Unplugged
On one day last week I accidentally left my phone at home. I sat at lunch time feeling a bit twitchy about not having it with me and not knowing what to do with myself. Then I thought this is silly, humans have lived without smartphones for the vast majority of their existence. Why am I addicted to my device?
This gave me an idea. This week, I limited my screen time to just thirty minutes a day. For the rest of the day my phone would be switched off. I know I spend far more time on my phone than is healthy. I'm endlessly scrolling through social media and news sites as well as filling time by playing inane games rather than doing something productive. I also find that my phone serves as a convenient barrier from having to actually talk to people, which perhaps doesn't serve my best interests.
According to an Ofcom survey, people in the UK check their smartphones on average every 12 minutes of the waking day. 40% of under 35s look at their phone within five minutes of waking up and 60% check their phones five minutes before they go to sleep. It turns out that a lot of people aren't happy about this either. 54% of people admit that devices interrupt face to face conversations with friends and family and 43% think they spend too much time online.
There's more scientific evidence that this is a problem too with multiple studies linking excessive smartphone use with depression and anxiety. Internet addiction is now considered a medical disorder that is in need of further research and has 'significant public health importance'. So would significantly reducing my phone use have any effect on my day to day life.
I already see an advantage on the first day when I don't end up wasting time in the morning looking at my phone. Once the alarms have woken me up I turn it off and find that I end up being ready and leaving the house on time, something which doesn't always happen when I'm wasting time looking on my phone.
On the second morning I feel particularly great. Our phones emit blue light and this wavelength of light affects levels of the hormone melatonin, which induces sleep. It also affects our body clock, the circadian rhythm. Blue light can cause a reduction in the total sleep time and diminished sleep quality by increasing the amount of times you awake during the night. When your circadian rhythm is altered you think, feel and perform below your best. I was aware that blue light was not good for you but thought little of it. But this week I've sleep better than I've done for years and it's helped my mood and energy levels to stay high.
Working in a school means I am not allowed to have my phone on during the day except when I am on my lunch break. Our staff room has poor reception so I often find much of the time I spend on my phone is just waiting for things to load so I wasn't going to waste any of my thirty minutes in this slot. On the first day this was problematic as I was having a late lunch and the staff room was empty. I did become a bit bored but I ended up getting a drink, something I fail to do regularly at work. During the rest of the week I had lots of conversation with colleagues, including a new one. The barrier of my phone wasn't present and whilst I do often chat in the staff room I felt like I wanted to do so more.
My main screen time is usually in the evenings between arriving home and going to bed. Most of my thirty minutes fell into this time this week and when I switched my phone on each day I found that I hadn't missed anything worthwhile. Having extra time before dinner meant I got lots of little jobs done which I'd probably otherwise had put off for ages.
Now I'm not saying that the week was perfect. There were plenty of times I yearned for my phone. Quiet moments during my lunch break and advert breaks in TV programmes are two examples where normally I'd be doing a brief scroll. But I was surprised to find how little I actually did miss using my phone freely. Doing this experiment was worth it for how fantastic I felt in the mornings compared to usual. It also lead to worthwhile conversations and getting things done which might not otherwise have happened.
I'm not going to stick to this strict regime but I think I'm certainly going to be more aware of my phone usage and reduce it, especially in the hours leading up to bedtime. I can't stress how positive a change it was to feel great morning after morning. Sometimes it's just nice to be unplugged from the world.
This gave me an idea. This week, I limited my screen time to just thirty minutes a day. For the rest of the day my phone would be switched off. I know I spend far more time on my phone than is healthy. I'm endlessly scrolling through social media and news sites as well as filling time by playing inane games rather than doing something productive. I also find that my phone serves as a convenient barrier from having to actually talk to people, which perhaps doesn't serve my best interests.
According to an Ofcom survey, people in the UK check their smartphones on average every 12 minutes of the waking day. 40% of under 35s look at their phone within five minutes of waking up and 60% check their phones five minutes before they go to sleep. It turns out that a lot of people aren't happy about this either. 54% of people admit that devices interrupt face to face conversations with friends and family and 43% think they spend too much time online.
There's more scientific evidence that this is a problem too with multiple studies linking excessive smartphone use with depression and anxiety. Internet addiction is now considered a medical disorder that is in need of further research and has 'significant public health importance'. So would significantly reducing my phone use have any effect on my day to day life.
I already see an advantage on the first day when I don't end up wasting time in the morning looking at my phone. Once the alarms have woken me up I turn it off and find that I end up being ready and leaving the house on time, something which doesn't always happen when I'm wasting time looking on my phone.
On the second morning I feel particularly great. Our phones emit blue light and this wavelength of light affects levels of the hormone melatonin, which induces sleep. It also affects our body clock, the circadian rhythm. Blue light can cause a reduction in the total sleep time and diminished sleep quality by increasing the amount of times you awake during the night. When your circadian rhythm is altered you think, feel and perform below your best. I was aware that blue light was not good for you but thought little of it. But this week I've sleep better than I've done for years and it's helped my mood and energy levels to stay high.
Working in a school means I am not allowed to have my phone on during the day except when I am on my lunch break. Our staff room has poor reception so I often find much of the time I spend on my phone is just waiting for things to load so I wasn't going to waste any of my thirty minutes in this slot. On the first day this was problematic as I was having a late lunch and the staff room was empty. I did become a bit bored but I ended up getting a drink, something I fail to do regularly at work. During the rest of the week I had lots of conversation with colleagues, including a new one. The barrier of my phone wasn't present and whilst I do often chat in the staff room I felt like I wanted to do so more.
My main screen time is usually in the evenings between arriving home and going to bed. Most of my thirty minutes fell into this time this week and when I switched my phone on each day I found that I hadn't missed anything worthwhile. Having extra time before dinner meant I got lots of little jobs done which I'd probably otherwise had put off for ages.
Now I'm not saying that the week was perfect. There were plenty of times I yearned for my phone. Quiet moments during my lunch break and advert breaks in TV programmes are two examples where normally I'd be doing a brief scroll. But I was surprised to find how little I actually did miss using my phone freely. Doing this experiment was worth it for how fantastic I felt in the mornings compared to usual. It also lead to worthwhile conversations and getting things done which might not otherwise have happened.
I'm not going to stick to this strict regime but I think I'm certainly going to be more aware of my phone usage and reduce it, especially in the hours leading up to bedtime. I can't stress how positive a change it was to feel great morning after morning. Sometimes it's just nice to be unplugged from the world.
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