If you are like me (and just about everyone else on the planet), technology has become your best friend. It can do anything: find answers to life's most intriguing questions, connect you with friends both near and far, and help keep track of life's responsibilities. I realized, however, that my trusty, pocket-sized sidekick is becoming troublesome and abusing our relationship.

All day, every day, my reliable friend was constantly getting my attention. He would buzz and show me what John Doe said in a group message, he would buzz and remind me of a meeting I have in three days and whenever I would have a break and check all his apps, they would be adorned with red bubbles and banners, alerting me to information that I truly did not care about.

I would find myself spending hours a day skimming social media and reading miscellaneous articles like this one. I would pull out my phone to respond to texts message and then be lost in a series of lifehack videos and Vines that I have seen ten times already. I knew something had to be done, our relationship was consuming me.

As I walk around my everyday life, I see people in the same position I was once in. When things get quiet or they get bored, their own technological parasite slips into their hands and shows them the newest Tweets from the White House. I'm not condemning people for using phones at all. I still rely on my phone for several parts of my life, but if you are looking for a way to disconnect a little bit, I have a few things that worked for me that I would like to share.

1. Turn Off Notifications & Check Your Phone At Set Times

A common practice by busy adults is allocating time during the day to check emails and messages. While this may work for them, as a busy college student that plays a major role in various organizations, I need to know what is going on.

For me, I go through my phone and turn off notifications for any apps that do not need to notify me. Once that's done, I go into specific apps and turn off miscellaneous notifications that do not affect me. For example, I do not care if an obscure friend from middle school poked me on Facebook, so I turned off notifications for 'pokes'. Cutting off certain types of notifications cuts down on the times that your phone forces you to check it.

After turning on only the necessary notifications, it is time to decide on times to check them. For me, those times are in-between classes and when I take a break from homework. Otherwise, my phone sits in my pocket or in my backpack.

2. Clean Up Social Media Pages

Oh look, it's that obscure page you started following four years ago that only posts recycled memes. Get rid of it.

When you use social media, actively trim it down while you scroll every once in a while. If you come across a page that you do not need to follow, unfollow them; if there is someone with whom you do not need to be connected anymore, unfriend them. The more you can declutter your social media, the less often things can suck you in if you go to check a notification.

3. Put Your Phone Literally Anywhere Else

Remember, YOU pay money for your phone and YOU decide when to use it. It is YOURS. It will not magically grow legs and crawl back to your hands either. If you need to focus or just really want to focus on a task at hand, put your phone in another room for an hour--just an hour. Leave it on vibrate so you can hear it, however, just in case there is an emergency. Remember, your phone is an object. It cannot control you.

4. Acknowledge Wasteful Scrolling Times

I realized that I would spend hours mindlessly scrolling through social media while watching The Office. Hours. One day, I took a step back into the Ethereal Plane and concluded: I have done nothing, nothing productive has come of this, and I have no idea what I am even doing. It is easier said than done, but if you find yourself mindlessly scrolling, put your phone down, get up, and do something else. It is incredibly easy to slip into a scrolling funk, but being able to consciously stop and do something else can be liberating.

5. Maintain A Planner & Calendar IRL

Most smartphones can be optimized for a productive person through a calendar or reminder app. But for the chronic phone user, those "productivity" apps can be gateways to unproductivity. It is easy to pull out your phone to check for upcoming assignments and somehow find yourself eight pages deep on Reddit. While it may be more cumbersome to carry around a physical planner and calendar, it can help you break away from the screen but still keep a grasp on life.

6. Do Business Face-To-Face

Being a major part of a few organizations, having a job, and meeting a crap-ton of people across the state, having a phone and social media are vital to keeping in touch with everyone. However, if some of those people are just down the road, pay them a visit. If you have business to discuss with someone, seek them out and do it in person. Speaking with people face-to-face is not only quicker but easier (unless there is some social anxiety, then that can make things difficult).

I hope these few tips can be the start of helping those with smartphones glued to their hands disconnect and be a part of the real world around them. It will not only help them, but also their friends and loved ones. You do not want your precious time on this planet to be spent in an unhealthy relationship with your smartphone.