3 ways to keep your iOS devices out of the bedroom

The Wall Street Journal published a piece this week on how there are an increasing number of people working from their beds – and in the wee hours of the morning to boot.
The glow of screens lighting up people’s faces can actually cast a shadow on their productivity and health over the long haul. Side effects can eventually become permanent effects, and that’s definitely not a good thing.


If you find that you’re either one of the increasing amount of people that are spending time in bed with your iOS devices (or any devices, really) or are trying to break that habit, there are a few things you can do to help you out along the way. These three tips may seem unconventional and almost punishing, but in many cases that is what it will take to keep the gadgets out of your bedroom so that you can spend time in there doing what you should be doing.
(Which, by the way, is the furthest thing from work.)

1. Don’t use your smartphone as your alarm clock

I figured I’d get this one out of the way right off the bat because it might not be the most obvious – and it very well could be the toughest thing to do.
Many of us have replaced our traditional alarm clock with apps on our smartphones. It’s one of the easiest things we can do and there’s a variety of choices on all of the platforms out there. By using those apps, you’re keeping the phone with arm’s reach of you while you’re in bed, running the risk of you picking it up regardless of whether it’s time for you to wake up or not.

2. Shut your bedroom door at night

Keeping the alarm clock and ditching the alarm app is just one way to fend off the urge to work while in bed. But if you keep alerts on and have easy access to your devices from wherever you are keeping or charging them, then jumping out of bed to respond to them or deciding there’€™s time for one more email means that you need to put some obstacles between you and your gear. And the biggest obstacles you can put in front of you is a door.
The door is a pretty big obstacle, and it can act as a clear reminder that you need to head back to bed and get some solid sleep. A shut door can help you get that shut-eye.

3. Turn off the router

This is pretty drastic, but sometimes necessary. Turning your router off before you hit the sack at night will keep you offline even when you want to go online. That doesn’t mean you won’t have access to cellular service, but with every other obstacle set up in your way you’ll be receiving a mental checkup every time you bypass one for another.
It’s those mental checkups that will push you to the point of where turning off your router isn’t necessary.
In fact, it’s those mental checkups that will do their part in making sure that doing work in bed isn’t necessary either.

Photo credit: Skyriser/Lix (CC BY 2.0)