Am I addicted to my phone? I didn’t think I was, but after reading How to Break Up With Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life by Catherine Price, now I’m not so sure.
I read Part One of How to Break Up With Your Phone in January (how is it April already?!), as seen in my reading round-up. It was informative and gently challenging. I liked how the author doesn’t push you to get rid of your phone, and no longer use it, or try to shock you with big statistics. Instead, she invites us to think of our relationships with our phones (and similar devices) as akin to a human relationship.
She asks you to really think about how much time you spend with our phones. What you’re doing with that time, and your feelings towards that. Is it a healthy relationship? Are you perhaps too dependent, or feeling frustrated? Well then, it may be time to ‘break up’.
Like with a human break up, this doesn’t necessarily mean you remove them from your life and never see or speak to them again.
Life is more complicated than that. You might work with them, or they may be an integral part of your friendship circle. It’s the same with your phone: you may need it for work, or to keep in touch with friends. So instead, Price directs you to take a step back: reassess what you are getting out of the relationship with your phone. And how it is actually changing our brains. Yes, that’s right, smartphones are literally changing how we think and act. It’s pretty scary!
After reading Part One, I was interested in giving the ‘break up’ a try. But, similar to real-life relationships, it never felt like the right time. I kept coming up with excuses for myself. My phone use has improved so much… I’m more aware now and won’t make the same mistakes again… I like my phone, I need it… Until it became clear I needed to change. It was time for a much-needed metaphorical kick up the butt.
So, over the next 30 days, I will be blogging my way through Price’s ‘Break Up’ as laid out in her book.
I will post weekly with a wrap up of how each day that week went – the highs and the lows – until I conclude with (I hope) a better relationship with my phone. Perhaps more of a close friendship, if you will.
It would be fab if you went on this journey with me, and follow me as I leap into the unknown with this. Do let me know if you fancy giving it a go too, or if it inspires you to rethink your phone relationship!
Ok, let week one begin… Wish me luck!
