TL;DR: In four weeks, I’ve cut my average screen time from 8 hours and 55 minutes to 1 hour and 28 minutes on average.
I know no one cares about this, but I still wanted to share it here just in case someone is facing the same problem and looking for motivation.
I recently finished my semester and got a summer break. My girlfriend and I planned our first big trip abroad, something we’d been looking forward to for more than a year. But after getting free from studies and exams, I got addicted to my phone, spending hours scrolling social media. My addiction started to ruin our plans and our excitement for the trip.
More than a month ago, my girlfriend spent a weekend finding resources to help me. She found an article with practical methods for different levels of phone addiction. Inspired by her effort, I decided to give it a shot.
Week 1 saw my screen time drop to 7 hours and 35 minutes on average, which made me very happy because I never thought anything would help me with my phone addiction. Even though I started with no hope, seeing this result gave me hope.
Week 2 brought it down further to 5 hours and 12 minutes on average. The key was a fun challenge my girlfriend and I did together to stay off our phones. Having her as my support system made everything so much easier.
In Week 3, I tried a $23 timed locker my girlfriend got from Amazon. It worked wonders, cutting my late-night screen time and improving my sleep. I ended the week with an average of 4 hours and 3 minutes on average. Despite a slight setback over the weekend due to feeling down, I’m happy with my progress, even though it was very little.
In the last week of this challenge, I kept up the same habits but added a new twist suggested by my girlfriend. We signed up for swimming classes and started going daily because we always wanted to learn swimming. It’s been fun, and I’m loving every second of it. I also started locking my phone for an hour in the morning using the timed locker. This helped me bring down my screen time to 1 hour and 28 minutes. While my initial goal was 1 hour or less, I’m proud of myself with my progress.
Honestly, I couldn’t have achieved this without my girlfriend’s support. I’m incredibly grateful to have her in my life. Dating her was the best decision I’ve ever made. I want to write a big thank-you paragraph here, but I don’t want to bore anyone.
Here is my screen time screenshot before I started: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JQVQaI1q7xgLUpojzx6osRci8zwwGWoJ/view?usp=sharing
Here is my screen time screenshot from the previous week: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TjBWCJyLDX29fdgdaq-UJ21X3osVcBhx/view?usp=sharing
You don’t say much about what you actually did to reduce the screen time, especially the first two weeks.
It would be helpful if you shared this article that got your started or described in more details what these practical methods were.
I didn’t want to bore anyone with details; that’s why I never shared everything. But here is the link: A Practical Guide to Overcoming Phone Addiction
Don’t worry too much about boring people. There will always be some that are not interested and others that do.
But I will definitely have a look at the article and maybe try to reduce my screentime too. And if it works, I have you and your post to thank for it, for getting me started ;)
I’ve tried lots of things, but nothing worked, due to which I became hopeless. Then my girlfriend found that article and shared it with me. And it worked like magic. Nowadays, I’m a little bit tight on money because my girlfriend and I are going on our first overseas trip later this month; otherwise, I would have donated him at least $10.
A few months ago, things got so bad for me due to phone addiction that I had to go to a therapist, but he was asking for hundreds of dollars to help me. I still cannot believe that it is available for free, and only a few people have supported that article writer. I think either this person is too stupid to not make money from this or maybe he is too kind.
I hope more and more people support him for changing the lives of so many people.
Thís post put a smile on my face so thank you and congrats. I bought an alarm clock so I can turn my phone off in the evening and leave it off in the morning. It’s been great. I also turn it off during the day for at least an hour. These two things help me feel less connected to it and I use it far less as a result. It feels great, doesn’t it?
I’m happy to know that my post has put a smile on someone’s face. Nowadays I’ve got a got a summer break from university, so I don’t use alarms. But I’ll definitely buy an alarm clock for me when my university starts again and I’ve got to wake up early. Thank you very much for sharing this wonderful tip.
I always feel like an alarm clock is more reliable than a phone alarm anyway. It also helps putting the alarm clock at the other side of the room so you have to get out of bed to turn it off. This causes your body to wake up faster so you don’t go back to sleep.
I second this.
That was also a great first step for me. Also I bought a wall clock and an egg timer in the kitchen. Putting my phone on loud actually helps sometimes, so I don’t randomly check it, but only check it if it actually has a notification
Fuckin’ right on, dude!
I know no one cares about this
This is one of my favorite Lemmy posts
This comment has made my day.
Now this is the stuff I want to see more of
Great for you. To me is not so much a matter as to how much time but the timing. After all, you could as well be reading the most elevated book saga. On the contrary, there’s the addiction of doomscrolling… I have seen friends scrolling posts on social media even while on a pizza night surrounded by others. Or trying to have chat conversations with potential dating partners instead of an actual phone call. That’s the kind of thing I believe is troublesome, the lack of “here and now” awareness. And something similar goes to the constant checking. For example, if you or anyone uses their phone 4 hours in total, I’d say it’s better if that’s on bigger chunks than if it’s just a millon of small distractions throughout the day hindering many other activities.
I absolutely agree. I was wasting time doom-scrolling through social media apps. It started to cause lots of problems for my health and relationships. Other than that, I felt like I was wasting time on things that didn’t deserve my time, but I wasn’t able to control my urge to pick up my phone. I’m very lucky that my girlfriend helped me through this hard time. If your friends or anyone else ever needs help overcoming their addiction, then let me know, and I’ll share that article with you that has helped me overcome my phone addiction.
In case it helps anyone, my trick is to use Voice Notify to read out notifications. I tell it things not to read out such as reactions to posts etc. That way I don’t bother picking up my phone every time it makes a noise.
Smart!
I’m suffering from girlfriend addiction. Should I lock her in a box?
Only if she is into that sort of thing.
She is if I put her into that kind of thing.
I’m only playing. I don’t do personal relationships.
A few months ago I had my screen time on home screen. Now I am putting it back
It always help.
Do you have any tips for parents that try to protect their teenagers getting addicted?
Alternatives. Addictions seem so often caused by the fact there’s fuck-all else to do or because someone feels trapped without those vices. If all they have is the phone then I don’t blame them.
Do you live somewhere with transit access? Living in a car-centric suburb is another way kids are essentially stuck at home with little to do because of how difficult it is to interact with other people or participate in activities.
Also remember to, if you aren’t already I don’t know you, show them that they can learn things. I know so many people who legitimately think they can’t do certain things. They think they can’t make things out of wood or fix a car or whatever else. When I help my friends with that stuff I tell them that the only price is that I want to teach them a new skill/confidence and friend when I tell you that seeing them operate a power drill for the first time, do their first oil change, paint a wall, whatever is the greatest feeling I can get my hands on I ain’t lyin’. Kids know they aren’t experts but I see so many people, even without ill intent, acting as if they can never be and it hurts me to see.
I bought a mandolin for $50 a few months ago and despite playing bass since 2007 this thing has reduced my screen time an absurd amount. It might not be an instrument but whatever it is it should be accessible, something they can grab and fiddle with in place of the phone. Oh and to my previous point: The thing was cheap and needed work but a few Youtube videos later and I have the thing playing way out of its league now.
Provide alternatives, educate about the negative AND positive uses of smart devices, help them use their phones for productive and useful stuff. Give them space and time to figure it out. Help them reflect on how using the device makes them feel. And sometimes, yes: take it away Edit: forgot my qualifications: I’m a childhood educator and work with school kids
I would add, that you should consider how much of a good example you are yourself, if you as a parent are on the phone constantly, your kids will probably pick that up and do the same.
There are so many cool apps where you can leverage the camera to assess things in the real world. My wife and I occasionally use the plant identifier app, and there are tons of apps for scanning objects in 3d. Trying to redirect some of that screen time to genuinely interesting and educational apps helps. Also, my wife and I have been playing Pokémon Go for years. It’s too hot right now, but it got us out walking consistently when it was cooler out.
My screen time is much reduced, but I still try to find other ways to use it that don’t involve social media. Social media is the common thread when it comes to unhealthy screen behaviors these days and shaking that FOMO can be a challenge. Part of that challenge for me involved setting up my own Lemmy instance. I spend time reading through interesting articles, looking at art, animals, weird facts, book recommendations, comics, etc. It’s much easier to disconnect from than social media can be.
Let them experience unstructured time without distractions. In other words: boredom, but with things like comics, toys or a basketball within reach. They start off complaining of boredom and end up immersed in something if the right options exist. That helps them master low-stimulation (normal) environments and learn to regulate their nervous systems to tolerate normality.
