It’s not you, it’s your phone. No, seriously. Often when we’re approached about phone use, it can feel like an accusation, like changing would be to admit wrongdoing. I get it; there’s a part of me that is still 15 and rolling my eyes at my parent’s suggestion to get off Instagram. The older I get, the more I agree, and yet I still can’t seem to put my phone down.

I have a friend who I lovingly tease for using a flip phone. When I first met him and he pulled out a flip phone straight from the 90s out of his messenger bag, I admit it, I almost laughed. I couldn’t help it. he gray brick with only a few buttons and a keypad felt like an absurdist aesthetic choice – a needle in the haystacks of LED screens and smartphones. His reasoning for it intrigued me though. He argued having a modern phone is stressful. 

“Is it?” I thought to myself. I mean, I get a little overwhelmed with news, social media, and FOMO, but staying plugged in means staying in the know. That’s worth a little stress, right? He’s not the only one opting for a phone with less function though. CNBC and the technology market research company, Counterpoint, reported that so-called “dumb phones” are making a comeback as college students try to curb their screen time. There are countless articles describing similar trends within the last year, and its popularity has intrigued me. Over winter break, I decided to investigate my own phone usage. 

Reducing Screen Time: An Experiment

In all honesty, I use my phone an embarrassing amount. If it’s not in my hand or in my pockets I feel genuinely stressed. Honestly, Losing my phone for a few minutes feels like losing an arm. My phone genuinely feels like an extension of myself. It’s the first thing I check when I wake up and one of the last things I look at before I go to sleep. A quick look at my screen time reveals an embarrassing 5 – 8 hours of daily use, on average. 

To reduce my phone use, I decided to start by figuring out how and why I use my phone. If you have an iPhone, the screen time application tracks a lot of this information for you. Similar functions exist on other devices as well. Categorically speaking, this revealed I use entertainment, social, productivity, and finance apps the most. A further breakdown shows Spotify and NESN 360 take up the bulk of my entertainment use. This surprised me a bit because the apps I use most frequently, I feel, do not need to be reduced. I don’t mind the app usage associated with listening to music or catching a hockey game, because they feel aligned with my values. I didn’t feel the same way about the social category, where Instagram, Messages, and TikTok take the cake. Somehow, I use Instagram almost 8 hours a week, just browsing aimlessly. Combined with TikTok, that’s an impressive amount of content consumption, and to be honest, I couldn’t tell you off the top of my head, aside from following independent journalists,  any content that substantially matters to my life. 

In order to reduce screen time, some might start with deleting specific apps, but I don’t think social media is entirely useless. Like most things, it’s about moderation. You can start by setting screen time limits, but these are easy to override once you’ve reached your allotted time.

 I found two things to be most successful in reduction. First, you have to manage your notifications. Before going through my apps, I was getting anywhere from 300-500 notifications a day. How many times has a random notification taken my attention away from what I was doing? I was previously getting almost 200 notifications a day, just from my Gmail app. I went through and changed access on all of my apps, and deleted a bunch I don’t use. Less notifications means less information overload which has helped me feel less stressed. Next, I created a shortcut to turn of my phone display to appear only in greyscale. You can find out online how to do this. The logic here is that our brains like bright and shiny objects; switching to greyscale makes phone use significantly more boring. The information without the flashy colors meant to draw you in makes a big impact. Some people may also opt for app deletion, but instead I additionally decided to set a time daily where I turn off my phone for a couple of hours. 

The Impact

I admit, taking my eyes off the screen did wonders for my mental health and attention span. It’s easy to disregard the anxiety you get from your phone until you realize how nice it is to have some peace from your device. The first few times I turned off my phone for a bit, it was stressful in the beginning, but pretty quickly I realized the world wasn’t going to end. There are very few scenarios in my life where something can’t wait a few hours, and if you intentionally look at your phone usage, you might find the same. For a few hours a day I’ve kept up this routine, particularly in the evening, and it’s not only peaceful, but also has been a great opportunity to do something productive or with intention. I’ve used this time to do more reading, drawing, and other activities I normally never get around to doing. The lack of unimportant notifications meant I was picking up my phone a lot less as well, and my screentime dipped quite a bit. Overall, I found myself really treasuring the peace from my phone. 

It’s not your fault you can’t take your eyes off the screen. Your phone is a data machine and its favorite subject is you. It’s an expert in how to take up the most time and attention. Every second spent on the screen is mined for data, and that data is used to make you engage, buy, and consume as much content as possible. Individual apps have constantly changing algorithms making millions of micro-decisions to cater to you. Your feed is in that order because the algorithm knows what content you spend the most time looking at. More shocking, controversial or emotion driven pieces of content are often pushed to the front of your timeline. Everything is manufactured, everything, down to the font and color choices that draw the most attention.

In short, the odds are stacked against us with phone use. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, and it’s not something you have to take lying down. Even though the amount of usage is not your fault, you can take responsibility over it, and protect your digital wellness.