tick tock. a small choice.

I’m always looking for ways to tame the beast known as my iPhone.

I’m grateful that a tiny device can do so much for me:

Tell me the weather.
Let me communicate with my dad and my brothers.
Provide a path for continuing and deepening friendships with my people who live all across the United States.
Create a source of revenue to feed and clothe my kids.
Connect me with people like you guys.
Give me directions while I drive.
Offer hours of music or podcasts or audio book choices.

And yet.

I kind of hate my iPhone.

I hate the power it can literally have. The pull for me to pick it up, click through this, scroll through that. Waste hours on mundane nonsense. 

I don’t always want to be connected. I don’t always want to be reached. I don’t need to know what my friends (and strangers) are thinking about everything at all times. 

It is a frustrating and sometimes shameful daily battle to remind myself that the iPhone is a tool and that I am the master.

It’s not new. I wrote this post in 2013 about ways I wanted to manage my personal screen time.

And since that post, six years ago, some of my self-imposed restrictions have held firm.

The one about texting in the car? Steady. True. Has not changed.  It’s one that feels easy to me to not compromise.  Far too many watching eyes riding with me and I DO NOT want them to text and drive ever for any reason no matter what and yes I mean at red lights and stop signs too.

Taking a weekly Sabbath from the phone? Yes. Still do that every Sunday. And phones are not welcome at our family meals, whether at home or out and about.

I truly believe that the cell phone doesn’t belong in the bedroom. And I was pretty good about that rule for a long time.  But when I became a single parent, I broke my own rule. It just seemed that I needed to have my phone near me.

This is the rule I am actively working to secure now. A month or more ago, I bought a cute alarm clock. And I began to leave my phone charging overnight on the kitchen counter. I require this same rule of my daughter’s phone.

It’s been a game changer. I don’t fall asleep to the screen. I read a novel instead. I don’t wake up and stay in bed too long because of Phone. I get out of bed. I step outside and see the sunshine and feel the breeze on my face. I breathe in outdoors.

I’m not missing a thing on my phone over night. The world is spinning just as before. True, this alarm clock has no snooze button and I should have paid more attention to the lack of that feature, but so far – it seems to be working out just fine.

It’s one step. What do you do to actively curb phone addiction in your own life?

___________________________________