Phone chronicles (cont'd)
A week in and all is well
So, I accomplished something this week that I almost didn’t think was possible. I’m not one to brag, but getting my weekly screen time report this morning definitely had me feeling I had accomplished something that I thought may have been impossible a couple of weeks prior.
The most time I remember having on my report, since paying attention to it, has been around 10 hours per day, per week(!) Getting that number down to just over an hour and-a-half per day is amazing and I’m really proud of myself for achieving this.
My only goal in changing my phone and online habits was making myself feel better, both physically and mentally. I didn’t have a number in mind, but seeing what a difference just a week of changing my mindset and most importantly, following up with actions can make has really made me see things differently and understand more about myself.
So, what was going on before, you ask?
Well, like a lot of us, particularly artists, a good portion of my daily life revolves around maintaining an online presence: posting, responding to dms, looking for opportunities to show or network and checking out what colleagues are up to. Checking to see what friends, family, lovers, potential lovers, freniemies are up to, as well.
There’s looking out for news and keeping up with current events, which can lead down rabbit holes of distractions, seeing what the latest atrocities are and who we need to cancel or uplift, the list goes on.
The gobs of anxiety-producing information along with recurring trauma responses to horrific events happening simultaneously is overwhelming. Conversely, there are the distractions from all of the horrible stuff that keeps us more locked into scrolling while hours tick by. We scroll through feel-good TikToks, reels, look for the latest memes on our feeds and just about anything to get away from the constant barrage of negativity we witness online, often in real time.
We become addicted to getting dopamine hits of attention, while also having our nervous system triggered by abusive and trolling comments, misinformation, disinformation and trying to prove to trolls and increasingly, bots just how fucking wrong they are.
What we don’t notice along the way is how being involved in the constant cycle of being fed our algorithmically curated images and information is negatively affecting us.
For me, the large chunks of time on my phone manifested in headache-inducing eyestrain, anxiousness that led to poor sleep and having my mental and emotional health compromised in ways that I wasn’t able to really see until recently.
I would wake up too early, not able to get back to sleep easily and my mind would start racing with anxious thoughts about any number of things going on in my life. Most of it was hyped up in my head and not entirely reflective of the truth, but my mind exaggerates things, especially when there’s nothing else occupying it. I’d pick up the phone to distract myself and would be on it for another two or more hours, making the rest of the day a slog to get through because of lost sleep. I’d also be on it for two or more hours after getting into bed and of course throughout the day. It also affected my art-making to a certain degree.
Above: early morning beach time in Holbox, Mexico, summer 2023
It’s only been a week for me, but here’s what I’ve done to make my life with my phone a bit more balanced:
My phone is banished from the bedroom over night and left to charge in an adjacent room. Not having it right next to me on the night stand makes it harder going online at a moment’s notice.
Instead of scrolling before bed, I’ve taken to watching a movie or show episode to fall asleep to if I need to relax a bit. I’m going to try reading before bed this week. Usually, by the end of the day, I don’t have enough capacity to concentrate on reading, but we’ll see how it goes.
New morning routine: after waking, I make mental notes about what I want to accomplish that day and get out of bed soon after and not linger. I’ll check the phone to what time it is, but not again until after breakfast. When breakfast is over, I’ll look through emails on my laptop to avoid using the phone screen and get on with my day.
During the weekdays, I’m usually in the studio and will use my laptop and/or desktop to deal with online communications and tasks.
I’ve cut out habitually checking the phone every moment there’s possible downtime, like waiting for a bus, when I’m watching tv or there’s a lull in grocery shopping with my girlfriend. When I’m unthinkingly reaching for my phone, I snap myself out of it by saying to myself that there’s no reason to check it now.
So far, so good. In just a week’s time, I feel SO much better. My sleep has improved remarkably, I feel much, much more present and my mental clarity is better than it’s been in a long time.
I don’t know if my method of going this hard-core is for everyone because I know we all have different uses for our phones and use them a lot for work and business, but so far, my method has been working for me. I used to think that I had my phone usage under control, but obviously I didn’t if the changes I’ve seen so far are any indication. I’m really excited about how things have gone so far, looking forward to seeing how it all goes.
Thanks for reading and if something I’ve shared here is of some use or if you have your own suggestions or solutions to phone overuse, leave a comment!
The curse of the phone. I too have been working on this and getting better sleep. I just listened to this pod on some good phone habits by two artists that I am going to try. https://open.spotify.com/episode/18lybvqq69AfYlmAyQFfLq?si=6e3a1b0b70084cb7
Good luck, Tim! It's a battle!