No Phone for a Week

No Phone for a Week

Do I rely too much on my phone? The answer to this question is most likely, yes. According to Psychology Today, out of our entire world population, 83.72% of us use phones and feel like something is absent when going a day without it. As students at EHS, we already use our computers throughout the day. This increases our screen time usage even more. The addiction we all face from our phones affects us greatly and can be embarrassing. We, Beatrice and Shayla, decided to conduct an experiment to determine how going a week without our phones can change us for better and/or worse. Everyday, we reflected on how our day went without our phones: What was the hardest part? What did you notice you did more of? And what did you notice you did less of? There were some successes, but mostly challenges. These are all expressed in the summaries we wrote that showcase the outcome. 

Shayla's Summary: At the beginning of having no phone, I quickly realized how important it was. My To-Do list is in my notes app, all of my contacts for my friends, and even my alarm in the morning all come from my phone. I couldn’t look up something on the internet fast or send a text message to someone even if the subject matter didn’t matter at all. I did however, find myself completing my school work easier and at a quicker pace. I started having conversations with people that weren’t interrupted by a vibration or ping from my phone. The number one thing that challenged me the most was communication. In this day and age, everyone communicates using their cell phone. I used Google Hangout and email; but it didn’t help when someone forgot to pick me up from a club, and I didn’t have any way of communicating with them. I thought the hardest part was going to be my music because I use it 24/7, and I couldn’t even imagine not being without it. I found ways to listen to music, but communication was hard to find ways around not using my phone. I, admittedly, did not complete going a week without a phone. I lasted 5 days because I got my driver’s license, and was not allowed to drive anywhere unless I had a way of communicating with my parents. In conclusion, yes it was incredibly helpful to be without my phone, but having a phone is very important to keep connections. 

Bea's Summary: I had expected that giving up my phone for a week would be a challenge, and it was, but not nearly to the extent that I expected. Pre-challenge, I had been spending an average of around 2.5 hours on my phone, and most of the time spent was on Instagram. So I expected to go through a sort of withdrawal from Instagram, fueled by a fear of missing out. However, I found myself extremely nonchalant about my loss of Instagram. Occasionally I would find myself disappointed that I couldn’t fill my moments of temporary boredom with a quick scroll on Instagram reels, but that was the extent of my Instagram withdrawal. What I did find myself missing was the Reminders app, which I was completely unaware of how dependent I was on it. Just an hour into the challenge I had to ask my dad to pull my phone out of its semi-permanent home (a Tupperware hidden somewhere in my house), to tell me what I had written down for homework assignments. Reminders was the perfect app for keeping track of assignments; it was effective (with prioritizations and due dates), and it was aesthetically pleasing (with emojis and the ability to add the app as a widget). This was one app that I feel I really couldn’t function without, even with the addition of a new agenda, nothing could replace my dear love: the Reminders app. 

Part of the problem with my phone is that it makes it incredibly easy to procrastinate. I was just one click away from two hours of perfect distractions from my school work, so I fully expected my productivity to sky rocket. But, as the saying goes: once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator. I simply just moved from two hours of Subway Surfers instead of homework, to two hours of reading instead of homework. Reading may be 100% better for my brain, but it's 0% more productive; and because I am aware it's better than scrolling endlessly on Instagram, I am far more likely to read for much longer, convincing myself that “It's good for me!” Overall, my loss of phone was not that dramatic. When I eventually got it back I was happy, however not entirely satisfied; so I made the executive decision to delete all apps, besides only the necessary ones (texting, Reminders, email, etc.).

In sum, just two suburban teenage girls cannot represent everyone's experiences, and it may be much harder or easier for others to go phoneless. For example in inner cities, it is much easier to go without a phone, as most places are accessible through walking, while in the suburbs (as seen in Shayla’s experience) driving is necessary and reliance on a phone is prioritized. Phone use is also a great privilege, and it may be considered classist or an abuse of privilege to opt out of using a phone. However, if you do choose to try and break your phone addiction, as Shayla and I have, there are many ways to go about it; and you don't have to completely give up owning a phone altogether. For example, leaving your phone in a different room at night, and having a set routine to remember to do so. Or simply turning off your phone notifications. At the end of the day, phones do often come in handy, and it can be easier to just bite the bullet and move your phone into a Tupperware for a week, than it is to pretend you will listen to the screen time limits you set for yourself.