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Internet Addiction

The Digital Detox Challenge

How to be more moderate with your screen time.

Key points

  • The average American spends over four hours on their smartphones each day.
  • You can reduce your screen time to less than an hour a day by reflecting on your digital habits and giving yourself less access to your device.
  • Using a phone safe or a lock-out app can also help you achieve your goal of less screen time.
Source: ROBIN WORRALL/Unsplash
Source: ROBIN WORRALL/Unsplash

After learning that the average American is spending more than four hours a day on their smartphones, I made an uncomfortable realization. I was the average American. I was spending hours each day mindlessly scrolling instead of talking to human faces and looking at nature things.

Eve Rodsky shared an article from the Wall Street Journal about how our rampant screen time is causing us to release excessive amounts of dopamine throughout the day, which counterintuitively is making us all super anxious and depressed.

So I decided to put myself on a moderate digital detox. I’m not ready to switch to a flip phone just yet.

I’m now clocking in at under an hour of screen time a day, and I challenge anyone who’s interested to do the same. Let’s start saving our dopamine like we all stocked up on toilet paper last year.

The Digital Detox Challenge

The digital detox challenge is simple.

  1. First, check your screen time. See how much time you’re spending on the phone each day.
  2. Next, reduce this to under an hour a day.
  3. Finally, reflect on how this moderate detox has changed your life.

1. Causes and Culprits

Source: Courtney Clay/Unsplash
Source: Courtney Clay/Unsplash

The first thing to do when trying to reduce your screen time is to take a good hard look at your current habits.

Analyze your screen time to see which apps are hogging most of your time. Then, think about why you’re spending that time on your apps instead of on potentially more fruitful or healthy endeavors.

I noticed that I was spending the bulk of my wasted time on Instagram and TikTok. Now, I’m not proud to admit it, but that’s just where we were, people.

I realized that I was spending time checking Instagram to see whether people were responding to my posts, and I was getting sucked down TikTok rabbit holes just watching video after video.

With my newfound understanding of the problem, I then set out to reduce my screen time.

2. Notifications

One easy way to start decoupling from your phone is to turn off your notifications. Notifications are intentionally designed to release dopamine and keep you hooked, always picking your phone up for that next techno-rush.

So turn them off and start checking your phone when you want to, not when it wants you to.

3. Delete Time-Wasters

Getting more extreme, your next option is to delete apps altogether. I deleted any app that I could check on my computer and any app that wasn’t 100% necessary.

I deemed Instagram and TikTok necessary because I write stuff, and I need people to read said stuff. Don’t judge me.

4. Lock It Up

If you want to be hardcore about your detox, lock your phone up. They make all sorts of fun phone safes where you can lock your phone away for preset periods of time.

I noticed that I felt less addicted to my phone after using my safe. Plus, I started feeling that glorious feeling of existing in the world sans phone.

5. There’s an App for That

Another way to drastically reduce screen time is to use apps that can lock you out of your time-waster apps. It’s getting a little meta at this point.

I use an app called Opal that locks me out of my social media 22 hours each day.

Join an Elite Club

Photo by Robert Penaloza on Unsplash
Source: Photo by Robert Penaloza on Unsplash

About 5% of Americans spend under an hour a day on their phones. This feels like an elite group, a cohort of individuals who have somehow figured out how to coexist with their phones but not let them take over their lives.

So I challenge you. Try the digital detox challenge and reduce your screen time to under an hour a day. Do this for a week and see how you feel.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll have more time to be creative, more time to connect fully with friends and family, more time to think and relax.

Let me know how it goes. My Instagram handle is @playyourwaysane. Just know that it’s probably going to take me a while to respond because, well, I’m still all about that digital detox challenge wavelength.

References

Curtin, Melanie. “Are You on Your Phone Too Much? the Average Person Spends This Many Hours on It Every Day.” Inc.com, Inc., 30 Oct. 2018, www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/are-you-on-your-phone-too-much-average-perso….

Drinko, Clay. “How I (Kind of) Broke My Smartphone Addiction.” Play Your Way Sane, www.playyourwaysane.com/blog/how-i-kind-of-broke-my-smartphone-addiction.

Lembke, Anna. “Digital Addictions Are Drowning Us in Dopamine.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 13 Aug. 2021, www.wsj.com/articles/digital-addictions-are-drowning-us-in-dopamine-116….

“Time Spent on Average on a Smartphone in the U.S. 2021.” Statista, 7 July 2021, www.statista.com/statistics/1224510/time-spent-per-day-on-smartphone-us/.

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