Technology time-outs
We all need to reduce our screen time. Here is why, and a few ways how.
My head bangs into a large, hollow-lighting-pole with startling force. It rings out a loud, deep, metallic, and surprisingly baritone musical note that echoes off façades of adjacent buildings.
My “performance” catches the attention of some nearby restaurant patrons seated on an adjacent pier. Before my face generated its off-key distraction, these onlookers were busily peeling carapaces from spicy-garlic broiled shrimp and cracking Dungeness crab shells. Now, they look up from the jumbled pile of crustacean body parts, cocktail sauce and squeezed lemons sprawled about on butcher paper. Pretending not to notice but laughing at me in whispers. It’s hard to blame them, I deserve it. My embarrassment is quickly overshadowed by an unpleasant thought:
“That’s really what it took to get my mind out of my phone and into reality? … It’s beautiful out.”
Wish I could say it was the first time, but that would be a lie. It’s the third. Same exact 13" diameter lighting pole, same spot, same odd sound. Third time I have quietly looked around, oddly ashamed, after walking directly into a big cylinder of metal. Usually, only the Jack London Square maintenance guys are around to joke about it in Southeast Asian languages, but this time a decently sized audience made me feel extra insecure. My mind quickly conjures up a lie to tell itself: “I was just boat-gazing along my typical dog- walk route; contemplating if that 35’ Ericson sailboat would look better with wood handrails or stainless ones.” Musings of an aspiring skipper……
Reality checks in harder than the pole; it wasn’t because I covet a boat I’ll probably never own. Not the distractingly picturesque sunset roiling about on the surface of twilight waters, nor high pitched squeals from children climbing on a bronze wolf sculpture next to the second oldest bar in California - Heinholds First and Last Chance. It was because I was reading upsetting political news on my phone instead of enjoying the light, clouds, breeze, and humans surrounding me. At least I didn’t meander into traffic while playing Pokemon Go and get killed by an oncoming vehicle, because that happens.
I’m old enough to have experienced a mostly “analog” childhood. I remember fondly being lost in the creeks and forests of its summers. Entertainment was primitive — digging holes, climbing trees, finding little creatures and getting outright filthy from these endeavors was euphoric. No digital additives, nothing felt impatient. The solitary form of electronic entertainment present in my life back then was an NES, in all of its rudimentary 8-bit processing glory.
My mind drifted back to these days as it recalibrated from impact, which must have rattled some old memories loose. Unexpectedly a MUNI bus ride from 2014 resurfaced.
I vividly remember seeing every passenger silently tapping away at their respective device, completely ignoring one another. It starkly contrasts another, from one decade prior, of a random conversation on BART with a man who called himself Zelda. He ardently claimed that he could travel to other planets and smelled of high-quality cannabis. We talked about our favorite “hyphy” songs; (“Tell Me When To Go” was the agreed upon reigning champion.)
This was back when bus passengers shared random banter with questionable strangers. As I reoriented myself these memories coalesced with the present into a solitary and ominous thought:
“Are our mobile devices forever changing us sociologically for the worse? How will that impact human civilization? Will we become irreversibly dependent on them?”
We have all witnessed similarly insufferable moments. Maybe a dinner date during which neither member made eye contact for thirty minutes, opting to tap away at screens instead. Perhaps it was a commuter shouting into a phone loudly on a crowded train, in speaker mode of course. Could have been a concertgoer recording the show for an absurd amount of time, capturing 500 seconds of blurry purple lights and indecipherable noise while blocking the view of everyone behind them. There is literally a guy watching YouTube videos loudly at a bar next to me as I write this sentence. It’s driving me crazy.
Furthermore, many of us willfully absorb and contribute to the digital culture of social media, which is so easily accessed from our devices. In that world, we are subjected to influencers, Instagram models, and our own friends’ “image crafting” posts showing us what a great life they have. No one brags about the shitty days. Subconsciously, these stimuli can chip away at our self worth and often cause very real mental health issues
One small victory that gives me great joy is that most theaters now kick people out for texting/talking during a film. However, it is largely offset by the 45th President’s Twitter account existing for way too long. Also, stuff like this is happening —
I found the infographic below, with data from a Pew Research Center source, describing which cellphone behaviors are the most and least tolerated. It is taken from a survey of 3,217 adult smartphone users. I found it interesting to see which scenarios people considered acceptable to use a phone or not. The research shows that there are some times and places where it’s widely considered very unacceptable. Of course, some people go ahead and use the phone in these situations anyway. Most of us don’t actively want to be rude, and if you are in this group, the cardinal step is awareness.
If we can make rude behavior consequential, we might stem the rise in offensive mobile phone conduct. The first step? Tell them they’re rude.
Another thing to understand; this is not entirely your fault. Our devices are really, efficiently, addictive — by design. Creating addictive things for humans generally engenders some problems. Alcohol consumption is a clear parallel: It is widely accepted socially, used by the masses and combined with driving all too often. I drove past a sign on my way home the other day that said “better unread than dead.” I began to wonder how dangerous texting-while-driving vs texting while drunk is, so I did a little research.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driving a vehicle while texting is six times more dangerous than intoxicated driving. The study found that reaction times for those who texted while driving were 35 percent worse than when they drove without any distractions at all. When driving while intoxicated, the reaction time was only 12 percent worse.
— Car and Driver Magazine
WHAT?! That’s almost three times as dangerous!
Who knew a cute and fascinating little music player would change humanity forever, after quickly growing up into a long-range cordless phone with some other cool basic computing functions. As the iPhone turns fourteen in 2021, it exists simultaneously as a personal assistant, best friend and lover. That’s the rub.
Smartphone designers have cleverly positioned these devices as an intermediary between our limbic systems and reality. Consequently, they have a great degree of influence over our basic neural reward systems.
Behaviors that once helped us survive in tribes of ancient humans and work in teams are rewarded with dopamine, because they increased our chances of survival. Flying solo as an early human was quite hazardous. If your tribe members and more importantly, tribe leaders, approved of your conduct, you were less likely to be banished and hence more likely to live to see the ripe old age of 30 (the average human lifespan pre-1800.) Tim Urban refers to this antiquated brain software as the social survival mammoth.
Our dated system still delivers the same chemical reward to our brains for perceived approvals, no matter what year it is; opening the door for all kinds of behavioral manipulation in the 21st century. Netflix’s “The Social Dilemma” paints a terrifying picture of how some of the world’s wealthiest companies use this against us, in the form of social media. Entities that treat us as products; as data to be sold to their real customers — advertising companies who want into our brains, to glean a deep understanding of our habits and alter our behavior-they are masters of mind control.
It’s no wonder we see negative mental health issues in individuals who spend too much time with their screens. Most of the studies I could find regarding mobile device usage and mental health, focus on people under the age of 18. (This one is a stand-out piece.) Suicide rates among teenagers are up, due to cyberbullying and other social media platform’s influence. Adults are impacted as well though; it’s an issue worth serious discussion — and action. Platform owners don’t seem to care very much either; while people are jumping off bridges…
[They] joke about building a “diaper product,” the idea is to make it so addictive that [users] don’t even want to get up to pee.
— Gabe Zicherman, expert on gamification and behavior design.
Sadly, some of the teams who develop digital products are quite proud of how addictive they can be. After all, lots of daily active users make things like venture capital and term sheets happen. In my opinion, this is unethical. I feel we have a responsibility to use our design powers for good, and this violates what would/should be an equivalent of a hippocratic oath for the design field.
Here are the three big takeaways from what I just wrote:
1. Technology can distract us from reality, make us rude and even endanger our lives in some cases.
2. More screen time leads to less happiness. The science is there.
3. It’s happening whether we like it or not. Many people designing the tech want us addicted.
Remember that day, when I banged my head? It made more than one kind of impact. That was the day I decided that if the people who design these things will not help us unplug, we must figure out how we can do it for ourselves.
Below are the actions I have taken; that have helped me reduce my screen time by roughly 60%. They help me be less rude, more focused, more safe and help to keep my technology in the realm of a useful tool rather than a method of mind control.
1. Leave it in the car
Accidentally one day, this happened, which ultimately inspired me to write this piece. I went into some store somewhere and by the time my email instinct kicked in the parking garage was too far away. While forced to fully engage with my environment I noticed that everybody was nose deep in their phone. A distasteful emotional cocktail of sadness, uneasiness and cynicism flowed through me. For some reason, I enjoyed not having my phone that day and told myself that it was on “time out.” Over the next few months, I started doing it more often and found it to be surprisingly peaceful.
2. When you’re in the car, put it somewhere you can’t get to while driving
The only bullet point on this list where I get to make an argument that putting your screen away could actually save your life or someone else’s. Although, if insurance companies are making commercials about it, there isn’t much to argue. So instead of me just telling you not to text and drive like highway safety signs do, I’m going to let you in on my own personal strategy, because I’m HORRIBLE about this one. In my SUV, it goes all they way in the back of my cargo area, in my rucksack on silent mode. If the phone is within arms reach, I’m going to pick it up at least once; out of reach is the only way I’ll keep my hands off of it. If you have a trunk, or frunk, use it
3. The bedroom is off limits!
Might be the most important one on the list. There are a lot of important cognitive things happening under the hood of your mind as it boots up in the morning and goes to sleep at night. Plus, light from your screen messes with your circadian rhythms and can contribute to insomnia.
Keep it where you can’t see or hear it. Personally, I do not look at my phone for the first and last hour of consciousness every day. This was a really hard habit to cultivate and still gives me trouble, but the solution was to leave it charging in the next room. I give my phone a “bed time” and plug it in elsewhere a few hours before going to sleep and don’t allow myself to check it until after I do my morning exercise and meditation ritual. I have noticed a direct correlation between how far my phone is from me and how much screen time I clock each day. The further it is away from my hands, the less I use it. This has done wonders for my productivity (and is probably why this article got finished).
Seek to create more than you consume.
-Unknown
If you’re worried that an emergency call will go unheard, don’t be. When Do Not Disturb is on, but someone calls you multiple times in a row, it goes through; for an iPhone at least.
4. Turn off your notifications
All of them. Those beeps and clicks are killing your focus and are specifically designed to lure you back to the screen after you’ve successfully wrenched yourself away from it. Cal Newport wrote a wonderful book titled “Deep Work; Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.” I highly recommend reading it, it’s a life changer. One of the main points He makes is to reduce distraction by not letting your email and other message systems notify you of anything until you want them to. He talks about how famed science fiction writer Neil Stephenson completely quit email altogether and is practically unreachable, in order to focus on his writing. That’s an extreme case most of us will never achieve. Still, Stephenson claims that he wouldn’t be able to maintain a creative output capable of supporting himself without the lifestyle.
5. Make a point to stand still if you need to call or text
Remember the woman struck by a car playing Pokemon Go!? After I heard about the incident, I looked up statistics about how many people get hit crossing streets while texting. No definitive numbers surfaced, but in 2011 the National Safety Council added “distracted walking” injuries as a category for the first time.
I have found that forcing myself to stop decreases my overall screen time. Safety aside, you don’t bump into people and be a general pedestrian nuisance. Also, if you don’t have your phone out in the open then you will be less likely to see notifications (which I JUST told you to turn off) and hence less likely to text-walk. So put it in your pocket or a bag when you’re on the move.
6. Keep it off the table
One warm humid night in Austin, me and some friends took notice that we were all texting at once, and kept calling each other out for phone-checking that night. It started as kind of a joke, but eventually we noticed how bad it was and challenged ourselves to turn them off for the entire night; it was surprisingly difficult, but ultimately made the evening way more fun.
We have all seen it, and we all have done it. A group of people is sitting at their table, and most likely everyone has their phone on the table in front of them, face up. When an inevitable notification lights up a screen and sends someone to their device, a phenomenon I call “the technological yawn-effect” occurs. Essentially, that first phone checker gives an unspoken ok to everyone else, and before you know it the whole table is ignoring each other.
If my phone is on the table I at least keep it face down and silent, but they thought of this, the sneaky bastards. A silenced phone vibrates, which allows one to feel it even when the screen is hidden. I have been most successful keeping it off the table, in a jacket pocket, where I can’t feel the vibrations. A handbag or backpack works, too…you’re probably noticing a recurring theme by now. Distance is paramount.
7. Do Not Disturb mode is your friend
For me, this is key to my job security. Our devices can severely cripple our productivity. Cal Newport, author of “you 2.0 the value of ‘deep work’ in the age of distraction” says:
If your brain is how you make a living then you really need to worry about your cognitive fitness… Really creative people, professional creatives, are surprisingly structured and systematic about their day. Adding structure and control to your time really can be the key to getting the biggest insights and most interesting work produced. Chuck Close said ‘inspiration is for amateurs.’ If you are systematically pushing yourself and your knowledge and your craft you will have inspiration. What is important is to set yourself up for inspiration and giving yourself the time and structure to act on it.
-Cal Newpor
Point being, in the workplace we can’t afford distractions, when I’m at work the phone goes in a drawer, on Do Not Disturb mode. It is bad enough that my desktop computer has access to web browsers where I can go on social media or other kinds of search thread death spirals. Speaking of The Facebook…
8. Severely restrict your social media intake, or get off of it entirely
As I mentioned earlier, social media has garnered incredible power over our lives during the past two decades. This has become the subject of many writings and is pretty much its own branch of psychology now. As I mentioned earlier the software plays off of our social dopamine reward system and is addictive for that reason. This is by design; if the software is installed, we will likely check our devices more; the more we participate, the more power it has.
A few years back I had the Facebook app on my phone. When you install it, push messages are automatically enabled and pop up when the algorithm says so.
This annoyed me, so I deactivated push messages. Still, I was checking it a lot, eventually I deleted the app entirely.
Despite this, I would still log in on the phone browser or check it on my computer.
Finally I just deactivated my Facebook account entirely; after only a few weeks I was amazed how much more time opened up. Sure, I still go on Instagram sometimes, which is owned by the same company. That particular platform helps me find new artists and photographers for inspirational purposes, which feels like a legitimate reason to be there. Also, the free international calling enabled via FB Messenger/Whatsapp is going to be a tough one to let go. So, they still have me, to some degree. The main point here is:
Don’t live for likes. If you do, you’ll be reaching for that phone a lot.
-Me
9. Move pieces of your life elsewhere
“There is an app for that,”
Putting everything in one place has proven dangerous in other contexts, like say, finance. So I suggest finding ways to “pull” pieces of ourselves out of the technology, if only for the sake of getting away from it for a minute.
For example, take my notebook. I use it to write things down instead of using the sticky note app iOS has installed right out of the box. It has been proven that physically writing and drawing things greatly improves memory retention anyway, so double points. Or maybe get an actual camera instead of shooting all your pictures on your phone. Hell go old-school and shoot film, it’s really fun. All those dick pictures you are taking will end up in the cloud eventually … do you really want your noodle on the internet that bad?
10. Remove your work email account from your phone
It is hard enough to leave work at work, especially in a post-pandemic world, which has converted many of us into a remote workforce. So, don’t give it an express lane into your personal life. 99% of the time people don’t need to hear back from you instantly. If they do, there are other avenues like an actual phone call.
I tell my leads that a call is just fine if something is urgent. Having that discussion in advance prepares me as well, so if a boss is calling, it’s important. We got on just fine as a species for thousands of years with messages taking weeks and even months to arrive at their destinations.
If you are good at planning, set designated intervals with time limits throughout the day to check email. There are numerous writings about how the endless deluge of email and replies can destroy productivity.
11. Go on a vacation without it
But how will I check into my flight and scan my thing and take selfies? You will figure it out. If you must use it during the transit portion of your vacation for whatever reason, promise yourself to turn it off at a set point upon arrival and keep yourself accountable.
I had read about people doing what they call a “digital detox” or “unplugging” before going to work in Silicon Valley. Unsurprisingly, it’s a very real thing out here in the land of screens and code. If the fear of losing touch with jobs or friends scares you that much, maybe it’s time to think about it. I can attest that those who forgo connectivity for a time often find that the world spins about just fine in their absence.
12. Get a clamshell, or something like it
Full disclosure, this is one item on the list I have not done. However, those I know who have swear by it. To me it seems like an extreme measure, but if you really are having a problem reducing screen time, or grappling with an internet addiction, try getting a flip phone with no capability to run apps. Maybe going cold turkey is the answer, maybe not. If you’re having a real problem ITAA is a twelve-step group for technology dependence. (There is no way I’m not pointing out the irony of such a group having an option for members to join online.)
Also, I just found out about a cool little device called The Light Phone -
It only makes and receives calls, along with a few other basic functions like email (which you can choose to have or not per list item #10) and a music player. I have been seriously thinking about giving this one a test drive myself, but I keep making up all kinds of excuses not to. It’s on my list of things to try, even if only temporarily.
13. Use the screen time / digital well-being features of your phone to the fullest
On June 4 of 2018, Apple rolled out a feature that made me very proud of them: Screen Time. Found in the settings menu, it tracks how many minutes and hours one spends on their device. Different categories like social networking, news and productivity are separated. The system also allows you to create time limits for individual apps and it graphs all the data for you visually. Android’s ecosystem has a similar feature called Digital Well-Being.
Here I am, slamming Apple for creating the most addictive thing of all time, then they go develop a socially responsible feature like this. Well played, Tim.
Anyway, this tool has been immensely helpful for me. At this point, I fluctuate between 1–3 hours a day; when it first rolled out the number was more like 4–7 per day. If I can keep it under an hour, great. When my count is over 4 hours, I start to feel like it’s too much. If you sleep 8 hours a night, four is a full 25% of your 16 hours of waking time…that’s a lot. What would you look like if you exercised four hours a day?
14. Try not to have a pandemic going on
I don’t know about all of you, but multiple lockdowns and the general isolation of the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak totally devastated my screen time goals. As we begin to transition back into an open world, let’s try to pay more attention to the people, places and experiences around us and less attention to our pocket computers.
Hope this 17 minute read helps you get back at least double that amount of time away from your phone each day, ideally, more. The irony that you spent those minutes staring at a screen to read an article about reducing screen time is not lost on me.
BP
