I carry my phone with me all the time. I love having the world in my pocket - especially when I have some random question that pops into my mind. I can type in a few well-chosen words and BAM! The answer is right at my fingertips.
This is great. Except that I use my cell phone. A lot.
I had no idea how much until I heard about the app Moment. Moment basically runs in the background of your phone and monitors how many times you pick up your phone and how long you use it. I installed the app and used my phone regularly.
Turns out, I may be an addict. In the two weeks of monitoring, I picked up my phone an average of 37 times a day. I was on my phone for an average of 347 minutes. A day. 347 minutes. That is 5 hours and 47 minutes. Granted, some of that time was using my phone as a GPS. (If you don't know the app Waze, you need to!) But even accounting for that, I spend 5 of my waking hours each day on my phone.
To help me reduce my iPhone dependency, I decided to take part in the Bored and Brilliant challenge, sponsored by the NPR show New Tech City. It consisted of a week's worth of challenges designed to encourage participants to unplug and unleash their creativity. I was game.Day 1 Challenge -
Today's challenge was to keep my phone in my pocket or purse as I move throughout the day. So, instead of leaving my phone out on my desk and checking it obsessively, I tucked it into my purse for most of the day. It wasn't hard or disruptive to not have it out. I was at my desk, on my computer - so I was still connected to the world, but I didn't have the phone. In the evening, when I was home with The Boy and The Girl, I found that I was tempted to check in on Facebook, but I was resolute. I left the phone charging upstairs.
Day 2 Challenge -
This challenge was to not take any photos all day. The premise is that by relying on the cameras on our phones to remember details, we actually do not experience or internalize the things we see. (There were studies involving art... Listen to the podcast if you're interested.) The idea was to just soak up things around you. So I did.
I am not a compulsive picture taker, so this wasn't too challenging for me, so I decided to extend the Day 1 habit of leaving my phone in my purse. When I was out walking at lunch, I actually didn't take my phone at all. I felt so vulnerable and exposed! What if something happened to me? What if someone snatched me up off the street? How would I call 911? How would they track me? All these thoughts were racing through my head as I wandered the streets of downtown Durham with no music blaring in my ears. That was a different experience. I could hear the ambient noises of the world around me. A bus went rumbling by. Construction workers were knocking down some structures. People were having cell phone conversations all around me. (Rude!)
Interestingly, this was about the time that I started to feel a little self-righteous about "those people's" slavery to their phones. Granted, I always judge when people are on their phones when they go through the line at Target. Why can't get off their phone for the 30 seconds it takes to interact with the human being at the cash register?! But because I was giving my phone a rest, I felt an extra little bit superior.
Day 3 Challenge -
Day 3 made us Delete that App. You know, the one that you open and check obsessively? Or that game that you can't seem to put down? That what this challenge was. Most of the participants talked about deleting Twitter or Facebook. Honestly, by this point in the week, I was starting to lose interest in the "tasks." For me - the Day 1 habit of just leaving my phone in my purse was helping.
Day 4 Challenge -
This challenge suggested that we all take a Fauxcation. That is, disable all notifications, put an "away" message on, and take a few hours away from the phone. In an effort to manage my time better, I had already set aside time in my day when I will give email my attention, so the technological bleed over- at least during the work day - was already minimized. For reasons unrelated to this week's challenge, I spent a fair bit of time staring down my phone as part of a forced communication hiatus. And all I had to do to take my evening fauxcation was tell the only two people who ever text me these days - Heidi and Meldy - that I was going silent.
Day 5 Challenge -
The last challenge that I did was to notice one small detail that you might miss when your nose is glued to your phone. So, at lunch time, I decided to walk over to my meeting and see what I could see. Turns out, downtown Durham is FULL of cool little details! It's a resurgent city, so there's lots of construction going on. This means lots of sidewalk detours and construction noise, but it also means lots of little nooks and crannies that weren't visible before are exposed. The two major details I picked up on were hiding in plain sight.
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| This air conditioner screen has cute little cardinals perched all over it! |
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| One of the old tobacco warehouses was dedicated to all the smokers out there. |
The week didn't feel all that different than any other, honestly. I did manage to reduce the number of times I laid hands on my phone during the work day and beyond.
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| What happened on Saturday and Sunday?! |
I guess that was the real work of the week for me was to come to terms with what a buzzing phone does and does not mean. The focus of the challenge was to target people who have trouble with idle time. That's me to an extent, but I've discovered that I use my phone a little differently. To me, my phone is a defensive weapon - a symbol, When I am in an awkward or uncomfortable situation, I can pull out my phones and escape it. If I'm in a social situation where I don't know anyone, or no one's talking to me, playing on my phone sends the message Well, you may not want to interact with me, but there is someone out there who does. Having a phone means, if I don't want to, I don't ever have to be really alone. That's a lovely, but also scary prospect. Sometimes I NEED to be alone with my thoughts. I don't particularly like that though. Sometimes my thoughts are uncomfortable, dark, or just bleak, and I had developed a pretty sophisticated avoidance system to keep from having to deal with them. My phone was an integral part of that plan. Still, part of getting better and being better is facing all this foolishness. So there it is.
Interesting footnote: It's been a week since I completed this challenge, and I find that I'm leaving my phone behind less. For example, I went for a walk on Tuesday evening, as I turned out onto the sidewalk, I saw the most beautiful sunset! The sky was a little overcast, so the setting sun was illuminating the bottom of the clouds dramatically with orange, pink and purple. It took my breath away. I reached into my pocket to take a photo of it, but realized I had left it behind. I can't share it with you, so you'll have to take my word for it. It was glorious! And I remember every detail.
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