Avoiding This One Common Habit In The Morning Can Change The Trajectory Of Your Entire Day
Evgeniia Primavera | Shutterstock Chances are, you check your phone when you wake up in the morning. According to a 2026 survey, 86% of Americans check their phone within the first 10 minutes of waking up in the morning. But maybe that's a habit we should all be breaking.
Mornings truly set the tone for how the rest of your day is going to go. The way you start your day and the headspace you're in can be the difference between a spring in your step and chaos. There's a reason for that, waking up on the wrong side of the bed, saying. Simply put, if you want to start your day off right, let the phone be the last thing on your mind, not the first thing you reach for.
Avoiding looking at your phone first thing in the morning can change the trajectory of your entire day.
In a Reddit post, a man explained that since he's stopped checking his phone right when he wakes up, he's noticed a change in how his day starts. He explained that he's always had a major issue with his phone taking up every extra second in his day.
"This morning I finally just left my phone at my bedside and got up to start my morning. Typically I’ve got my phone in my hand the entire morning, from the moment I wake up, I’m checking messages, Reddit, scrolling some YouTube, getting my fix," he admitted. Since he's stopped spending so much time on his phone in the mornings, he's noticed he's saving time getting ready and feeling a lot less rushed.
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As much as we hear that looking at our phones right in the morning isn't good for us, we all can't really help it. Once that phone alarm goes off, it's almost automatic to either check your text messages, look at your email, or just scroll aimlessly on social media. Experts have explained that avoiding your phone in the morning helps reduce stress and anxiety and also gives you more time to do healthier things.
Checking your phone first thing in the morning can sabotage your entire routine.
"Once the phone is open, it seems harmless to spend a few minutes scrolling. But it’s easy to get distracted by something negative that impacts our mood," pointed out psychology expert Pamela Rutledge. "Anger, frustration, and envy can cast a negative halo effect over the start of our day, undermining our self-confidence and making us more irritable, impatient, or depressed."
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Looking at the phone when you're first waking up just deprives you of getting mentally together for the start of the day. Instead of using that time to look at your phone, you could do something more productive, like reading, taking a walk outside, making a hearty breakfast, or even just sitting and stretching or meditating.
"Reclaim your boundaries. We often forget that we own our phones; they do not own us," Rutledge insisted. "Nobody needs to start the day with self-inflicted pain. Negative emotions lower productivity, decrease perceptions of energy, diminish cognitive capacity, and make us generally less pleasant to be around."
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
