Popular wisdom has it that procrastination is the thief of time, but I would demur. That title, I believe, goes to the mobile phone or more specifically, those platforms that give us ‘free’ services to contact friends and entertain ourselves.
This thought is not especially new. Yet, it was brought forcefully to my attention when one day last week (which was admittedly my birthday), I’d managed to spend three hours on my device, most notably on WhatsApp. As someone who rarely knows the location of my phone and who has all notifications turned off, I was horrified. I don’t remember being on my phone that much. In fact, if asked, I’d have said I was only on it for a little while to reply to the lovely greetings. And that was the most disturbing part. It was an invisible thief who had stolen these precious hours from me.
Time lost
It was embarking on The Artist’s Way (https://whenlifegivesyoulemons.blog/treading-a-new-path/) that highlighted how little time I have to spare. Now, I need to find an extra 40-60 minutes for writing each morning, plus a weekly two hours for my artist’s date. I ran through my day and found very few minutes unaccounted for. Unwilling to ditch my students or my work for Citizens Advice, or attempts at learning Ukrainian, I was struggling to see where this time could be ‘found’. Then I randomly looked at my screen time. Result. That was where those lost hours were lurking.
You may like to look on settings to see your screen times. Are they more or less than you expected?
My goal is to reduce my screen time to around 30 minutes per day, allowing for longer times when there are special occasions like birthdays or celebrations. Since the average use of an adult in the UK is around two hours, and in the US up to twice that, this seemed like a reasonable compromise between remaining social and remaining sane.
Time regained
Phones, and the many platforms we use on them, were created with the specific intention of getting us on-line and staying there; enabling the ‘free’ service to mine our data or sell us goods. Designed with the same ingenuity as a casino, they quickly turn us into dopamine addicts, waiting for the next notification, ‘like’ or challenge. For a full and fascinating discussion of this subject, I urge you to read this excellent article from Harvard: https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/dopamine-smartphones
So what can we do to foil such ingenuity? Here are some tricks we can employ to place our phones back in their proper role: as a wonderful device which connects us to friends and the wider world but that doesn’t annex our life.
- Remove all your apps. Yes, Wordle is great fun, but it leads to Quardle and then to posting your scores on Facebook or comparing with contacts on WhatsApp. What starts out as a entertaining five minute time filler, ends up a daily obsession. As for anything like Candy Crush and other games, I think you know where they lead.
- Consider whether your message is a call for approval or an exchange of information. So often when we post, we are actually hoping for an ego boost. How many people reply? How many likes do we receive? Are people showing sufficient interest/awe/envy at our or our family’s achievements? This kind of communication ultimately benefits none – least of all the writer, who may not get the verification they crave and in place of joy, feel deflation. Instead, enjoy the natural boost we all receive from connecting with others in a mutually respectful and friendly way.
- Is a text the right way to express this? Few of us enjoy long texts and fewer read them carefully, so if you have something important to say, deliver it via email or even better by letter.
- Misunderstandings Predictive text often leads to hilarious comments, but texts in their brevity also invite misunderstandings. I try not to convey anything of importance this way-not least because I often forget to hit send.
- Telephone times The best way for me to restrict the siren call of my phone is to establish clear times that I will look at it. I’ve decided on first thing in the morning, lunch and after dinner. No-one is likely to feel neglected with such a small interval and I can reply in one session rather than dozens of distracting ones.
- Make the phone less attractive Like those slot machines in Las Vegas which vie for your attention with flashing lights and garish colours, mobiles too are designed to lure your eye. There are two ways to resolve this: dim the screen and change to grayscale. The latter is quite tricky to work out, so I’ve linked this handy guide to show you how to do it. https://www.wired.com/story/grayscale-ios-android-smartphone-addiction/#:~:text=If%20you’re%20using%20an,appears%20as%20the%20top%20option.
Time is on your side
What I am hoping is that by reducing my screen time, I shall be opening opportunities for creativity and valuable nurturing time. I’m not there yet. This week’s average is 51 minutes per day, but it’s progress.
Even if we only shave an hour a day off our usage, that would give us an extra seven hours a week. That’s enough time to read a novel; spend an hour on creative activities; make a delicious evening meal each day or do whatever it is we would like to do but never find the time for. We are unlikely to ever regret not spending enough time on social media, but I think it very likely that we may regret not spending enough on fulfilling our desires.