[shameus_o'reaaly]

I was in the market for a new phone since my current one isn't under warranty any more and sucks to use-I looked at a smartphone/iphone since I'm doing stuff with ebay and wanted to do more online dating, but I think I'm pretty scatterbrained as is-most of my monthly phone bill comes from reading dilbert strips and personal emails while at work. If I could run my ebay storefront and troll for dates I doubt I'd get much done.

It would be handy to cruise Tinder and respond to customers, but for those of you who have a Apple or Android, are your jobs/studies slacking off while you spend time on your smartphone? How do you combat this?

[MikeS]

My smartphone (Galaxy Note 3) is a tool, not a time waster. Whenever I do end up wasting time in front of technology it's usually the web browser on my PC - even with a 5.5" screen on my phone that's still too small for me to get sidetracked with long web browsing sessions.

Primary things I use my phone for on a typical day or week:

- Amazon Kindle app (I do most of my book reading on either my phone or my 7" tablet, the phone screen is large enough that I don't miss my tablet for full page text reading when I don't have it with me - which these days is never except for on vacations)
- Camera (and basic photo and video management and automatic backup, currently using Google Photos for cloud backup)
- Voice recording
- Google Maps
- Note taking (cloud based apps like Google Keep and Evernote so I can easily share notes with my other devices, including PC)
- Necessary or useful web browsing
- Sports Tracker GPS tracking for hiking trips
- Google Translate
- Some minor sketching in Sketchbook Pro with the Note 3 pen (part of getting started on a creative hobby, I have a drawing tablet and software for my PC as well)
- Basic apps and features like reminders, calendar, calculator, alarm etc.

[TonyD]

I hate being so connected, but it is a necessesity of my job. I always tell people that I am working towards one day having no phone. When I started to realize that I was spending too much time on the phone, I created some rules.

• The device is turned off at 10 pm
• The device is turned on no sooner than 9 am
• The settings are configured to allow certain alerts/alarms at certain times (My Nexus 6 is great for this, as I can configure a few different set-ups/modes)
• I do not have any time-wasting apps on the device. Useless apps are deleted or hidden (i.e. Facebook, Games)
• I use only one panel, and place the necessary icons on that panel. I find that using multiple panels gives me a reason to fill them with useless, time-wasting apps
• I only keep my business e-mail, contact list, and calendar synched with the device. Personal e-mails, etc. are not configured
  

These rules have helped me keep my head out of the phone.

[ovo]

Remove the clutter (mobile games, facebook, twitter) and stay disciplined to only use it for work/study purposes. IMO this will work on any phone be it an Android or Apple.

[Agreddor]

Androids are too complicated to use. Iphones are more user friendly

[Mike0060]

I found it useful to remove the facebook app but keep facebook messenger itself. The ability to communicate with people is important. Knowing what everyone is posting is not so much for me. Checking instead once every 3 or 4 days or 5 minutes is more efficient.

TonyD made some real good points. Minimize time wasting and don't stay up every day late on your smart device or you'll run a sleep deficit everyday. (Not good for anyone)