Today is the 3rd of March and it is about 6 days and 12 hours since my phone went bad and it changed my life. Ever since then, I have set out to help people detox from their phones.
I was not able to get a MiFi device this month due to expenses I had to deal with. I am still recovering from fixing the phone, paying for an exam and paying my rent.
In the last post, I talked about the benefits of mental health in reducing the amount of phone use. The evidence is clear as day but we choose to ignore it. In today's post, I want to talk about the modifications I have been able to make that have kept me in a similar state of peace as I was about a week ago.
You may think that my current strategy is ineffective but it has worked for me. It is very simple and I am sure you most have thought of doing the same thing but you felt it was too little a change to make.
The question I have is, how can you use your phone's internet when it is off?
Switch off
When I got back from fixing my phone, I had to deal with the fact that I wanted to run back to the way things were before. There are a few things between that time and now that have also added to my resolve to turn off my data and not look back.
I have exams and my phone has been a distraction for my preparation so far. Weird fact, if you search for images of the word "distraction" different pictures of people and phones show up.
I saw weird but really is it all that weird? We've become so attached to the devices not just the devices but the use. What consumes our time more than social media?
Turn off your data or Wifi or Hotspot..you know what I mean.
When I did this I was scared how long I would be able to last with my data off. Then I went about an hour or so without touching it...then I was about to turn it on. I asked myself" Why am I turning this on?"
I couldn't defend my reasons for turning it on so I just let it go. Much later I had a real reason that was pressing and I eventually turned on the data.
I also found that it was not enough to have a reason...I needed to also have the resolve to do what I needed to do and turn it off.
When your data is on, you get a lot of notifications on your phone at different times meanwhile when you schedule or need to turn it on all the messages come and you can easily summarise all that is reaching your phone.
Florida State University conducted a study titled "That Text Message Is More Distracting Than You Think" His research found that those who received text notifications made three times as many errors on task compared to those who received none.
Planning your time
It is now the 8th of March and there have been more slip-ups with my use of the internet. Most of them have not because of an important business call or rare opportunity that I would have missed without the phone, on, they were periods I couldn't put my phone down because of YouTube.
I have still been able to read more than I previously ever did and I have been able to study for my exam more than I ever previously did.
My time is spent studying and reading self-improvement books. I also do my finances and count my calories. I attend to tasks that seem too far away from me because there is not enough time to do anything when you are with an attention-seeking device that causes ego depletion or lack of self-control.
One study done in China found that Fear Of Missing Out was driving problematic phone use and this led to ego depletion. People in this study thought that social media created social support for them and helped orient their future.
How many things would have just gone on without you having to know about them? We are also just fed information that is made to create anxiety. The anxiety is what compels people most times, not the need to fix things.
When will we realize that we are not fighting any battles out there that can not be won in our immediate environments? When are we going to stop depending on Social Media to tell us what to be angry about?
What about your immediate environment upsets You? Why not fix that? There is no future without it.
What's Next?
For me, the weekend is coming and I plan on unplugging seeing as I already got all my media updates for the week yesterday night when I slept off watching a YouTube video about how Nigerian Fraudstars think that they are helping the economy.
Tomorrow I have a lot of studying to do. I have books to read and it's just the beginning of the weekend I have to be on top of it till the very end.
What are your plans? Switch off your data and see if they change, hopefully, they change and become more of what is in front of you and not what's going on miles or worse yet continents away.
Get out there do your thing and don't let anybody stop you!! Peace!