Salient Weekly Challenge: Confessions of a Phone Addict

I’ll be vulnerable and admit I have a phone addiction. This past year, I've realized my world revolves around a slab of metal, and I’ve let myself become its slave. If I have an extended period of time to myself, I’ll enter a rabbit hole of scrolling, deeper and deeper as hours pass by. What’s scary is that I’ll be aware of it, thinking, “I should look away soon…” Yet, I’ll stay paralyzed in my bed as the afternoon turns dark, and it’s too late to be productive. I’ve wasted many evenings watching Young Sheldon clips on Instagram Reels—and I don’t even like Young Sheldon.

During the mid-trimester break, I had a week that happens once in a blue moon: my Google Calendar was empty. No shifts, work obligations, or scheduled hang-outs. An entire seven days by myself, and I felt this was the perfect time to enact a weekly challenge: How Low Can I Get My Screentime? My average daily screen time sits between a shocking 9-10 hours, and the temptation to scroll on my phone all week would be enticing.

On the first day of my challenge, I deleted a couple apps to reduce the urge to use them, such as most social media apps and mobile games. I considered locking my phone in one of those Phone Jails, or just giving it to a friend to hold onto for the week. However, the anxiety of missing an important call from a family member or needing to use my phone in an emergency overruled everything else. As it turns out, I was right; my mother called me about a family emergency on Monday, and I was ready, able to respond! (The emergency was asking me when I would be visiting home next, which was an hour-long call.)

To truly limit the use of my phone, I got some help from my Brick. A month ago, I was discussing with my GP how my phone usage has been altering my relationships and mental wellbeing for the worst. She recommended I buy a Brick—a physical product with an app that temporarily blocks selected distractions on your phone. At first I thought, “Oh great. Something that probably has a shitty subscription model that sets dinky reminders instead of actually doing something." But honestly, it’s a great investment. It's a one-time purchase of about $100, and actually does its job blocking apps, websites, and distractions permanently. To undo the block, you have to physically get up and interact with it by tapping your phone against it. Does this sound like a free advertisement for Brick LLC? Yeah, probably. But at this point, I’m sick of  Apple, Instagram, and TikTok’s screen time limiters being pussy shit, as my Brick has actually made me get off my phone instead of just having a “remind me in 15 minutes” button. For the duration of the week, I was bricked for over 70 hours! (And yes, I know exactly how that sounds.)

Another app I’ll shout out is Alarmy, which is free. People I know have confessed the first thing they do when waking up is to take a hit of their vape. I wish that was me, because the first thing I do is open Instagram Reels in bed for half an hour. Alarmy, despite all the ads, is pretty great to get out of the morning bed-scroll binge. Its alarms will blare incessantly, and the only way to stop them is to solve tasks. They involve things like math, puzzles, and typing, but my favorite is one where you have to take a photo of a specific item in your house. I usually set the photo to an object in the bathroom, which when I get there early in the morning I think, “well, I’m already here. Time to start the day!” and take a morning dump. The great sacrifice of using my phone to get off my phone, I suppose.

I will admit that I did relapse a couple times. After two days, I was doing pretty well, and I considered, “My screen time is looking good. I’ll reward myself with one YouTube video before I go to sleep!” I put on a short video, and ended up falling asleep as autoplay took over. I woke up at 1a.m. to a shocking video essay about Oncest: a Tumblr fandom that ships The Onceler from The Lorax with himself. It was a scary thing to wake up to, and even scarier to have to waste screentime on. Another relapse was when I had a FaceTime on Friday with a friend in Australia to discuss a trip to visit her. I didn’t have the heart to say I couldn’t call her for the challenge, but some people are worth taking up your screentime.

I watch all my media & movies on my phone, because I don’t have a laptop that can support streaming easily. So, on Tuesday I stopped by a thrift store and found a DVD player for $20. Everyone with a brain knows watching physical movies nowadays instead of suffering through streaming is the best new thing, and I set up an account at Arovideo after being inspired by reading Holly’s Eye For AroVision. In the span of five days, I managed to rent and watch over 10 different movies. I watched some great ones, like Booksmart, La La Land and Reservoir Dogs. I also got the chance to watch some really terrible ones, like Doppelganger, The D.U.F.F, and Reservoir Dogs. But, I stand by the opinion that watching bad movies is more entertaining than Young Sheldon clips with incorrect captions and weird filters. I still can’t believe we ever left the era of perusing DVD stores behind, as I’ve still been renting movies from Aro Video even after this challenge ended.

While sitting on the couch watching all these movies, the absence of having a phone in my hand meant that I needed something else to do. I ended up returning to an old hobby of mine—vulgar cross-stitching. Granny-core activities are great for those that need something to do while watching a movie, as it usually takes a bit of time and concentration. Highly recommend this, alongside crocheting gruesome animals, and sewing scandalous outfits. Our grandmothers would be devastated, yet proud.

Movies weren’t the only thing that took up time in my week. I managed to finish two books from Monday to Sunday: The entirety of It’s About Love by Steven Camden, and the second half of Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends. I used to be a big reader in primary & intermediate, yet since high school I’ve felt reading become more of a task than recreation. Since getting my first phone, there’s no doubt it’s shortened my attention span and decreased my literacy skills. Recognizing the fact I barely read any books, I’ve tried to dive back into reading over the years by picking up old classic novels, thinking it’s the right way to go. But, I end up finding them boring and lengthy, and having difficulty focusing on them. Something I think there should be less shame around is reading Young Adult novels, especially to get back into the habit of reading. I was so engrossed in It’s About Love that week, I stayed up till 2a.m. on Saturday solely to finish it!

During this week, I felt like an absolute fool constantly reaching for my phone and putting it down. Yet, for the week of my challenge, I lowered my weekly average to 3 hours and 40 minutes, decreasing my screen time by over 50 percent! I consider this a win, not only as the analytics showed improvement, but because I got a lot done that week. Instead of saying “I spent my week off work scrolling on my phone,” I can actually say what I accomplished with my free time: I watched twelve movies, finished two novels, and made plans with a friend to visit Australia. I’ve realized that the only downside is to get off technology, I’ve used other technology & devices to do so. It’s a weird juxtaposition, but even so I’ve found myself feeling better than I have in a while. Currently, I’ve started another Sally Rooney book, rented Lady Bird from Arovideo, and am currently in the works of framing my newest cross-stitch! So, this challenge has most likely changed me for the better.