Addiction to my Phone
Signs of addiction
- Constantly reaching into my pocket for my phone, just to see if something happened that needs my attention.
- Deep feeling of discomfort when I'm away from my phone.
- LIttle to no time without access to my phone
Reasons to break this addiction
- I feel like I have lost the ability to be comfortable with boredom. I am never bored. Studies show that boredom is actually good for the creative side of your brain. That's where ideas thrive, connections are formed, and you have the ability to think deeply about any problem. Funnily enough, the only place where I don't have access to my phone is in the shower, and I am aware of all the ideas that I come up with there.
- I have lost the ability to focus on a problem for too long. When my phone is around, any idle moment, or any dip in stimulation for my brain hurts. And, I've been trained to fill that dip with a look at my smartphone. I feel the effects of my ability to not being able to focus in various parts of my life.
- Need to problem solve things immediately. I am uncomfortable with with things not being perfect. My level of anxiety increases when my life is not at some stable level of equilibrium. I believe that being so attached to my phone, I've been condition to solve any small problem immediately, without being okay with some level of discomfort. This has also reduced my ability to problem solve I think.
- Memory - These days, I feel like it takes a lot more to commit things to my long term memory. I actually feel like I forget things much faster. This constant context-switching definitely feels like it is contributing to this problem. I feel the same way when I have Slack opened. The number of times where I'm doing something and I have to pause and think "wait, what I'm doing here again?" feels like it's increased over the past few years.
- Procrastination - My phone doesn't cause me to procrastinate too much. I'm someone who doesn't have a lot of social media presence. I'm on LinkedIn and Twitter these days only. But Twitter can sometimes take me down a path where I scroll for far too long without getting too much in return. It feels like junk food, but for my brain.
What is the main problem?
- The phone is too interesting - social media, email, slack, etc are too easily accessible, and they give that dopamine hit that stimulates some innate part of our brains.
- A phone is both a place of productivity as well as a place of procrastination - this makes it hard to put a hard limit on phone usage. Sometimes, I need my phone for weather, calculator, maps or music.
- The need to be near it in case Bushra, or some family member needs me. It makes me feel like I can't leave my house without my phone. Or I can't keep my phone in another room for a few hours.
- Points from Matt D'Avella's video
- Rest is productivity - Like actual, restorative rest. Being on your phone, and being stimulated is not rest. People are busy - with work, kids, relationships - but people feel even more busy because they are not getting restorative rest between those busy things.
- There is this massive obsession with multitasking - what does it mean to sit and have coffee, and just have coffee. What does it mean to drive, and just drive.
- Using your phone is a twitch, that makes any awkward situation comfortable. Standing in line, or before sleeping (idling), using your phone fills that time which makes those moments comfortable, but they are taking away from important moments in your life that are used for rest.
What am I trying?
- No social media at all on the phone - getting rid of all scrollers. These apps are designed to keep you on the platform because their success is evaluated by DAU, and hours spent on them (to eventually get you to view ads)
- Being aware of the twitch (the need to fill the gap with a look to the smartphone)
- No notifications? Have not yet started this one.