Technology is supposed to work for us, not the other way around, but it's surprisingly easy to become glued to your smartphone. And why not? Everything you need to know or want to do online has an app nowadays. While your phone can be useful for important things like checking the latest news or getting directions, you don't have to be permanently attached to the screen.

So here are 4 things that you can do to cut down on the amount of time you spend staring down at your phone.

1. You don't have to respond right away. Not every text, email, or tweet that you receive has to be answered immediately. The beauty of having that kind of text-based messaging is that you don't have to respond right away. It'll still be there when you want to check it later, like at your computer at home or at work. If your phone is geared to sending you notifications every time you get activity on your social media account or a new email, you can further protect yourself from anxiously checking your phone for updates by disabling notifications.

2. Take a day off from your phone. We all share a common fear of being locked out of the loop on big news and developments throughout the day, but it's more likely that we spend more time on our phones looking up mundane or tiny details that we share online. If you want to take a day off, you can do one or two things. The first solution is to simply switch off your phone and leave it in your pocket or your nightstand. The other option is to set your phone on "airplane mode," so that you switch off all the wireless apps that keep you addicted.

3. Put your phone away long before you go to bed. According to research published in The Scientific American, being exposed to bright screens from our phones and computers can disrupt our natural sleep habits. If you want to ensure that you get a good night's rest, resist the temptation to use your phone right before you go to sleep. Give yourself anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour off the phone and the computer before you go to bed.

4. Don't rely on your phone as your middleman to the world. When was the last time you saw a really cool event taking place in public and didn't snap a picture or video of it? Or how about the last time you didn't have to immediately type something into your search engine because you could? When your first reaction to anything is to pull out your phone, you know you're becoming too reliant on it. While you can still use your phone for pictures and looking up information, ask yourself if you really need to take a picture or look something up on Google before you do it. If the only reason you can come up with is, "I'm bored," then try to think of something else to do.

With practices like these in place, you'll spend less time looking down at your phone and more time looking up at the larger world.

Image by woohoo_megoo on Flickr