Do we Have an UNHEALTHY DEPENDENCY ON OUR PHONE?
We have been talking a lot about how much time (and wasted time) we spend on our phones and whether we even register the usage.
When I recognised how much of the day my eyes were sternly attached to my iPhone, I thought maybe.
From the second I woke up, to the moment I drifted back off to sleep in the evening I checked my phone on an “over” regular basis.
I was in denial.
‘I’m working’ was the excuse I played when questioned on the amount of time I spent glued to the screen.
It wasn’t until downloading the app ‘Mute‘ that I fully registered how much time I was killing and the results were staggering.
On average,
* I picked up my phone 40 times a day
* I couldn’t put it down for long, checking it every 30 minutes
* 3 hours of my day were spent searching and scrolling
* I stayed away from my phone for no longer than 2 hours
At the beginning of April, I finally declared that enough was enough.
‘Do Not Disturb’
I turned the phone off to enable me to switch off properly in the evening.
Each evening I would put my phone away at 7 pm and not look at it again until 7 am the next morning.
Usually, I would be quickly replying to an email, engrossed in a WhatsApp chat with girlfriends or aimlessly scrolling Instagram. I decided to be more present in the moment.
Time Spent Wisely
I questioned the use of my time.
Spending 3 hours on my phone a day was eye-opening.
Sure, I sent a few emails and used it whilst commuting to VA HQ, but did that warrant 3 hours?
Routines Spent Differently
Previously, at any given opportunity my head would be buried in my phone.
When I stopped, my routine shifted.
I read physical books without pausing each turn of the page to look at social media. I watched a TV series without missing scenes to check notifications.
What have we all decided?
To take more time for ourselves; scrolling through Instagram can wait.
Drastic as it sounds. I’ve accepted the notion that life does go on without a phone in hand.
