6 Ways to Prevent Your Phone From Sapping Your Memory

MAKE INSTAGRAM REALITY 

People over the age of 40 who spent time with friends and family in the past week were more likely to rate their memory as very good or excellent, compared to adults who were more isolated. Having face-to-face interactions tests your intellectual and social skills in a way that messaging somebody online cannot.

SCREEN YOUR CALLS THE SMART WAY

Select Do Not Disturb mode, and then go to your phone’s settings. From there, you can allow calls from selected contacts. Doing this will let the most important notifications through, but will hide all of the rest until later.

PLAY HIDE AND GO SEEK… with your phone

Even catching a quick glance at a powered-off phone can reduce your ability to remember and pay attention. When it’s not important for you to have your phone, store it in a desk drawer because when you see your phone, your brain tries to resist the temptation to use it…which lowers your ability to think clearly. 

FORGET ABOUT THE “NOTES” APP

Do you remember that old fashioned device we used to use to remember things….a pen? Writing down important dates, quotes you want to remember, or significant notes led to better memory retention than typing electronically. Typing can be fairly mindless, but writing on pen and paper helps encode information to your memory.

SET RULES FOR MEETINGS

When you’re working on a project or interacting with other people, your brain depends on “working memory,” which is short-term recall for details that are important in-the-moment, but might not be so crucial in a few weeks. This allows you to cling onto new information and determine whether or not to keep it for long-term storage. When your brain is using “working memory” and your phone dings, this distraction could cause you to not be able to access the working memories later. So, set a rule to ban your device from meetings!

SET A BEDTIME FOR YOUR PHONE

During sleep, your memory is consolidated. So set a bedtime for your phone (try 1 hour before your bedtime) and charge your phone somewhere out-of-sight instead of your nightstand. This will help prevent you from taking a peek when you should be logging those zzz’s.