It has now been two weeks since I joined Manu’s experiment. Our goal is to reduce the time we spend on our phones and focus on more intentional activities, such as reading books.
Along with me, five fellow bloggers are taking part in this experiment:
Every Sunday, we share our screen time stats and reflect on how the past week went. I invite you to follow their journey as we try to avoid teleporting.
So far, it has been a very enjoyable and effective experiment for me:
- I’ve finished reading Bel-Ami, which I really enjoyed. I may write a post about it (in French, though).
- My next book will probably be the first volume of Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa, titled La pierre et le sabre in French (The Stone and the Sword).
- I still make time to read the weekly newspaper I subscribed to, at home in the morning before work or during my commute, comfortably settled in my seat.
- I feel that I sleep better now that my phone stays in another room at night. I fall asleep easily when I read before turning off the light, and waking up with an alarm clock is much more effective (no more repeatedly hitting the snooze button, sometimes without even realizing it). I actually wake up earlier and more easily, even on weekends.
More details below, in my second weekly recap.
Second week report
Like last week, this report does not include the day I’m writing this post (Sunday 22nd), which will be covered in next week’s post.
A few notes on the past week
I’m quite surprised to see that, on average, I spent less time on my phone this week than last week.
Monday and Tuesday were the days I used my phone the most. If you read my week 1 report, it was for the same reason: on those two days, I was at the office, and my phone is usually the only personal device I carry with me (in addition to my work laptop). I tend to use it more than when I’m at home, where I prefer using my computer.
The three apps I used the most this week were: WhatsApp, Safari and Doppler (my music player).
Let’s now dive into each day, one by one.
Week 2 – From Sunday to Wednesday
I included the stats from last Sunday (the 15th), where I spent most of my phone time on Doppler, my music player app. If I remember correctly, in addition to listening to music, I also made some changes to my music library on my phone, removing and adding albums.
As written above, I was away from home on Monday and Tuesday and interacted more with my phone those two days, mainly to communicate with friends and relatives.
The three apps I used the most: Doppler, WhatsApp and Safari.
Week 2 – From Thursday to Saturday
I barely touched my phone, except on Friday. I was away from home for a few hours and used it to listen to music in the car and to make some quick searches on Safari.
The three apps I used the most: Doppler, WhatsApp and Safari.
Week 2 – Wrap-up
Well, it’s going well! I can feel the benefits.
Instead of doomscrolling, I read, wrote, went for walks with my dog, cooked (especially good breakfasts), played Cyberpunk 2077, focused on my meals and the people I shared them with, and so on. Time much better spent than being alone on my phone.
I usually don’t spend several hours a day on my phone, even before I started this experiment. But being involved in it certainly encourages me more than usual not to reach for my phone, which explains the small numbers on my screen time recap, smaller than what they used to be. I checked some stats from some of the weeks before I started this experiment, and I averaged about one to one and a half hours per day.
All in all, it’s a good practice to turn this into a regular habit which I hope will continue once the experiment is over. It’s liberating.