I didn’t realize just how addicted to my phone I was until I started paying attention.
Whenever I got bored, or stressed, or frustrated, I would pick up my phone and start scrolling through social media.
It was especially bad when I would tell myself that I will only spend a few minutes looking at one video or checking up on my friends – and then hours would go back and I would feel like I had wasted so much time.
Not so long ago I picked up Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
The book was such an eye-opener – showing me just how I was crippling my brain by using social media so much.
I decided to get radical.
I removed the social media apps that I frequented the most from my phone. I started feeling good about myself, until I started going on other social media apps and absent-mindedly refreshing the pages. So I deleted all the social media apps (except my email) from my phone.
It was quite challenging because I would still go on my phone whenever I was bored or stressed, but there wouldn’t be much to entertain me.
I still felt like I was spending too much time on my phone, then I downloaded the Moment App, and realized that I was really and truly spending too much time picking up my phone – so I began looking for strategies to reduce that. I got a regular watch, I took time off social media, I started calling my friends regularly instead, going out without the phone etc.
I liked the feeling of freedom – freedom from being obsessed with my phone. And freedom to do other things.
Lately I was finding myself gradually drifting back into the habit. I didn’t re-download the apps, but I could just get on the social media sites on my laptop. That was until I read something in the Faith book again.
In the book, Min. Rita talked about how the enemy tries to distract us from spending time with God, and accomplishing our purposes by using silly little time wasters. It became ridiculously clear how much time I was wasting on social media, and how much more productive I could spend my time (while still unwinding and feeling refreshed). So I began asking myself if the little brain candy was worth a malnourished spiritual and mental life…