I’m not sure exactly when my screen time became so abysmal. Maybe it was during COVID, when we were all locked in our homes with our phones as the only way to stay social. Maybe it was earlier, when I first made an Instagram account and discovered the entertainment of scrolling through the explore page, which was algorithmically curated to my interests. Maybe it was later, when I finally downloaded TikTok, that I ignored the effects it would have on my attention span.Â
Despite my screen time stats, I’d still find myself rolling my eyes whenever the term “screenager” was brought up. It seemed to be mainly used by adults complaining that my generation spends too much time talking to each other online and “rotting our brains”. It seemed insulting and easy to dismiss as the complaints of people falling behind the times. I was certain social media wasn’t rotting my brain; instead, it was the platform that exposed me to interesting and often informative content. I could understand the harm in consuming strictly mindless content, but surely I was different, and besides, I could easily point to plenty of people around me who spent far more time on their phones than I did. I assured myself I could always do other things if I wanted; it was just that I enjoyed the relaxation of scrolling.
This confidence was quickly toppled last year as my struggles with procrastination and schoolwork worsened over the semester. I began to realize that to fight these problems, I needed to decrease my screen time. I thought this would be simple. I wouldn’t use social media while studying. I approached my work with a new dedication, sure I would defeat my struggles and put an end to the days of deadline stress.
Instead, I quickly realized that I wasn’t as in control of the situation as I thought. I was shocked by the number of times I found myself reaching for my phone or opening social media without thinking about it or intending to. Noticing how much I interrupted my work by opening my phone and how ingrained it was in my habits worried me immensely. I knew I would have to take additional steps to fight my unconscious actions.
I began reading articles on how to stop getting distracted by my phone and implemented tricks like turning my screen to grayscale to diminish the appeal of bright colors. I began setting stricter time limits, making it impossible for me to open apps without realizing I was doing so. By the end of last year, these tricks began to improve my schoolwork productivity, yet still weren’t as effective as I hoped.
At the start of this school year, I knew that to increase my productivity and diminish the distracting allure of my phone, I would have to broaden my focus beyond simply cutting down my screen time. To abandon my fixation on scrolling, I had to fix the problem at its roots.Â
I slowly limited my daily screentime as much as possible. While I quickly cut down on time spent on apps like Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok, I still struggled to abstain from Instagram. I eventually noticed that, without limiting my access to Instagram, the time I had spent scrolling on other social media platforms ended up on Instagram.
I also imposed strict time windows: I couldn’t use social media without a waiting period. As I pushed myself to limit my time across all social media platforms, the results were better than I anticipated. While I had initially hoped only to boost my productivity, I quickly saw that the less time I spent on social media, the less drained I felt and the more productive I became across all aspects of my life. I was accomplishing tasks that had been weighing on me for months. I was now reaching out to friends I had unwittingly fallen out of touch with. The part that brought me the most joy was discovering that I had become increasingly interested in hobbies I had been neglecting for months, if not years. Spending time reading, stitching, watching movies, journaling, and drawing rather than endlessly scrolling online brought back so much energy and enjoyment I had been missing out on.
This transformation may have been an obvious conclusion to those who had been shaking their heads and condemning screenagers for years. Yet as a screenager, I would have never anticipated just how much more freedom and agency I would feel with so much of my time back. Days that used to feel like they would fly by were now suddenly full of activity and achievement. This newfound sense of accomplishment and renewed investment in the activities I love has helped increase my self-confidence and contentment, ultimately decreasing my struggles with anxiety.Â
My fight against procrastination may not be entirely resolved, as my renewed interest in hobbies may have given me several new avenues to procrastinate. Still, I’m so glad it brought me to discover how much I had unknowingly let my screen time drain me, and how much joy I could regain in my life by reclaiming my time.