PRODUCTIVITY ROAD TEST
Tracking your phone usage
On a typical morning I wake up, roll over, and like many, reach out for that loved one I can't start the day without caressing. Yes, my smart phone.
There with us from dawn till dusk, it's tempting to label our smartphone use as addictive. Instead, I prefer to think of my habit as practical.
After all, I need to check the weather first thing, so I know what to wear. Plus, my phone has music — a perfect distraction for a young baby while I shower.
See? No problem.
When it comes to checking our phone, how much is too much? Once a day? Ten times a day? One hundred times a day? And now that I ask, how many times do I really check it? Naturally, there's an app for that: Checky. Supposedly, the app (iOS and Android) tallies our phone 'checking' and advises a daily total. A good rap on US television show Colbert earned the app a high profile last year.
A late adopter, I decided to try it now as part of a conscious effort to cut down my phone 'tweaking'.
Theoretically, this should work, because awareness is often first step to changing a bad habit. Proponents of the 5:2 diet say they inadvertently eat less on non-fasting days, and the last time I strapped a step counter on my wrist, its mere presence shamed me into shunning the lift most of the time. Surely this will be the same.
Keen as mustard, I install Checky, ignoring a worrying number of reviews saying "this doesn't work properly".
Day one, a Sunday, is probably the wrong day to start, as my usage is typically lower when I'm away from work. Still, according to Checky, 17 checks.
Day two, a Monday — my busiest work day — zero. Tuesday, zero. Wednesday, 7. By now, I realise Checky doesn't work - or at least, not for me.
Instead, I try conducting my own experiment. Counting proves impossible — where would I keep the tally other than the notes section in my phone?
Without a number shaming me into submission, I decide the solution is to make my phone less useful. Or at least, less fun. Facebook app? Gone. Twitter, ditto. eBay, banished. Esty. Gone and gone. I ruthlessly plow through my apps and try to get rid of anything that's more addictive than essential.
A week later, I have no hard data to back up my discoveries. But anecdotally, it does seem that removing apps removes temptation to mindlessly tweak with my phone. It also makes bus rides more boring and frankly, makes my life less convenient. I liked my mobile weather forecaster. And why take it out on the traffic guru app, given it has successfully diverted me away from city gridlock so many times in the past? In fact, what's the point of a smartphone if I just make it dumb? I reinstall everything I've lost, and make empty promises about cutting down my mindless usage. It doesn't matter if I stick to it or not. After all, nobody is counting.
Sue White is a freelance writer who has decided she has bigger problems than a harmless smartphone addiction. Follow @suewhitewriter
