Journaling Challenge Day 3
Getting to the Root of Phone Addiction
We’re at the halfway mark of our journaling challenge and I don’t know about you all, but reflecting on some of these prompts has me questioning everything. Deep beliefs I thought I had conquered still begging to be shaken free. Day 2 was a long edition on money mindset. It’s hard to cover the entirety of that topic in one post, but today we’re moving on to a discussion equally as stirring.
Day 3: Getting to the Root of Phone Addiction
I remember being given my first flip phone as early as 10 years old. It was an emergency phone to take to school with me, tucked safely into the front pocket of my backpack. This was before apps and Instagram and before the invention of the selfie. I can count on one hand the number of times I used that phone.
I remember when phones were purely functional. I didn’t get my first social media account until I was 14 and, even still, the world of Facebook was only accessible from my family’s communal computer.
My relationship with my phone didn’t change much until I was at university. It was then I remember downloading Spotify and having endless background entertainment at my fingertips, feeling the need to constantly swipe and update my friends on Snapchat, the pressure to make my Instagram more aesthetic and appealing.
But let’s be honest, the phone addiction problem our society is facing has been brewing for years. Social media targeted adds, influencer culture, and online storefronts set the stage for our frenzied response to COVID-19 and never-ending quarantine to be to content consume away our discomfort to an uncertain future.
To doom scroll ourselves to sleep and to trade the company of loved ones for the kind of company that hungers to turn a profit off of our attention. We were lulled into a digital stupor of addiction that became more intimate and soothing to us than the presence of others.
We traded our longterm gratification of being in community, despite its inconveniences, for the isolated certainty of self-gratification. We’ve become accustomed to the hollowness of our loneliness, using social media as a bandaid for our disconnection. Phone addiction and the loneliness epidemic are linked.
Journaling and Self-reflection
How accustomed am I to sitting with my discomfort? (i.e. moving through big emotions, being in socially challenging situations, sitting with situations that are out of my control etc.)
In what moments of my day do I find myself reaching for my phone to soothe my discomfort or boredom? Instead of a distraction, what am I really needing in those moments? (creativity, inspiration, someone to talk to, rest)
What are the functions of my phone that I deem necessary? What about unnecessary? How can I restructure my phone habits to only use my phone for that which I deem necessary? (Ex: purchasing an alarm clock so you can keep your phone out of the bedroom)
How do I find myself “wasting time” on my phone? What are things I’ve been wishing I could do with that time instead? What does it look like for me to create routines that prioritize those activities so I don’t slip into being on my phone as my default?
In what ways am I really craving to connect with others? Is it through art, exercise, or music? What’s one thing you can do this week to be intentional about connecting with communities that offer that to you? How can you make time for this each week?
I would love to hear your insights in the comments of this post!
Let’s build a community on this platform of people brave enough to share their breakthroughs, committed enough to show up for themselves, and tender enough to name their fears.
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