Here we are at the end of the four weeks of “Step aside, phone”, initiated by Manu last February 7th, and which I joined with a few other fellow bloggers (see the list at the end of the article).
Our goal: to reduce the time spent in front of our phones, to focus on less passive and more intentional and constructive activities (for me, mainly reading books). Every Sunday, we share our screen time stats and write a note about the numbers and how the week went.
I’ll soon publish an article in which I will write a more global wrap-up of this experiment, but also about my relationship with my phone, screens, overconnection… and the solution I implemented to drastically reduce my phone usage and passive, thoughtless content consumption, to get some time back for activities I value as more enriching and constructive, while also slowing down my life rhythm and even finding health benefits.
The outcome of this fourth week is like the previous ones: I only see and take advantages of reducing my phone use, and life is much more enjoyable.
Things I noted this past week:
- I’m still reading Musashi, and it’s a real pleasure to follow the peregrinations of this famous samurai in 17th-century Japan. I didn’t have the opportunity to spend as much time reading this week as I did in the previous weeks, but I try to give myself at least thirty minutes a day of reading time.
- I had a bit more difficulty waking up at the same time on every morning, but all in all it’s okay and I still get out of bed early enough to have some personal time before work. This week, I either read or took a 10-15 minute walk with my dog.
- Speaking of this morning walk with my dog, I think it’s the small thing I found the most enjoyable this week. Leaving the house with him and my coffee mug in hand, having a few steps outside in the freshness of the morning, surrounded by a quiet environment, wandering around while watching the dog run here and there, and sometimes stopping for a moment to get some warm morning sunlight while sipping my coffee. A great moment to start the day.
Let’s now review the past week through my screen time reports.
Fourth week report
Like in previous weeks, this report does not include the day I am writing this post (Sunday, March 8th). As this is the last weekly report of the experiment, it won’t be covered in a future post, but by the end of this day I think I’ll have spent less than 5 minutes on my phone.
A few notes on the past week
I spent a little bit more time on my phone than last week (35 minutes on average). I was away from home on Wednesday and Thursday and had only my phone with me. On Friday, the numbers are higher than they usually are, more about it below.
The three apps I looked at the most this week were WhatsApp, Safari, and Doppler.
For the last time, let’s see how each day went, one by one.
Week 4 – From Sunday to Wednesday
As you can see, there’s not a lot to comment on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I barely touched my phone. I don’t remember at all why I spent 7 minutes in my Settings on Tuesday… though I guess it had to be important to spend that much time in it!
On Wednesday though, things were different. It was the first day of my two days away from home. On 1 h 42 min of total screen time, I’m surprised to see that I spent a solid 50 minutes (!!) on WhatsApp. Spending that much time on an app in only one day, no matter which app, was something I hadn’t do for a long time. That day, I remember I discussed quite a lot in a group with my three best friends.
The three apps I looked at the most were WhatsApp, Settings, and my bank app.
Week 4 – From Thursday to Saturday
Thursday was my second day away from home. Again, I spent a nice amount of time on WhatsApp, mostly chatting with the same three guys as the day before. They’re my friends, and I don’t mind at all spending time chatting and chewing the fat with my favorite buddies in the world.
On Friday, something fun happened. I was home for most of the day, but during the lunch break, the person I share my life with and I went grocery shopping. In the car, while I was driving, she managed the music playing on my phone and spent quite some time singing while reading the lyrics. I even joined in for a bit. That would explain a higher time than usual spent on the phone, but it was a fun time and was totally worth it!
On Saturday, I barely touched my phone.
The three apps I looked at the most were Safari, WhatsApp and Doppler.
Okay… great numbers, but what about my laptop screen time?
Yeah, let’s include some other numbers with all those small and impressive ones, just to compensate. Let’s have a look at the screen activity of my main computer over the last four weeks
That’s a lot. Between 5 and almost 9 hours a day.
As I wrote in my previous recaps and in this one, when I’m home, I prioritize my laptop over my phone for every digital interaction: messaging, browsing the web, listening to music, watching movies and videos… But let’s be honest, I also spend some lazy time doing unintentional things (but much less than it used to be).
I also spend a good amount of time on this computer for creative and intentional things: writing, tinkering with Photoshop or any creative software, coding (trying to, sometimes), budgeting, and so on.
Finally, my laptop is most of the time open, even if I’m not looking at the screen. The best example is when I’m listening to music, while working on my professional computer or cooking. Also, sometimes I just forget to close it while I’m doing something away from it, and as I use Amphetamine, it never goes into sleep mode unless I close the lid.
Another weird thing is that it seems to log small bits of screen time activity even when I’m not home, while the laptop is closed and not being used.
So, there are a lot of good reasons that explain those high numbers, but I admit I still spend a lot of time in front of my computer, not always for “good” things, as we might call them in the context of this experiment.
But, hey, let’s try not to beat ourselves up too much trying to reach a kind of perfect usage and fully intentional use of our devices. To me, it’s clear that spending less time on my phone is life-changing, as it allows me to live a better life for many reasons I explain in this post and the previous recaps. But it’s also okay to spend time doing lazy and passive things, unintentionally. At least if it doesn’t suck up all your time and energy and make you miserable. That’s totally human. We’re not on a performance quest, and there’s no need to push ourselves too hard.
Week 4 – Wrap-up
Same as in the previous weeks: it’s beneficial for me in every way. I make the most of the time I spend doing anything but without reaching for my phone: meals, walks, movies, reading sessions, cooking, chilling with my dog, work breaks, gazing through the windows on the train… I’m just doing what I’m doing, and my phone stays somewhere else, forgotten and abandoned. I may listen to music while cooking or taking the train. While cooking, as for all activities that require interacting with a screen when I’m home, I use my laptop which is I think a much less evil machine than a smartphone. While on the train, I use my phone to listen to music but it stays in my pocket or in my bag most of the time.
Last week, I was feeling a bit down. Thankfully, so far this week has been better. There is absolutely no doubt that the fact that I’m not glued to my phone anymore helped a lot. Because I sleep better, I read more, and I think more clearly.
This four-week experiment was great. I was already embarked on a phone-free daily life, but looking at the numbers each Sunday and reading the other participants’ reports really helped to reflect and was interesting and instructive. If there is one thing that seemed to be a shared result between us, it’s the fact that spending less unintentional time on the phone leads to a better life. Whatever we choose to do instead of looking carelessly at our phone screen is time much better spent.
As I wrote in my previous weekly report, I will of course continue to embrace this phone-free daily life and escape my phone as much as I can. My life just feels better this way.
Final notes
Thanks to Manu for initiating this experiment, and to the people who participated in it. Not everyone managed to write and publish a recap each week, but I read every article listed below and found great pleasure on reading about those journeys. That’s a part of the web I love.
If you would like to discuss this experiment, or anything else, please drop me a line. My email address is on my About page.
Participants’ posts summary
If you participated in this experiment and would like to be listed above, please send me an email to the adress listed on my About page.
Manu:
Alex:
John:
- Introduction post
- 1st week report
- 2nd week report
- 2nd week report (part 2)
- 3rd week report
- 4th week report
Kev:
Kevin:
Steve:
Me:
- Introduction post
- 1st week report
- 2nd week report
- 3rd week report
- 4th week report: you’re currently reading it
- Wrap-up (to be published)