Less Phone, More Life

Editor's note: This was originally sent out in the newsletter on 12/06/17

Well as it turns out it is now December. Where did November go? You may have noticed that you did not receive any of these in November. My goal was to write one of these a week and clearly, I have failed on that for a few weeks. In the last newsletter, I wrote about trying, getting back at something when it doesn’t go well, so we will press forward. Also, I had asked you guys to help keep me at that and while I did hear from a (very) few of you, overall not so much. You can only blame yourself though.

The holiday season is upon us and as always it has put a number of things on my mind outside of the normal stuff; personal relationships, consumerism, a new year, general busyness, along with the regular life in general stuff. I have intentions to get into a number of these topics eventually but I am going to try and stick to one thing as best I can.

Technology is something that is very impactful to our lives, sometimes we see it, other times it infiltrates and we never even notice. One thing I have been trying to be more aware of is how much I use my phone. The amount of time we spend on our phones is crazy. Yes, the smartphone is absolutely a revolutionary product, it has changed how we interact with the world (for better or worse), but the habits it has created are not even noticed by most.

The attention we give to our phones can be a problem, we might not be listening to someone talking to us or not paying attention and walk into something. Even at times when you really don’t have to be paying attention, sometimes it is nice to look up and see whats going, maybe you are riding in the car and just not looking out the window. I have been trying to be more mindful of this, using my phone less when I am with people, especially with my kids.

The amount of time we spend on our phones is sort of shocking. When you see the real numbers it can be hard to believe. I would guess everyone’s estimates of it is much lower than it really is. I have been using an app called Moment to track the usage on my phone since June. Keep in mind this data is extremely useful but it is not 100% accurate. Especially on iOS where its a little bit harder to get into the system.

This has forced me to change many of my habits, I am more aware of every minute that my phone is unlocked, so instead of just setting it down while still open I always lock it. I am less likely to watch YouTube videos I come across if they are long, I will add them to my watch later queue and wait till I’m at a computer. The app also sends you notifications every 15 minutes of phone use. It is a nice feedback loop of the time spent and brings it to your attention. Especially since the notifications only come when you are actively using the phone.

It has helped push me in the right direction. My numbers are down in minutes per day and percent of waking hours usage. The habits I’ve formed since having this app has helped push them down. I do think I have done better with it as I think about it every day. I am more aware of the time spent on my phone, especially days when the amount is higher.

I have been rethinking a lot of how my phone both helps and hinders me throughout every day and I will come back to this topic again because there is still a lot to think about.

My challenge for all of you is to take the dive and put Moment on your phone (it does appear that Moment is currently iOS only, I bet there are Android alternatives though) for a week or two. See where your numbers end up. I considered putting my average time spent in here but didn’t want to try and establish it as a benchmark. Your numbers could be drastically different. If you have to use your phone for work or drive a lot with maps up it might make a big difference. I would be happy to share the info if anyone is curious though.

Thanks for reading,
Mike