Celeb guesguestguest ‘We all need to set time limits on our smartphone obsession’

EVERY WEEK WE BRING YOU A BRILLIANT GUEST COLUMNIST THE TV S STAR AND BUSINESSWO BUSINESSWOMAN, 49, SHARES HER OPINIONS...

We are all a bit obsessed with our smartphones, aren’t we? I’m as guilty as the next person. I have mine on all the time and it’s even by my bed at night. So I wasn’t really surprised that a recent nationwide poll revealed that a New Year’s resolution for almost a quarter of smartphonemad Brits is to stop spending so much time on social media in 2019. I spend a lot of time on my phone – running a business, I want to be available 24 hours a day. The best tips, for me, are to set time limits for how long I spend on it and talk to people, rather than texting or emailing them. I’ve been trying to use my phone less at weekends. I do find it frustrating when I’m with someone and they are constantly checking their messages or social media. It makes you feel they are not valuing your time, or company, and would rather be alone with their phone. When I’m out, I always have the screen face down on the table, and switch it off if I’m in a meeting. No phones at the table would be my top rule for 2019 – but as my children, Sophia and Paolo, are 22 and 20 now, it might be a bit difficult to put that in place in my house!

We need to watch how much time we spend on social media, too. It can also be bad for mental health. We all like to feel connected – it’s that fear of missing out – but it can have a negative effect on young people and sucks them in. I think we all need to give ourselves a social media time limit and make sure we view Instagram with a little perspective.