So just wondering, my number is 90: What’s yours?
You may be curious about my number being 90. What does this have to do with mobility? Why is my analysis titled 5 hours and 58 minutes? That’s to say, and I spend almost six hours on my smartphone engaging in various apps and seemingly” tuning out “my reality. Given that Lent is just around the corner, it will be difficult, if not near impossible, to go cold turkey on the digital detox.
So, as has my wife, I have recognized that I spend an excessive amount of time on my smartphone each day on average. In August 2019, The Guardian reported that the moderate phone use in the UK was between three hours and 15 minutes, with about 20% indulging as much as four and a half hours. It would seem I am above average.
What is most astonishing is the fact that my average total would work out to about 90 days.
Honest to goodness, this is only my smartphone use. As a 7-12 STEM teacher, I probably add another 3-6 hours on the laptop each school day. As a professional, I must use technology in the classroom to promote 21st Century learner attributes, no doubt.
Thirty-seven pickups a day is my average. Over about six hours, I pick up the phone for almost 10 minutes at a time. So, it is no wonder that there is a loss in person-to-person interaction without the smartphone mediating IRL. I would like to say that all of this extra screen time has somehow improved my life, but it really has not. I find myself skimming through half of a post or article, liking it, or saving it to read later. The truth is, I never check back, and I keep accumulating posts, links, and so on to an ever-expanding list of items that I have perused. Something has to give. I had been using the Screen Time App to help me manage my phone use. I had set my social media to a paltry 5 minutes, extended only by ignoring the alert. I mentioned my digital detox to my students and they seemed intrigued by the statistics and it was an opportunity to discuss the vicelike grip smartphone apps can have on our life.
We had already been quite vigilant about keeping devices off the kitchen table, but being so far away from family, especially in the age of Covid, we have been finding it challenging not to disengage from one another and follow our path down the rabbit hole. Mostly, we are trying to lead by example. As the screen between us comes down, we have sought to engage in more hands-on activities and get around to the library books we have meant to read.
So, now that I have taken the plunge into reducing my dependency or reducing the amount of valuable time immersed in my smartphone, I feel like I have mastered my habit somewhat without the irritability and cravings perhaps one would experience quitting any other vice. Truthfully, while I have reduced my smartphone use considerably, it will never be gone completely. My wife and I committed to deleting our greediest apps and keeping in touch with family back east through the phone and messaging. The challenge, of course, is to make sure my phone use does not creep up to six hours a day. My wife and I agreed to help one another manage our phone use. As my mother once said ” Master your habits or they will master you”.
Hi Andrea,
My wife and I consider all screens when looking at screen time. My daughter enjoys EPIC books on the iPad, but she also enjoys a show or two on Netflix. With that being said, i did not include my “mandatory” Law and Order I watch regularly in my screen time appraisal. Also, I do have a kindle which I enjoy using, but I feel miserable and my eyes hurt if I view a screen too often. So, I think a screen time usage is important to monitor, but also realize that mobility provides us with many advantages with respect to timeliness and efficiency. I think that there ought to be a mobility number, kind of like your sleep number that is ideal. I think more research is needed in this area.
This is a massive problem for younger generations. When we are looking at a screen repeatedly, we are no longer strengthening our eye muscles which can have long lasting impacts. I am very curious to see eye damage results in the next 10-20 years as people wake up, look at their screens, spend all day at work in front of their screens, and return home to their screens again. Will we loose natural instincts related to eye depth perceptions?
It’s also interesting to note that before the pandemic, I was down to under 30 minutes a day on my phone. Now I’m around 3-6 hours a day. Is this mobile usage time replacing other elements in our lives like social connections or hobby growth and development? My biggest concern as a teacher is that screen time is replacing family time.
Hi Elixa, I also think that hearing problems will be an issue in the future as we sue our earbuds regularly and rack up hours worth of potential damage daily. Not to mention, mobile phone apps have been geared and continue to be optimized to engage our senses. Mobile phone use/disuse will likely factor into Occupational Therapy treatments as well I imagine.
Your post enlightened my dependency on my cellphone – I use it a lot. I’m too embarrassed to share. Although a lot of my screen time is devoted to reading a book – maybe I should get an ereader since my Kobo broke years ago. But I wonder is screen time any different from watching a tv? Should we monitor all screen use?