Habits from my 'low-screen' life
Life after social media - do screen's still hold their allure?
Hello, I’m Molly, a full time creator based in the Scottish Highlands. Subscribers can enjoy weekly posts around the themes of slow living, thriving in a creative career, books & nature. Members get access to ALL my content, including video tea times, slow letters and seasonal book reviews.
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Not surprisingly, my screen time reduced drastically after I made the decision to leave social media, over two years ago now.
Up until this point, it was quite normal for me to reach for my phone first thing in the morning and it be the last thing I see at night. It would rarely leave my hand, my thumb always one swipe away from the next addictive reel or carefully curated Instagram photo.
We often hear about the negative side effects of too much screen time, that can range from back problems to impacting our mental health. This is especially the case when it comes to consuming ‘mindlessly’ e.g., endless scrolling or binge watching the latest Netflix hit.
The word mindful is key here. I still spend a lot of my time in front of screens, which seems unavoidable in the modern age (I’m sat at a screen as I write this), but over the past couple of years, I’ve tried to integrate mindful habits that mean I get all the positives out of my various tech gadgets, rather than feeling overwhelmed by the negatives.
My average screen time*
Before I delve into the habits, I thought it would be useful to share my current screentime.
According to my phone settings, last week (20-26th January) I spent an average of 2hr 11mins, on my phone every day, with my most used apps being YouTube (mostly watching vlogs & yoga tutorials), Facebook messenger (which I use for video calls), Grow with Anna app (that I use for exercise) and Samsung Notes.
Obviously, this is just a snapshot in time, but I’d say it’s fairly accurate for an average week. For context, according to a 2024 survey, the average adult spends 4hrs 37mins on their phone every day.
Although these numbers are interesting, I try not to become fixated on them. Nor is this meant as a ‘brag’ that I am below the reported daily average. Everyone’s circumstances are widely different, and these habits are only serving as an example of what works for me at present and helps me feel balanced.
(*This is mostly referring to use of screens during my leisure time, although I’d like to say that all the YouTube videos are purely watched for research, but I would be lying!)
My low screen habits
Avoid short form content
It’s not strictly true to say I’ve left all social media. In 2022, I did delete my Instagram and Twitter and have never used TikTok (thank goodness!).
I still have my personal Facebook, that I keep disabled until I need to access the Marketplace (which came in very handy for my van conversion) and, of course, I have a presence on YouTube and Substack, as producing content is now my full-time job.
However, I now focus on consuming long form content, like full length vlogs and posts, and avoid the likes of YouTube shorts or Substack notes. This means that I am more intentional about this consumption and enjoy setting aside time to catch up on my favourite YouTubers/Substackers, rather than find myself endlessly scrolling.
Minimise notifications
My phone is permanently set on ‘do not disturb’ and I turn off app notifications as default. This means that I only get audio notifications when somebody calls me, or I’ve set an alarm/calendar notification. This is a simple switch, but it’s made a massive difference in terms of how often I check my phone and therefore minimises unhelpful distractions.
Books over phone
Research has demonstrated that an effective way of stopping a ‘bad’ (clearly this is subjective) habit is to replace it with a ‘good’ one. For me, this looks like choosing books over my phone wherever possible.
This not only means reading for longer spans of time e.g., in the evenings, often instead of watching TV, but also choosing to pick up a book when I find myself with a few minutes spare e.g., waiting for an appointment or for food to cook.
Reduce texting
I feel like you reach a point in your life where texting loses its appeal. At least this has been my experience now I’m in my 30’s!
I much prefer connecting with my loved ones over the phone or, ideally, face to face, and primarily use texting as a way to arrange these meetings, or to exchange the odd, cute photo of pets/babies of course!
I also tend to batch reply to messages (unless they require an urgent response) and will avoid Whatsapp group chats unless they are completely necessary, usually for a limited time e.g., for event organisation.
Find alternatives
I think we can all agree that, in many ways, smartphones make our lives a lot easier. I personally don’t know what I would do without access to Google maps! However, I do think there is a benefit in finding alternatives, meaning I’m less reliant on my phone.
An example is that I now try to keep a pocket notebook close to hand. This serves as somewhere where I can record thoughts that I want to remember, but don’t need to act on immediately e.g., an idea for a Substack post or a reminder to order a family member’s birthday card.
Delete distracting apps
I’m mindful of the apps I download. For instance, I no longer have the Gmail or Etsy apps, as I found that I was prone to checking these during my ‘down-time’, which made it more of a challenge to switch off. I can still access this information through the browser, but this extra step means that I’m far less likely to bother.
Curate non-digital hobbies
In Cal Newport’s book, Digital Minimalism, he suggests that we should curate high-quality leisure activities as a way of combating passive digital consumption.
I’ve taken this one step further and ensure that some of these activities are completely screen free, including reading (I only read physical books), walking and journaling. I try and incorporate these hobbies regularly into my weeks and they provide the perfect refresh from screens.
The key is to find hobbies you truly enjoy and, over time, at least in my experience, these will become far more attractive, so your phone no longer holds the pull it once did.
Until next week,
Molly xx
More like this…
The person I’ve become since I left social media
Perhaps if we replace the word “mindful” which is overused and has many connotations, with “deliberate”, it would be useful?
Am I doing whatever it is deliberately?
I’m reading Substack on purpose this morning, and that’s because I got a (silent) notification about your post.
I have just read the news for ten minutes, on purpose, but I won’t look at a news site again until this evening, and that’s a deliberate choice.
And I read most of a novel on the kindle yesterday, using a screen on purpose. Surprisingly, I am much more likely to read a kindle for hours than I am to read a paperback, but it’s an actual kindle, not the kindle app which I could flick away from in less than a second.
As a writer who needs to do a lot of research, I don’t think I have a particularly low-screen life, but I am trying to pursue a deliberate life, if that makes sense?
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