Having Self Control in Phone Usage

I remember going into my neighbours room about a year ago after calling out to him and his roommate but no response. The door was open so I knew they were in or left and forgot to lock the door so I decided to confirm and act fast if need be. It was very early in the morning at about 6.30am.

On getting in, I saw both of them awake, lying down in bed but pressing their phones. They were so engrossed in what they were doing with each phone that they did not notice me come in. I calmly brought out my phone and took this picture below then turned around and left and they didn't notice.

I was shocked but not so surprised because I had already seen how dependent we are on our phones nowadays. It's like a plague affecting virtually everyone who owns a phone.
The phone is the first thing most people pick up in the morning and the last thing they touch just before they sleep.

I am not an exception though as I use my phone as often as many people do. Somehow, most of my tasks are linked to my phone that I just have to use my phone very frequently.
As a result, if the phones battery begins to go down especially if there is power outage, I begin to worry and plan how to charge my device.

Despite this reliance like most people, I can actually spend a lot of time away from my phone if I wish but I rarely wish, lol.
If I have a task to do, a deadline to meet or anything of that sort, I usually place my phone aside and face the task ahead. I could ignore the phone in such circumstances and only pick it up if I have a call or need to confirm something from the dictionary or web.

I know that part of my reliance on the phone is because a whole lot of things are now inside the phone. Things like dictionary, text books, alarm clock, even my random personal notes are now written inside the phone.
This makes it difficult to do away with the phone because a simple need to confirm a spelling or meaning of a word gets you to pick up the phone, to check time or confirm the date of an event requires you to pick up the phone too.

It's only normal to use the phone the way we do but care must be taken to see that it does not interfere with your situational or environmental awareness like my friends I talked about in the beginning.

We must try to avoid incorporating more distractions to a phone or at least put limits. Imagine being so engrossed to your phone then you add an earphone or ear plugs thereby cancelling even environmental sounds.
It's like adding fuel to fire.

We should be able to forsake the phone and embrace other aspects of our life as much as possible without feeling empty or naked because of the absence of a phone.
It may be difficult at first for those who already have the habit but with intentionality, it would get better.