How to reduce screen time

I have a love / hate relationship with my phone… as a single parent, it can be tough not having another adult around and my phone is a source of connection with others - whether that’s a FaceTime call with my sister, a text conversation with a friend or a call with my dad. It’s also been a crucial tool as I build my own businesses - I can keep in touch with clients easily through messaging platforms and being on social media is important for my brand visibility.

There are some apps that I use most days… I used my clock daily for my alarm and the timer for cooking. I also rely on the map for sat nav when I’m exploring new areas in my campervan (@veritythevw), I listen to music and podcasts on Spotify when I’m walking Evie or in the van and I love my Google Calendar. I also use the camera in my phone every day… I love photography (I actually did a few photography night classes when I first moved to Glasgow, and I had a side hustle for a wee while doing portraits).

However, my phone is 100% addictive and I have found that I can very easily lose myself down a rabbit hole of social media scrolling. Because they’re so portable, it can come with us everywhere, and if we don’t set boundaries with tech it can become all encompassing.

I’ve been working on reducing my phone screen time, and thought I would share with you here what I’ve been doing.

I’m a big fan of numbers (maths was my top subject at school!), and one of the first things that I did was start tracking some metrics. I’ve got an iPhone 12, so can’t talk about android phones but my phone has the ability to track my screen time and I can view the figures in my settings (Settings > Screen Time > See All Activity). It was eye opening! So my first suggestion is to bring some awareness to your screen time… what are you using your phone for, how do you feel when you use your phone, and what are your screen time figures currently?

The next thing that I did was get myself set-up with a traditional alarm clock (I wanted a traditional one for the aesthetics, but got a silent one as I can’t face the constant ticking when I’m trying to get to sleep!) and a landline telephone. This meant that I no longer had to have my phone in my bedroom at night for my alarm clock, and having a landline means that if there is an emergency people can still get hold of me.

I’ve got some book recommendations at the end, although I didn’t go through them step-by-step. If I recall, both recommend a detox which, full transparency, I didn’t do. What I did was take some time to review the apps that I had on my phone, and did a cull - which apps are essential, and which ones are not being used? I went ahead and deleted a load of apps, and then re-organised the ones that were left.

Next up was to set-up Downtime (Settings > Screen Time > Downtime). Downtime essentially shuts off my phone at defined times that I’ve selected. You can also chose to shut off all apps, or leave some always available. It’s super clever. So I essentially shutdown my phone at 9pm, and it comes back to life at 9am; you can also have different schedules for the different days of the week if you like. I can obviously by-pass the Downtime setting if I need to look at something, which I still frequently do, but the process of having to put in a pin number forces me to pause and think before I go into my phone.

This process of setting an intention before using your phone is a great habit to cultivate. A quick pause to think about what you’re going to do before you do it. You can even go so far as to set your phone wallpaper as a question, why am I picking you up? or something. Write it on a bit of paper, take a photo and set it as our wallpaper (pretty sure that’s a tip in one of the books below). And if it’s your intention to go into social media to have a scroll, or watch some Tik Toks or whatever because it’s entertaining… that’s ok… just be aware what you’re doing, and maybe set a time limit.

I now lock away all our tech at night-time. It’s a physical barrier that stops me going to pick up my phone, and my son has been known to creep back downstairs at night to video game, so this way his controller is out of sight too!

Instead of my old habit of watching TV on my phone in my bed, I have been reading books. The biggest change is on my sleep. I’ve always slept pretty well, but it could take me a wee while to drift off… whereas with this change I’ve been getting to sleep a lot faster.

Sleep is underrated in my opinion. I love my bed, and I love my sleep. If you can improve your sleep, it’ll have positive ripple effect across other areas of your life too.

I’ve still got a long way to go… I’m by no means perfect in this area. But I’m making steps in the right direction. This is one of the principles of life coaching, where you may take a big goal and break it down into little steps that are more achievable and easier to get on board with. Once you’ve smashed a few little steps, the momentum will build and you’ll be more motivated to keep going. Over time, you’ll reach the big goal!

I’ve recently bought a new book, ‘Your Time To Thrive’ by Marina Khidekel and the editors of Thrive Global which is all about the concepts of Microsteps. One of Arianna Huffington’s favourite Microsteps is to ‘pick a time at night when you turn off your devices - and gently escort them out of your bedroom’. She shares that ‘disconnecting from the digital world will help you sleep better, deeply recharge, and reconnect to your wisdom and creativity’. I completely agree!

Let me know what you think - are you going to reduce your screen time? Let me know how you get on, and if you’d like to work with me as your coach and accountability partner - please do reach out!

Book Recommendations:

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

How to Break Up With Your Phone by Catherine Price

If you’re buying hard-copy books (which I love to do as I underline and highlight quotes!), then can I recommend purchasing from Wob (previously World of Books). Wob are a certified B Corporation; B Corps are for-profit companies that use the power of business to build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.