

You also know that if there was an emergency back home and someone needed to reach you, that is likely more important than your vacation serenity. The goal also needs to be attainable so think carefully about what apps are essential and which ones are going to waste your vacation time. (Candy Crush can be played at home I promise)

If you spend 6 hours a day on your phone, it is not completely reasonable to assume you can just cut it out in a day. Maybe try and reduce it by an hour? Even though you might set yourself some limits, make sure that they are reasonable and do not take the joy away by being too extreme. 

Share your plans with someone

A private promise is easy to break. I promised myself that this blog would be short and now look at it. In the same way, you may plan to use your phone much less or not at all, but if you do not tell anyone then that plan may not hold as much weight in your mind. Add a tiny bit of positive peer pressure to your promise by telling a friend or loved one traveling with you and expressing your reasoning behind it.

This is especially effective if your reason for disconnecting is to spend more time with the people around you. It allows you to be more conscious of your use and it can also mean that you have an ally or team who can encourage you to let go of the technology and really enjoy the moment in your beautiful tropical surroundings. 

Then, you will put your phone down, take a deep sigh of relief and say “Wow, that's serene!”