March 4-5 2022, is National Day of Unplugging. What is it? It's an awareness campaign that promotes a respite from technology for 24 hours.
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| https://www.nationaldayofunplugging.com/ |
Yeah, it's a thing. I didn't know it existed either but I have to admit that I think they have a point, especially when there is now a word for the fear of being without your phone: nomophobia. Yes, it's true.
Given the state of the world over the past few years, I have become a champion doom-scroller. I wish I wasn't but as my phone tells me how much time I've logged per day since last week, my first thought was much like this pithy response from a Twitter user:
But the cold hard reality is, we are addicted to screens, especially our phones. From the National Day of Unplugging website: "A recent Forbes article revealed that the average adult spends as many as 12 hours per day in front of a screen - a fact which affects our level of activity, the extent to which we socialize with others in person, and the amount of time we spend in nature."
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| At least she's outside? And there's more! I read a statistic that stated 35% of people think of their phone first thing when they wake up as opposed to 10% who think of their significant other and those were the two biggest categories. I have no idea what the other 55% are thinking about. If it's me, it's undoubtedly what dessert I'm going to eat for breakfast. So, let's have a tiny intervention for each other, shall we? I'll go first. My name is Jenn and I average four hours per day on my phone. We will not count computer time because I'm on deadline and it's been ten hours/day minimum for the past month but I don't think Word counts since it's no fun! Now do you, Reds and Readers, how much time do you spend on your phone? Do you think you have a problem? Or have you "got this" as the Hooligans like to say? |
I suspect the idea of unplugging for a bit is probably a good one . . . .
ReplyDeleteHow much time do I spend on my phone? Maybe an hour if I’m texting with the girls or putting in some Fitbit information . . . . I get more “screen time” reading on my Nook . . . .
I like to think reading on a screen doesn't count!
DeleteMe, too!
DeleteEek! Why does National Unplugging Day have to happen today and tomorrow?
ReplyDeleteI am signed up to watch a virtual Suffolk mystery festival from 9-5 on Saturday. They are live panel events, so I don't think I can watch a replay later on.
Yes, I have been guilty of doom-scrolling during the past 2 years, with the pandemic and being shut in at home due to multiple provincial lockdowns.
O have a screen time report app on both my (Android) phone and tablet.
I averaged 1.5 hours a day on those Android devices, and it's mostly Facebook.
The time spent on my laptop is not logged.
Hi, Grace,
DeleteI'll be moderating one of those panels (from noon-1) and I just wanted to let you know that the panels are being recorded. They'll be available on the SMAF's YouTube channel in April. Not that I want you to skip the festival--I just wanted to let you know that if you miss any of it, you'll have a chance to watch it later!
AMY: Thanks for letting me know. The lineup of SMAF panels looks great, and I'm looking forward to watching most of them live. But it's good to know I CAN re/watch any panels later on in April.
DeleteOh, that sounds like a fabulous event! Enjoy!
DeleteI'm not telling.
ReplyDeleteKAREN: That answer tells us enough, lol.
DeleteSame here, Karen! I have found ways to justify it, though. For example, does it count if I use my phone as an alarm clock, a food timer, a radio, a TV, for GPS, for reading on the Kindle app, etc?
DeleteDebRo
Nomophobia: my daughter just lost her phone somewhere between Nairobi and Chicago. It's like losing an arm!
DeleteLOL. Deny, deny, deny.
DeleteI spend a lot less time on the phone now that I took Facebook off my phone - instead, I sit at the downstairs laptop and waste time there. And I'm on the upstairs (work) laptop pretty much all day except for my walking and lunch breaks. Screen time doesn't have to be phone time!
ReplyDeleteWhile I know I "should" be more active on Instagram, I'm not, and that totally a phone app. I don't play games on my phone, and while I might take a reading break in the evening and scroll through twitter, I don't spend a lot of time there, either.
My husband spends way more time on his phone than I do. I use a desktop computer with a big touchscreen monitor, and usually turn it off for the day sometime before lunch unless I'm working on something.
DeleteNo games on my phone, either, except now Wordle. On the tablet, now...
I am determined to quit the doom scrolling. It's just so habit forming, rather like swewaring I expect. You just have to break the habit. Working on it!
DeleteI don't have to really worry about being addicted to my phone. I still use a flip phone. So my phone makes and takes phone calls and I can text. But I don't have Internet on the phone or anything.
ReplyDeleteNow, on my desktop at home and work I do spend a good amount of time looking at the screen as I surf the net for the various activities that I use it for. I keep up to date with the news of the day but I don't think of it as doom-scrolling since I don't obsess like others do. I kind of just read whatever stories catch my eye and then move on with my day when I'm done with it.
As for thinking about my phone when I first wake up, I do that. However, my thought involves getting the daily routine started by plugging it in for the daily charging. Not sure if that counts since I'm not actively using it.
So despite the good intentions behind the Unplugging Day I won't be participating. I've got stuff to do.
Hub wants to switch back to a flip. He says it'll be better for his sanity :)
DeletePotent irony, reading this at 7 AM on my cell phone... I do depend on my cell phone. To tell me where I am or how to get where I'm going or alert whomever I'm meeting that I'm lost. I still remember when I was working in high tech, hearing the term "convergence" and thinking it meant that all media would eventually reside on our computers. That's not where it's turned out to have converged.
ReplyDeleteBest thread response of the day, Hallie!!
DeleteYup, answering comment on my phone...maybe blogs don't count? Convergence - yeah, who could have guessed?
DeleteHi Jenn, I am reading this morning's blog on my phone, as I do most mornings. I will return here several times a day to see what everyone else has written and sometimes respond. I consider this to be human contact. So there.
ReplyDeleteI will check Facebook on my phone and I can spend too much time doing that. There is only 1 computer and 1 Kindle in our house and we share. So, I also have Kindle on my phone and Audible and Chirp. I consider that reading, it is reading.
I also have Zoom on my phone. Occasionally I use the phone for Zoom or FaceTime or Skype. Very convenient backup.
Don't forget directions! Irwin went out to get take-out from a new restaurant last night and forgot his phone. He couldn't find the darn place. When he finally made it home with our cooled-off dinners, he was sputtering. 'Nuff said!
Although sometimes I scroll Facebook for 1/2 hr. or so in the evenings, that is the main thing I consider to be an abuse. Otherwise, I have no intention of unplugging.
JUDY: I agree with you are listening to audiobooks or reading your ebooks on your Kindle app as being reading time. I tend to read my ebooks on my tablet (counts as screen time) or laptop (not counted).
DeleteCan you really watch Zoom on your phone? I have a hard enough time using full screen mode on my laptop for Zoom & other virtual events.
Grace, I don’t have a need to do Zoom on my phone (my choice, I hate Zoom) but I do have a twice monthly meeting on Microsoft Teams, which for me is a much more user-friendly app. I do it on my phone. Others at the meeting do it on laptops or tablets.
DeleteDebRo
I almost never use the GPS function on my phone, since there is one in my car. Which I use ALL the time.
DeleteDoes that count as "screen time"? Surely not.
DEB RO: I am soooo glad I retired from Environment Canada 6 years ago before Zoom or Microsoft Teams existed. We had a videoconference room on our floor but the equipment didn't work more often than not. For my last job, I had numerous conference calls every day, some lasting 30 minutes, others lasting 4 hours.
DeleteGrace, lots of Zoom events aren't really participatory. Those and Facebook events also are pretty easy to do on my phone. FCF for example. It's at lunchtime so I watch on my phone.
DeleteJUDY: Yes, I have watched FCF a few times on my phone while travelling. That's ok. But I figured Zoom on a phone would be harder if you had to see several people at once (3-6, or more) on a panel.
DeleteI really don’t want people to see me! I don’t mind my twice monthly meeting because it’s informal, and all the people are local. The organization has not yet decided to return to in-person meetings.
DeleteDebRo
DEB RO: I hear you. When I had those 4-hour weekly conference calls, it was with the 10 provincial and national HQ directors. Everyone had to give a weekly report but there was a lot of time where you just listened (or not) to your colleague's update. It's pretty obvious if you are paying attention (or not) when your Zoom video is on and you see everyone in gallery view.
DeleteZoom fatigue, it's a thing.
DeleteI don't have a problem with being on my phone as I much prefer to social media or read emails on my computer.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, Dru! Hope you're having a great day.
DeleteHappy Birthday, Dru!!
DeleteHappy birthday, Dru!
DeleteThanks Karen, Judy, and Deborah
DeleteHappy Birthday, Dru!!! I hope you have an amazing day!
DeleteYes, happy birthday again!
DeleteHappy birthday, Dru!
DeleteDiana
JENN, that is a great idea to unplug from technology. I was thinking of taking a break from social media. Maybe use my iPad to read ebooks from the library?
ReplyDeleteHappy Friday!
Diana
A friend of mine calls it social media detox when she takes breaks. LOL.
Delete"Nomophobia" is real for so many of us. Back in the olden days phones were firmly attached to the wall...I'm talking really olden days when the phones were hard wired, not plug in...everyone always knew where the phone was. "Show of hands" for how many of us are hard wired and always know where our phones are. Good topic, Jenn.
ReplyDeleteWe still have one phone that is attached to the wall on a short cord in the kitchen. It is always where is should be and before everything went digital, you could use it when we lost electricity. Hey, there was still a horse drawn wagon that used to bring veggies from the farm to the store when I was a kid! LOL
DeleteI still have a landline. Unfortunately, phone service in my neighborhood has become terrible in the past eight months, and more often than not, it has not worked. I think the company assumes there’s no rush to fix things since most people have cell phones. Not all the elderly people in my neighborhood do, though. I feel sorry for them, especially if there’s an emergency. Service is currently out again.
DeleteDebRo
We got rid of our landline in 2015 and it was...surreal. Now I'm used to it, but it was weird.
DeleteGot rid of the landline while in Toronto in 2011. Despite registering on the "Do Not Call" list, 95% of the calls I got on that landline were from telemarketers. Once I switched to my only having a smartphone, the majority of the telemarketing calls disappeared. I still use that same Toronto cell phone number in Ottawa.
DeleteSince I was probably the last person to own a smart phone, I'm not even a little bit embarrassed to admit to hardly ever using it. I can't remember the last time i sent a text or made an actual call; it must have been at least a week ago, if not much longer. For me the best use of my phone is to have it at hand while I am reading a book. Many times I need to look up a word or a reference and the phone is ideal for that.
ReplyDeleteThat's my husband! He has one but 95% of it is wasted on him. Dude has like 2 pictures on it.
DeleteI check the headlines on my phone while I'm brewing coffee in the morning and again while I'm cooking dinner, but my life is laptop-based, three hours in the morning and three in the afternoon.
ReplyDeleteThat seems very reasonable.
DeleteI will not count the 8 hours a day I sit in front of a computer for work because...work.
ReplyDeleteAbout three years ago, I would have said I might have a problem. Now? I honestly don't. I don't scroll the news. I check Instagram twice a day. Facebook once. I leave my phone all over the place - which is only problematic because we cut the landline years and years ago, so if someone calls me and I can't find my phone... The Hubby and I go out and one of us often leaves their phone behind (although this has bitten us a couple of times when we get separated and can't find each other).
I play one rummy-esque card game on my iPad, but once I run out of stored "energy" I'm done, so that's rarely more than 20 minutes.
Mostly I read. Sometimes the reading is an eBook, so I won't count that screen time either.
Oh, and the first thing I think of when I wake up? "I have to go feed the dog." LOL
Ah, yes. The pets do command my attention first thing, too.
DeleteFirst thing when I wake up? What day is it? What's on the agenda for the day and do I really need to get out of bed? Yes, say the cats and dog.
ReplyDeletePhone time is largely "Have you seen my phone?" "What time is it?" "What day of the month is this?" If I want to check the news, facebook, or look something up, I use my desktop computer with the nice big monitor. I use my phone for calls and texts, mostly. Although I do use the Libby app to get books for my Kindle, so that probably counts as screen time--I just don't need to do it every day. And I won't unplug for a day because I'm the kind of person who is always thinking, What if there's an emergency?
Yes, same. With no landline, I need my phone for when the Hooligans call needing bail money (kidding!).
DeleteOh, I can’t even begin to tell you. If I don’t have my phone, I notice it in about five minutes. It is pitiful terrible awful ridiculous. I don’t really play games, but it’s just so convenient! I can find out anything, and look up anything, and contact anyone, and… Check things. I, sadly, love my phone. It is a brilliant little miraculous thing.
ReplyDeleteHowever. Remember that day a little while ago that Facebook was down? I loved that. It was really a revelation how much not having that responsibility changed my day. I felt as if I had so much found time, it was chilling. And I was very very happy.
Facebook is a time-suck without a doubt. I resent it immensely but still visit because "human contact." My friends (real friends, honestly) are frequently there.
DeleteI loved that day!!! No FB, no Insta, it was a gift :)
DeleteThat is HILARIOUS Jenn, we both remember with such joy. Because there were zero expectations. YIKES.
DeleteIf the Android has a screen time report, I don't know about it. A little something to be grateful for! Actually I would have to guesstimate I'm at about 2 hours a day. Now, if we're talking about Chromebook time...
ReplyDeleteKAIT: Both my Android smartphone and tablet (both Samsung) has the weekly screen time report (daily graphs) but it's an optional setting that you can turn on/off.
DeleteMaybe that's the solution. Shut the screen time report option off. LOL.
DeleteI spend more time on my phone during the weekends. Weekdays - phone is plugged in, used as a tool for the 'Maps' app so I can make the most logical choice when adding new patients to existing schedules. Computer is used at work so it is programs I use, I don't scroll there.
ReplyDeleteI don't scroll on my laptop either. Huh.
DeleteI can't be unplugged. My Social Security just came and I am busy paying bills.
ReplyDeleteHave you noticed that fewer and fewer customer service numbers will let you get through to a human? I swear at them a lot while trying to get through. Today it was because Synchrony Bank, whose representatives are wonderful, recorded my on-line payment (made yesterday) as a "Paypal purchase." After fighting my way through to a customer service rep, she said that what she saw was that was the amount of my payment. Afterwards, the site wanted me to take an on-line survey and gave me a box to comment. And (growl) I sure did.
But now I am surley. A not-so-sunny way to start my day! I wish they had let me in without jumping through so many hoops.
Bills...bleck. I feel you.
DeleteI’m grateful for the pocket-sized miracle that is my cell, and all the ways it connects me to the world and makes my life more convenient. And yet, I can’t imagine that my constant reaching for the phone is a positive habit.
ReplyDeleteOnce a week my husband and I eat dinner by candlelight only, and the ritual does seem to make the meal taste better. Not only that, but we linger longer at the table, in a good, relaxed way that just doesn't happen otherwise. I have a feeling there's a lesson in that, one that reaches beyond better mental health and better communication happening when we commit to unplugging, even for a short time.
Anyway, a person’s relationship to technology is a very complicated issue, with no easy answers. Thanks for the great post & comments!
It is complicated! I have a feeling I would reach for my phone less if the writing wasn't so stinking hard sometimes. It's so easy to hit a blank patch and instead of muscling through it go see what everyone else is doing - the virtual water cooler.
DeletePhone not so much; laptop computer a WHOLE lot (outside of work.) I was thinking about going on a social media fast for Lent, but I feel obligated to at least tweet about the day's blog topic, and post my daughter's column on Facebook, and once you're there...
ReplyDeleteFirst thing I've been thinking about when awakening this week? Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Then I grab my phone to make sure he's still okay. Which, I guess, counts as the same thing.
On Zelenskyy, me too, Julia.
DeleteSame. Since Nuclear power plants are being bombed, it's just not the right time to go dark, you know?
DeleteI don't own a cell phone (she said sadly).
ReplyDeleteI actually think that makes you pretty cool. I remember reading about Vince Vaughn the actor and his refusal to get a cell phone because he didn't want people to be able to reach him every hour of the day. It was a few years ago, but I always thought that was cool.
DeleteI've never used a screen time tracker on my phone or my computer. Obviously a whole lot of my screen time is work, writing and/or researching. I don't play games on either, and usually just have a quick scroll through FB when I repost the blog. Instagram is my little treat, but even that is not usually more than ten or fifteen minutes a day. However, if I lost my phone I would be in total panic!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I have to admit that it's news that's the time suck for me. I have to really make an effort not to doom scroll.
Well, the news has been quite lively for a few years now, especially in TX. I get it.
DeleteMy screen time always jumps when I'm reading a book on the Kindle app on my phone. But I'm usually averaging somewhere around 3 hours on my phone a day. However, I spend more screen time on my computers, both work and personal.
ReplyDeleteAnd, for that 12 hours a day, how much of that is work time? And how much of that is people working overtime? I feel like some of my co-workers average 12 hours a day at work without any personal time involved.
Oh, that's awful. When the deadline crunch comes, my days are 12 plus hours on the computer but when I'm in a break it's more like 1. I have come to accept that's just the way it is.
DeleteI don’t have a cell phone. I don’t participate in social media other than reading and sometimes commenting on about a dozen blogs (so no Facebook, etc.). I have an IPad on which I’m typing this, I spend about 30-40 minutes a day on it, not counting ebook reading if I’m doing that. I look at the blogs and local news, solve 1 Sudoku every morning, check email and that’s it for the day, except for updating my grocery list.
ReplyDeleteHub does Sudoku every morning. I've been on a Wordle bender for awhile.
DeleteI am thinking that if I had had a cell phone 55 years ago, my first date with Owen would have been very different. If I had had one in Washington in 1969, I might have stayed there instead of coming back to Wisconsin. Happy I didn't have one in 1967, wish I had in 1969. Sliding Doors effect.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's a fascinating way to look at it. I'm thrilled social media didn't exist when I was a teen. Feel for the kids today who get no peace.
DeleteWell, I'm obviously not participating in "Unplugged Day." It's not my phone that I spend so much time on; it's my laptop that sucks me in. I really don't want to know how much time I spend on it. I'm sure I'd be horrified. I do know I need to get outside more, and I'm making a small effort at that. Baby steps. Even though I'm not on my cell phone as much as my laptop, I do confess that when I wake up in the morning, I reach for my glasses and my cell phone.
ReplyDeleteI purposefully keep my phone in another room. If it rings I'll hear it, but I don't want it in the bedroom. I'd do the exact same thing if I had it on my nightstand.
DeleteMy phone is seldom even turned on, but my laptop is a lifeline to the world and the iPad has the ebooks. I'd miss them.
ReplyDeleteInstead, I think I'll add extra walks with neighbors, the way many are changing Lent from giving up to adding good deeds. <3
Oh, I definitely have a problem. I'm compulsive by nature, so something like scrolling is guaranteed to become a habit and I have the repetitive stress injuries to prove it. It is the source of news and other feeders of anxiety too. So I have created a routine that allows for computer use only after other things are done, like a long walk with the dog, the household errands and work on the current puzzle. Anything that doesn't require using a mouse or staring at a screen. Once I'm here, on the computer, it is hard to get me off. So, yeah, an unplugged day is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteGrab my phone as soon as I wake up. Check to see if any awful news has happened since eleven last night then do Wordle to get my brain going. Emails Facebook. Stats for my book sales then I’m ready to get up! I do Scrabble sometimes and read in the Kindle app. So yes, I’m addicted
ReplyDeleteI basically use the phone for actual calls and a few infrequent texts, although I have also played solitaire on it a few times when I couldn't get back to sleep. I'm more a laptop addict, as the screen is much larger and keyboard easier to type on. I also have Kindle for PC on it to read ebooks, and when I can't sleep I plug in headphones and watch mostly old movies and Brit mysteries, without disturbing husband.
ReplyDeleteSorry, not sorry, but I live alone so texts and e-mails are very important to me. I do most of my Facebook time on the computer with a bigger screen and better keyboard but have listened to many author events on the phone because I like to be downstairs in my LazyBoy chair.
ReplyDeletePhone directions have helped me get to places, I wouldn't have gone to otherwise. I used to be able to print directions and glance at them on the seat beside me but I can't read them anymore.
I do try to turn off my phone an hour or so before bedtime. Also don't look at it while I'm out doing errands or having lunch unless I have to wait around. Most of the Google suggestions are from TV shows and not real news so I'm not scrolling through the phone looking at news much. Anyway not unplugging.