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Do you want to have a healthier relationship with your phone, tech, the internet and social media? According to Uswitch, the average UK adult spends almost half of every day in front of a screen. So, how can we get a better balance?

Emma Gannon is an author, speaker and host of the award-winning podcast Ctrl Alt Delete. Her new book (Dis)connected: How to Stay Human in an Online World is a manual for how to form a healthier relationship with technology. She joined Emma Barnett on Woman’s Hour to discuss why she felt the need to write this book and she offered some of her best advice on how to unplug.

“In my twenties I wrote a book called Ctrl Alt Delete about my love affair with the internet. I was very giddy. I could earn money from home. I felt very empowered. I’m now in my thirties and I’m looking at how much I’m addicted, how much of my personality is probably my virtual self. I’m trying to ‘get myself back’ in many ways and have a discussion more importantly.”

“The algorithms have formed so much of my taste over the last few years. Spotify was telling me what music to listen to, Amazon was telling me which books to buy, I was buying clothes because bloggers were recommending them. We are trapped in this world of advertising and I’m trying to take a step back.”

So, how can we step back and create a better relationship with technology and social media? Emma shared her advice for those who feel like they are constantly scrolling.

“I’m not a massive fan of digital detoxes. I think we’ve been made to become reliant on these things, and apparently now we’re meant to be able to take a month off and go to a cabin and not need them. We need to find a middle ground. How do we take mini detoxes every day?

“We don’t have to be made to feel guilty all the time. We need these tools. If you’re a single mother with three children, I’m sure you’re probably on your phone a lot because you’re doing the food shop and you’re booking doctors’ appointments. It’s more about how we can have moments in the day for ourselves. You don’t have to be perfect. You just learn along the way.”

“Try to have an active approach instead of a passive one. Every time you pick up your phone ask yourself if you're using it for a reason (for example, doing the food shop, sending an email or finding inspiration) or whether you are just scrolling because you're bored. Try to eliminate passive doom scrolling wherever you can by being aware of it.

“We need to find a way of separating ourselves and not using technology for everything. What can we incorporate from the past that we loved into the future, and help us to slow down a bit as well? You know, a third of adults have fallen out with someone after misreading a text. So we’ve got to make sure we do actually talk to people and have more phone calls or leave more voice notes.”

“Just as you would clear out the fridge or clear out the attic, have a look at your feeds and see what you'd like to bin, mute or block. It’s amazing that the minute you mute or hide something that’s been bothering you, it really is gone. Out of sight, out of mind.

“You are in charge of how you use your phone. It's time to take back some accountability. We get to decide on the changing relationship we have with our phones.”

“When we see something that troubles us online, we can go into fight or flight mode and our brain thinks we are in trouble. For example, if you get a death threat online, our bodies think it’s real, because it is. It’s as if someone said it to you in the pub.

“Notice if you’re feel anxious or if your breathing is shallow and find more ways in the day to get back into your body and breathe. Go for walks. Go to the cinema. Turn your phone off and meet up with a friend. Reach out to people you haven’t spoken to for ages and get off Twitter.”

“Do you Google yourself, or scroll through your own photos on Instagram? We’ve all been there, but it’s now been given a word by Elias Aboujaoude, author of Virtually You. If you find yourself ‘narcisurfing’, be aware that your online self isn’t the full you, only an extension of you.

“Your inherent worth doesn’t come from pixelated likes or thumbs up. You get to decide that you’re enough already.”

“It can take 25 minutes to get back into a task once you've been interrupted and most notifications are not urgent, such as a ‘like’ on Instagram from your second cousin twice removed.

“You can set up a priority system so an urgent email from your boss makes a particular noise and everything else is silent. Free yourself up from the constant pings and dings and see how it can positively change your mood.”

Listen back to the full interview with Emma Gannon on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sounds, where you can also catch up on any episodes of Woman’s Hour you may have missed. Or join the conversation @bbcwomanshour on and .