How much time do you spend on your phone every single day? Recently, I found out that the average person spends between 2-3 hours per day on their phones and to be honest I am not even sure if that is correct. I wanted to know how much time that was in a year and it turns out that if you only spend 2-3 hours per day on your phone, you would waste a whole month. That is crazy right? I am trying to limit my screen time these days, which can be hard because my work is online. So in this blog post, I am mostly talking about wasting your life online and not when you are working online. Wasting time for me means scrolling on TikTok or Instagram for hours or watching YouTube videos all day long.
Reasons why you should spend less time on your phone
1. You will have more time for other things
If you realize you spend two hours scrolling on TikTok every single day, you can also use that time to do something else. Maybe you want to read a book, maybe you want to start your own business or spend time with your friends. I remember when I tried to do a social media detox a few years ago and that day I got so many things done. If you ever feel like you are getting nothing done and you need more time, try to put down your phone first. Suddenly you have enough time to clean the house, start playing the guitar again or learn a new language.
2. You will feel better
If I spend way too much time online (especially on TikTok these days), I feel stupid for wasting my time like that. And if you don’t have a very strong mindset, spending time on social media can make you feel terrible because you start comparing yourself to others. Spending too much time online can make you feel like you are behind in life or that your life is boring. Social media can also be very bad for your mental health and I think this has to do with the dopamine shots you get every time you receive a notification. Your phone basically controls your life now. If you wanted to read a book, but you see you got a notification on your phone, it is almost impossible not to check your phone immediately. And before you know it is two hours later and you are still on your phone (this happened to me so many times). You will feel more relaxed and happier.
3. Experiencing life
As I mentioned if you only spend two hours a day, you waste a whole month in a year. Can you imagine what we could do with that amount of time? We can actually start living our lives. Suddenly you are in control of your life again. Instead of spending time on your phone, do something that will make you feel alive. When you are on phone, you have no idea what is happening around you and you are missing out on life. That means you are missing out on beautiful (or maybe funny) moments too. When you get off your phone, you suddenly start to notice things. It is way better to experience life in real life instead of through your phone.
4. It can be an addiction
Having an addiction is never good. Addiction means you are not in control, you just keep doing it to make yourself feel better or to avoid the pain you were feeling. If this is something you recognize you might be addicted to your phone/social media. It is interesting how we take drug and alcohol addiction seriously and we help those people, but when someone spends a lot of time on their phone we just don’t care. But I think it is actually damaging a lot of people’s mental health. Ask for help from friends or family, if you want to spend less time on the phone. Turning off your notifications can already help.
5. Taking care of yourself
I noticed when I spend a lot of time on the phone or just online, I start to feel depressed and when I feel depressed I spend even more time online. I still have those days when I am like this. I spend too much time online, I forget to take care of myself and after a few hours or days, it feels like I wake up again and realize what I am doing. But if that happens for days, you forget to do the simple things like drinking enough water, getting enough exercise, taking care of your mental health and even just taking a shower. Yes, maybe you use social media to escape reality, but it is not the answer. It will not make you feel better. It is better to feel that pain for a few hours than to avoid those feelings. Use a journal to write down your feelings.
Photo by Elmer Cañas on Unsplash