My roommate recently introduced me to an app called “Moment” that tracks your screen time. I downloaded the app and proceeded to use my phone normally for around two days until I checked how much screen time I had racked up.
I was horrified to see that I was spending an average of 6 (!!!) hours on my phone each day. I am a “busy” college student, and I feel like I don’t have time to do ANYTHING except manage my schoolwork, spin class, and a social life.
Since realizing the sheer volume of time I have been wasting – around 25% of my day staring at a screen—I have cut my screen time down to 2 hours per day. In my opinion, that is still a ridiculous amount of time to spend looking at a screen, but it’s only 8% of my day now. Here are 4 things I have the “time” for now that I have an extra 4 hours each day.
1. Baking
I tried out a ridiculously good recipe for blueberry muffins last week, which is a fantastic alternative to scrolling through the Instagram accounts of people I will never meet.
2. Cleaning
The more boring, domestic alternative to checking the weather in Taiwan, but my apartment has never been CLEANER since I realized that I have a whole extra four hours to spare.
3. Friends
My friends asked me to go to Sowa Open Market (arguably my favorite place in Boston) on the same day that I had a paper due.
Normally, I would have told them that I was too busy, but I spent 2 hours at Sowa instead of 2 hours on my phone, which is more fulfilling than stalking my high school English teacher on Facebook.
4. The Museum of Fine Arts
I have FREE access to the Museum of Fine Arts with my student ID, but I have never felt like I had the time to go to it.
I have gone approximately 5 times in my 2.5 years in Boston. Since cutting back on my screen time, I have added more trips to the MFA.
I am still spending an average of 2 hours on my phone each day, which is too much for me. I’d love to cut my screen time back to an hour each day, which will mean that I stop spending so much time on Instagram.
My take on this recent realization is that in our hyper-connected, digital society it’s very important to disconnect so entire years of our lives aren’t spent staring at a screen.
Cover photo credit: Digital Trends