How much time are we wasting on our phones?

Last weekend when I was in Tahoe, I made a conscious effort to get off my phone and opted for a screen free weekend.  I wanted to take a break from the habitual pattern that I had gotten myself in, checking socials out of boredom and spending time scrolling when I could have been resting or just being more present.  I wanted to let my mind rest completely and I wanted to give myself entirely to every situation I was in, without distraction.  So I turned the phone on airplane mode, gave myself a 1 hour window each day where I would check my work emails, respond to anything urgent and then I put all of my social apps into a folder and hid it out of sight so that upon returning back to normality, I wouldn't slip into my old habits again.

The overall effect of doing this was enough to write about here and also to set a commitment to have at least one of these days a week (most likely a Sunday to make sure the disruption doesn't effect my work).  I'm sure that you can probably guess why this would be beneficial; productivity goes up, social anxiety goes and each time I reached for the phone out of habit, I felt a little bit more stoked on myself each time I threw it down without a swipe and a scroll.  My mornings were spent taking in the surroundings and thinking about how to fill the day with enjoyment, meal times were spent socializing and down time was spent either resting completely or moving around and playing.  

To many, the thought of being disconnected from it all can create a stress response in itself, and I get it, we live in the 21st century and we are all more connected than we have ever been.  But I still remember when I didn't even want an iPhone and life was just fine, I still had lots of friends, I still went out and did fun things and the world kept spinning.  So give it a try, and if a whole day seems too extreme, choose a time of day to block out instead and see if you notice any changes in your way of thinking.