Don't allow your phone to get "pushy"

So today was the first day of my new regimen of only having 1 Hour Of Technology a day (watching movies and e-reading excluded). Things went well, but only because I had made the proper preparations last week.
Yes, it took an several hours over the span of several days to be able to get to the point that I wouldn't be disturbed by my technology every 15 minutes. There were several things that I did that I will elaborate on throughout this week, and it wasn't long before I was seeing some real breakthroughs. 
The first, and probably most significant, that I would like to share with you today is getting a grip on your cell phone. Thanks to the way of things, most of us have smart phones now-a-days (with "dumb" phones being difficult to find). And though this is good for those who need to get our emails, quickly we start downloading apps, games, receiving notifications of status updates, and before you know it- it is hard not to go half an hour without looking at your phone.
Don't get me wrong... it certainly is nice to have something to do while you are waiting for your friend to come along and join you for coffee, or to check up on things while you are waiting as the 10th person in line at that store- you know the one. It has 25 checkout isles and only 5 that are open. Yeah, that one. But in all reality, things can get out of hand real quick. You go from checking whatever it is that the phone notified you about, to the next thing you know... you are taking a photo and posting it to Facebook with a silly comment while you are going down the highway (let's not mention how fast) in the rain {**meekly raise my own hand- guilty as charged}.
So here was the first, and most dramatic change I made last week (and the ramifications were tremendous)- I turned off ALL the notifications being displayed on my phone with the exception of phone calls and texts. No more "pushing" statuses and tweets. No more email chimes. No more being constantly in a digital loop and slave to my technology. Now that I am not getting every last thing pushed in front of my face, when I talk with people, I get a truly rich experience of hearing and seeing it from the source and not some 3 inch screen. 
The only thing that I have needed to be disciplined enough not to do, is constantly check these things manually on my own. But with having times I know I will be in front of a computer tends to help me shy away from pulling my phone out of my pocket every 15 minutes.
Let me challenge you: Don't let your phone get away with cyber bullying. Try it for a week and see how different your day becomes. Turn off ALL your phone notifications except your calls and texts. 

---