Have you ever been curious as to how much time you spend on your phone? Are you afraid to know? Do you think you have an addiction to your phone?
In the business world, there’s a common quote from Peter Drucker that goes like this:
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
I think it’s impossible to understand how much time you spend on your phone unless you make a conscious effort to track it. Luckily, there is an app called Moment that will show you how much time you spend on your phone on a daily basis.
I used the app about a year ago because I was curious but then deleted it. I didn’t care about knowing how much time I was spending on my phone. Recently, the app came back to my consciousness after learning more about humane technology.
For the last two weeks, I have been using the app, and the screenshot below shows a sample of two recent periods of time.
When I changed my iPhone homescreen and made a significant effort to minimize my time buried head down in my phone, I immediately saw the difference.
The main culprits were:
- Looking at Instagram
- Playing games
- Checking email
Burying those apps in a folder and making it hard to open those apps makes a huge difference. Friction has been my friend.
Please don’t get me wrong. I know there are many benefits to having a smartphone. However, we should all ask ourselves when our smartphone is a benefit and when it’s doing more harm than good.