Unplug and Recharge: Five Mindful Tips to Reduce Screen Time
Have you ever caught yourself squinting at your smartphone's screen time stats, peeking just enough to see the numbers that are, often, shockingly higher than you'd expect?
Let's face it: completely unplugging from our smartphones is like asking a dog to ignore a squirrel—it's a futile effort. Our devices have become the perfect portable epicenters to how we function in our daily lives. Yet, without finding balance, they can also negatively impact our mental and physical health.
The adverse effects of constant connectivity ranging from reduced cognitive abilities and reading comprehension to physical issues like eye strain and premature skin aging, disrupted sleep patterns, and “tech neck,”—make unplugging an essential item on everyone’s self-improvement checklist.
Lucky for the 7 billion of us worldwide who own mobile devices, today is National Unplug Day. The Unplug initiative, created in 2009 encourages us to spend a whole day without our devices or as much time disconnected as possible for 24 hours, starting at sundown.
The time I spend on my phone ebbs and flows. Lately, I’ve been more aware of not only when and how often I'm using it, but why I'm reaching for it. The longer I’m on my device checking email, responding to texts, scrolling through social channels, and reading the news, the more drained I feel. Conversely, when I take just a 10 or 20-minute break from it, I feel calmer, refreshed, and lighter. Can you imagine what an entire day away from your phone would feel like?
If you’re around my age or older, growing up in the non-digital era, you probably remember that feeling. Back then, “walking and talking” meant pacing back and forth in the kitchen or stretching the cord as far is it could reach into another room. Summer days seemed to last forever, and conversations didn’t have emojis—although, I must admit, I love a good emoji. My first smartphone was the Blackberry, and I thought I “had made it” when work issued me one.
I appreciate the tremendous benefits, efficiencies, and conveniences that come with advances in tech. It's a blessing and a curse to have unlimited information at our fingertips. We order food for delivery in an instant, we can stay connected to friends and family with ease, we can track our health and fitness stats, listen to music, read books, all on our phones. We also have access to meditation and calming apps to help balance our nervous system and calm our mind. Yet, to use those apps, we need our phone—the same device that complicates our lives, can be addictive and isn’t good for our overall health. It’s a paradox!
Inspired by National Unplug day, I’m sharing some strategies that have helped me manage my screen time more mindfully. As a writer, disconnecting from tech is a necessity to allow room for creativity and expansion. But untethering myself from the digital pull to always read and consume information and ideate in my notes app isn’t easy.
Here are my five mindfulness tips making a difference in my digital life that I hope help you:
1. Set a Goal: Consider trying the unplug for 1,000- or 100-hours challenge for a year. I downloaded this free tracker, linked here, from writer Hannah Brencher. I also use my habit tracker app, OnRise, to track when I've unplugged. I know—I'm aware of the irony of using an app to track my unplug time; don't judge—it’s the paradox again. If you try this challenge, take two minutes, and define what unplugging means for you. For me, it means not being on my phone at all. I recently enjoyed dinner with friends, and my phone stayed in my purse for two hours. That is time unplugged. I also set a parameter that reading an eBook counts as unplugged time. Are you wondering if sleep counts? It doesn’t—that’s too easy!
2. Pause and Reflect: As you grab your phone, stop, and ask yourself, why am I reaching for it? If it’s not urgent at that moment, you’re likely reaching for it out of boredom or reflex.
3. Be Intentional: Practice saying this word or some variation of it to yourself: "Disconnect" or "It's okay to disconnect." At an appointment earlier this week, I reached for my phone and caught myself. I had a mindful moment with "disconnect," as a reminder that nothing required my attention for the next ten minutes and to be present in my space.
4. Find Joy in Boredom: We've trained our brains to always be on, switching from app to app and notification to notification that it’s hard to sit idle and let your mind wander and breathe. Allow your eyes to adjust to the non-digital experiences around you and enjoy your surroundings. It’s also good for your eye health!
5. Create Separation: Leave your phone in another room, in a tote, in your purse, or on your desk. Or put it in silent mode and turn it face down to avoid notifications. Be bold and leave it behind when you take a walk. But don't cheat! Creating space between you and your phone doesn't mean spending time on your Apple watch (if you own one).
If mindful strategies aren’t your jam, there are many digital tools to help you manage your screen time. You can turn on the focus feature in your iPhone and turn off app notifications to avoid the temptation of picking up your phone to check them. There are also apps you can download to block your social media access for chunks of time. I've shied away from using blocking apps because it’s one more account to set-up and manage. I'd rather see if I can be successful through some mindful practices.
Wishing you some unplugged time this weekend and success on your digital wellness journey.
In the words of author Anne Lamott, "Almost everything will work again, if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you." [1]
P.S. For more creative and practical ways to unplug, the Unplug Collaborative offers over 200 ideas on their site.
P.S.S. For a striking visual representation of our digital habits, check out Eric Pickersgill’s Removed series. His photographs capture what we look like “in the wild” when our phones are removed from our hands. They are a stark and sad reminder of how disconnected we are from each other and our surroundings when we are looking at our phones and not at each other. You can visit his collection here.
[1] https://www.today.com/popculture/author-anne-lamott-shares-life-wisdom-viral-facebook-post-t13881#