“From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome.”                                                                                   The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus. 1883.

At 3 am the fire alarm went off at the hotel. Lights were flashing & sirens blaring & someone was yelling at us to evacuate, eVACUATE! Into the bag next to my bed I threw my rolodex, 4,799 photos, 2500 emails, credit cards, security system, GPS, TV, radio & some cat videos.  And my Bible & the New York Times & yes, you can read both.

As you’ve surmised, I grabbed my phone first & then my shoes & my Chico’s robe & then semi-patiently waited for my husband to get going. “Grab your phone”, I said, waiting at the door.

False alarm. Met some new friends, also in robes; mostly the robes the hotel sells. Fell back asleep & woke later in a bit of a panic because I couldn’t find my phone; the one I’d sworn I’d rescued. Working myself into a frenzy my husband calmed me by finding my iPhone in my tote marked Emotional Baggage. Whew. All was right in my world again.

But the smug feeling I’d had about being such a girl scout during the fire alarm was replaced by chagrin that being without my phone could leave me so rattled.

Thus, I’m developing a strategy for phone usage. Below, see my 9- step approach. It’s an experiment with an n of 1. 

My Strategy for Smart Use for Smart Phones by Julie Pauls for Atlas Posture, Inc,

1. Use your head. Your head weighs about as much as a ten-pound bowling ball. Avoid dropping your head down to use the phone.

2. Pace yourself. Even your heart rests — more than it works, typically. Try using the alarm feature to set intervals for optimal phone usage.

3.Notice your space. Notice yourself within the context of your surroundings. Don’t let yourself get drawn into the phone screen.

4. Ground yourself. Notice the contact you have with where you are sitting or standing. Find support for your whole self while using the phone.

5. Exhale. Notice if you are holding your breath. Let your shoulders move away from each other gently, like the east is from the west.

6. Help your hands. For texting, experiment with using a flat surface to support your hands and forearms  or resting the phone on a cradle or ledge.

7. Be non-sympathetic. Your sympathetic system; the fight, flight or freeze evoking part of your nervous system needs breaks. Review #1. Reboot yourself into the opposite mode, the parasympathetic mode, by putting your phone away and picking a calming, soothing activity (no, not with Pandora).

8. Judge not. Why does it seem wrong that everyone is always on their phone but when I’m on mine it’s really, really important?

9. Consider a vaca. Somehow, less than 10 years ago, I managed to live without a smart phone. But we’ve been together ever since. You go first and let me know how the no phone holiday goes.

Julie A. Pauls 4 ATLAS Posture®