4 tech expert-backed tools to help you break your phone addiction (and take back your life)

SALT LAKE CITY — We spend a lot of time talking and worrying about our kids and their screen time. But more and more adults are starting to question their own phone habits and the impact those habits are having on sleep, focus and relationships. Sarah Kimmel, with Family Tech Zone, explained the chatter around adult phone use right now.

"All of these studies are coming out about how it's affecting teens and mental health and things like that," she explained. "Adults are looking at themselves and going, 'Oh, I think that's kinda me too.'" Kimmel shared four practical tools and simple strategies to help us reset our relationship with our phones and break phone addiction.

The "Space" App

Kimmel recommended downloading a phone use management app like Space. She likes this one because it helps you set goals for yourself and your screen habits. "Say I wanna unlock my phone less. It's going to say, 'Hey, you've unlocked your phone 50 times today. Are you sure you wanna unlock it again?'" she explained. She said you can set it to either go the hard route by completely limiting your ability to unlock your phone, or you can set it to just notify you.

Mindsight Personal Timed Lock Box

Kimmel introduced a physical way to lock your phone: a lock box. "It's a really old school approach but you set a timer on the lock box itself, you put your phone in there and then you cannot get it out if it is before that timeframe," she explained. She acknowledged that it is an intense method, but said it could be a good option for limiting teens phone use at home. "This also could be good for like, kids where you're like, 'Hey kids, put your phone in here for the night,'" she said.

The Wisephone

Kimmel said that there are simplified smart phones on the market. She introduced the Wisephone, which keeps functions like calling, texting and maps, but gets rid of everything else. "It's really a simplified version of a phone, so you're not wasting time on all these various apps," she explained. "It's just really, really simple." She said she prefers options with more oversight for kids, but for adults, this streamlined phone is a good way to set limits.

Look at Your Usage

Kimmel said to check your screen‑time use often. On Android, it's called Digital Wellbeing and on iPhone, it's called Screen Time. Taking a look at how much you used your phone at the end of a week can be surprising. "You can really look at your current usage ... your like, 'That's like two hours I really could have done something else with,'" she said.

Find more tech advice from Sarah Kimmel on Instagram, @familytech, or at familytechzone.com.