June 1, 2024 – Tracking Phone Use Time

As mentioned in my previous blog post, I said goodbye to Twitter (metaphorically), reached a level of acceptance of no longer having an active PLN on social media, and made a commitment to detox myself from my phone use/addiction. I am following the steps as mentioned in the Guardian via Makari Espe’s YouTube post. I am engaging in Week 1 of this liberating adventure to get to things that are more important for me to spend my time and be more productive in the things that I do. And, I’m surprised that I made it this far into this 3-week challenge. Feels good.

I invited a friend (aka., my kid) to participate. Although she is interested and feels the same way as I do, she is not prepared to embark on this 3-week digital detox. No worries. The kid remains my accountability partner and I can share my success or failures with her as I learn how to step away from my smartphone (as if it was a security blanket). As you can see in the image above, I bought an alarm clock. It uses an AA-battery and tick-tocks loudly to let me know of its presence. I don’t mind that. The clock I had before had LED lighting. It was way too bright for me.

Although I can’t take a photo of my photo of my phone to show the speed bump I have chosen to utilize. I put a hair tie that my kid got for me a few days ago (for my hair) but I wrapped it around my phone. It’s brilliant. I thought it was to serve as a reminder, but really it’s a pain in the butt (meaning, you have to move the hair tie to see the screen). It’s awesome because it’s such a burden. I found myself with the hair tie around my fingers when I found myself in a death-scroll. Shocking, I know. The hair tie is not coming off. An interesting game, but it keeps me off my phone.

Calculating screen time is going to take me some time to figure out like they did on the video. The looked at their overall screen time and subtracted Apps that made them happy, so that time spent does not count in the overall screen time. I want to exclude Netflix (to binge on Bridgerton and Somebody Feed Phil), iTunes (for walking and car tunes), and the phone, FaceTime, and texting. My biggest time suck was Facebook (i.e., reels… aka., the app that enables the death-scroll). It was good to take a closer look at the numbers as evidence of my phone use (or misuse… LOL).

The goals I’ve set for myself needs to be goals I really, really want to do in lieu of phone time. I can put a lot of things down that “I should do” but what do I really want to do? I’m also a person of THREES. So, not too many goals that I get too distracted or overwhelmed by what my goals can/could be. My 3-goals meandered over time, but I’ve landed with these 3-goals: reading, writing, and walking. I also had cooking at home and being present listed, but these two goals are ongoing anyway, so why not focus on three goals that are activities I want to do more of.

THE RESULTS:

I never thought that I could do this… and this is week one. Although this day is not quite over, so the results will be somewhat skewed, my screen time decreased by 49% at an average of 2h 31min. Weirdly, this average includes last Sunday, which was the day I said goodbye to Twitter (even though I still post on the app) and decided to do a phone detox. Last Sunday, my screen time was 6h 1min (3h 38 min on social, 1h 7 min on entertainment, and 22 minutes on utilities). Today, my screen time is 1h 35 min (59 min social, 18 min creativity, and 7 min productivity). And, this week was convocation and Walk PG (aka., lots of pictures and posts).

Unlike the video, I have not figured out to calculate my screen time minus the apps that brings me happiness (i.e., photo, Netflix, Spotify, Kindle, audiobook, health). That said, my numbers are down. I am super happy. I do find myself attaching to my phone from time to time but now I notice (and can put my phone down). I am reading and writing a bit more. Walking, on the other hand, is a goal in progress. I look forward to jumping into Week 2: (1) delete apps, (2) turn off notifications; and (3) no phone in bedroom. What would my numbers look like next week? I have already deleted some apps and turned off notifications, but I will take it further.

I will start Week 2 tomorrow so that I don’t have “Sunday” to offset my week’s average. I am still learning what it means to be off my phone. I can see its benefits. I am more present and productive. I feel that having my phone out of my bedroom will be a game changer. My phone is/was often the first and last thing I would do each day, engaging in death-scrolling. As much as I like what I see, it don’t need to see it everyday and for hours each day. It’s almost better to take a nap or cook dinner. I took a book of my shelf and started reading it “leisurely.” I’m enjoying that. Truthfully, I’m finding my phone kind of distracting. LOL. Let’s see how this goes.