If you’ve completed the medium-level challenge, then you know the feeling of freedom that can accompany being screen-free for a period of time. The goal here is to give yourself that feeling more often by tracking and then reducing the amount of time you spend on screens. If you immediately think, Well, I’m not on my phone that much, think again—I read recently that the average American spends upward of four to five hours a day consuming media through a screen.
That five minutes you spend before making your breakfast in the morning, those twenty minutes curled up on the couch scrolling through your Instagram feed, that TV show you start watching because your spouse left the TV on…all those chunks of time probably don’t even register in your brain until you actually stop and notice them.
Then once you have a realistic picture of how often you are actually on a screen, make a goal for how much time to eliminate. And I’m not talking about eliminating it just today. I mean eliminate it forever. You may need to come up with a rule to get yourself into the habit at first. For example, some people will allow themselves to check social media only if they are standing. That way they are more likely to spend less time doing it because standing or pacing in your kitchen is not as comfortable as curling up on a couch or lying in your bed looking through your feed. One trick that works for me? I put my phone out of sight during periods of the day when I know I shouldn’t be on it. Instead of leaving it on my desk at work, I’ll place it in my bag; in the mornings and evenings at home, I plug it into the charger upstairs instead of bringing it with me room to room.
Then keep track of your usage every day and see if you can improve upon your previous week’s time.