Reflections after Week 1

Something that doesn't have anything to do with my phone usage is that I don't reflect enough on what I read.  Especially if it's something like one of those "self-help" books I mentioned in my last entry.  (Also, just to be abundantly clear, the intended audience of this blog is primarily me.  But I may put it in my Instagram profile just to have it out there as a way to increase my own mental accountability.)  

I read a few more chapters in Catherine Price's How to Break Up With Your Phone and thankfully, one thing she says almost immediately is that you can adapt her plan to suit your needs.  That's why I'm writing this down: I want to remember the things I've decided to do.  

The first thing is to reflect on why I reach for my phone so much.  I've thought of a couple of reasons:

• Boredom.  I've essentially trained myself through behavior modification therapy that my phone can alleviate boredom.  But this leads to a lack of mindfulness on things I actually want to accomplish.  
• Lack of physical fitness.  If I do a physical act that is draining like washing dishes for half an hour or carrying a huge load of laundry up two flights of stairs, I often need to rest and/or catch my breath.  So, I reach for the phone and what should be a 1-2 minute break ends up being a lot more. 
• Connectivity. For some reason, I feel as though I want to open social media apps to "check what's going on."  However, once I'm in the app, I often scroll without reading and keep going even though I'm skipping over most posts.  This is the addiction part of it because I feel like if I keep going for a little while longer, I'll see a really good post.  

Keeping that in mind, along with the information in Price's book, here are some reflections on how the first week of limiting myself to 4 hours of screen time per day went.  

• Computer as substitute.  I'll check social media on my PC instead of my phone.  I'm strangely OK with that because I don't like sitting in front of my computer for too long.  (I actually kind of regret buying a desktop computer with a huge monitor.  My next computer will definitely be a laptop.)  
• Work days are OK.  Days off are tough.  The only day I went over the limit (only by a few minutes) was Wednesday, which I took off from work as a sick day.  My back was really bad and I didn't feel like moving too much.  Today is Saturday, so I'll see how today and tomorrow go.  I just need to do more things on days I don't work.  Being busier means less phone time.  
• Mindfulness.  Adding that screentime widget to my home screen makes me much more cognizant of what I'm doing.  If I find myself zoning out, I'm more likely to stop it because of my goal of staying under the limit.  

Lastly, here are some things that I plan on doing as I spiral more and more things into creating these new habits of using the phone less:

• Phone-free zones.  I bought an alarm clock so I don't charge my phone in my bedroom.  Hopefully removing the phone from that environment (first thing I see in the morning, last thing I see at night) will help create these new habits of using the phone less.  But some other phone free zones are going to be the bathroom and while eating, which I will really try again to keep at the kitchen table.  When I'm with others will be a phone-free zone for myself as much as possible.  If I'm having a conversation with family or friends, I shouldn't be checking my phone during that conversation. 
• Less notifications. Already I had a lot of notifications turned off on my phone.  But today, I turned off even more.  I can always look at the lock screen or in the upper left hand corner to see if I have an email or message.  I just want the phone to ring or vibrate as little as possible.  Now, the main things that have sound & vibration notifications are messages and calling.  All social media is off.  I've already had a "do not disturb" setting on my phone from 10pm to 5am.  During those hours, the only thing my phone rings or vibrates for is an actual phone call from someone in my contacts.  That's it.  
• Lock Screen. I signed up for Catherine Price's email list and got a lock screen wallpaper that says "What do you want to pay attention to?"  

Last weekend, talking to a friend of mine, he mentioned that he went to the St. Patrick's Day parade, then went skiing with his son.  That triggered something I remembered that the only way to really feel rested is to do something for yourself.  So, keeping that in mind, one way to use my phone less is to do more.  Which is the ultimate "why" of all of this: why do I want to use my phone less.  I've been telling myself that in winter I don't like doing very much, but that's a cop out.  For several weekends in a row now I haven't done much of anything on the weekends and that needs to change.  Maybe the phone is related to that.  Why have real experiences if you can have vicarious ones through the comfort of your own phone in your own environment.  Therefore the ultimate why is, hopefully, using the phone less allows me to do more of everything else.