📴 Who else wants to cut their screen time?

Perspective #02 - or How I slashed my screen time by two-thirds and why I'd love you to join!

(Perspectives are an extension of Handpicked Berlin with a constraint — max 900 words, which is roughly a 4-minute read. Disclaimer: contains strong language and wasn’t written by ChatGPT)

Edit, 6.3.2024: we now also have a small landing page

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I'm starting a movement, and I'm here to recruit you.

We are the ByteBack Network, a screen time reduction collective.

Smartphones are poison, and you probably feel it. Fair enough, they significantly improved our lives in countless ways, but seriously, did you really need to pick it up for the 100th time to check THAT feed and THE OTHER app without any serious intent? Of course not. You did it because you can and to get your fix.

Fucking useless.

Product Managers perfected the methods to increase the engagement metrics for all the apps that sell our attention and those who demand it. They nailed those OKRs so well that they changed the world. The effects on children/teens have been devastating, with dropping Pisa scores and mental health crises excellently documented by

Jonathan Haidt

& others at

After Babel

(for example, here, here and here). But probably it’s not just the teens. We are all junkies, and it’s only getting worse.

Fucking useless.

How often do you pick up your phone to put it down a few moments later? How often do you mindlessly open a few apps just because you can? How many of the last ten YT videos, Reels, and TikToks do you remember? How many did mean anything to you?

Smartphones are destroying our ability to focus and be. We can’t enjoy an event without posting a story or recording a video we’ll never watch again. We’re ready to watch things through a small screen while being there live. Someone in front of you pulls out their phone to record another clip they’ll never watch again. Sometimes it was me. Story, or it didn’t happen.

Left, NYE celebration in Paris, right, people watching Tiger.

Fucking useless.

Now, read these questions:

1. Increased Tolerance: Do you find yourself spending more time on activities or needing more engaging content to feel satisfied?

2. Withdrawal Symptoms: Do you feel anxious, restless, or uncomfortable when you cannot use or engage in your usual activities?

3. Loss of Control: Despite wanting to cut down or stop, do you find it difficult to reduce your engagement?

4. Neglect of Responsibilities: Has your engagement led to difficulties in managing daily tasks, work, or educational responsibilities?

5. Risky Use: Do you engage in activities while distracted, such as while driving or in other situations where your full attention is required for safety?

I looked up several different lists on drug addiction and chose five, not to bore you too much (huehue, did you get that?). Most of the ones that didn’t make it would also fit. We’re addicted and entered a dopamine culture, as shown by

Ted Gioia

.

Horrible.

I realised things needed to change when I started to reach for my fucking phone while watching football or reading a book or magazine. To do what? Instagram, e-mail, LinkedIn, Reddit, Whatsapp. Put the phone back down. Pick it up again in 8 minutes or earlier. In total for about 5-6h per day.

Fucking useless.

And now what? It’s bizarre. We are so addicted that there’s a market for apps with telling names (Freedom or Forest) to prevent us from using other apps. You could also go grayscale and put limits on your apps.

J.E. Petersen

even plans to write a book about his method of using screens with intent. Great, whatever helps, I’m with you!

Every minute counts.

I’ve been successful with a simple method: keeping the phone physically away. Since January, I’m down to 2 hours daily, which is even better than my initial goal of 3 hours (from 5-6h). I took one out of Allen Carr’s playbook: I imagine my smartphone is a little monster demanding my attention, and I refuse to cave in. I also stopped extending my screen limits. (On most of the days! — that’s why I need you for additional motivation.)

Fucking amazing.

I’ve never felt better, and it’s also because of the limited use of social media.¹ When I started, I initially shared my weekly screen time screenshot with a group of friends, but this fizzled out quickly. That’s why I want to recruit you to join me. All we’ll do is play the accountability card: we share our screen times each Monday and see what happens.

All you need to do is:

1. Set a goal for yourself (say -5%, -2h, -20 min, or whatever feels reasonable)

2. Start.

3. Share your weekly win (or loss) with others.

📴 Join us on WhatsApp Community.

Each minute you bite back counts. See you next Monday! Let’s do this.

You can also subscribe to Handpicked Berlin:

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Additional notes on my method:

• it’s extremely important to me to stay in touch by chatting, so I use WhatsApp on my computer a lot,

• I use an old dumb phone without any apps in the gym for tracking,

• I spend a lot of time in my inbox, reading many blogs and newsletters, but I do it mostly on my ancient iPad without unnecessary apps installed,

• I disabled all notifications except badges for most of the apps.

Instructions on how to find your screen time: for iOS and Android. If you use essential apps that contribute to your well-being for several hours a day, you can deduct the time from your screen time.

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Previously on Perspectives:

🧭 How to find a great company to work for?

1. For example, Hunt, Marx, Lipson & Young (2018) randomly assigned college students to greatly reduce the use of social media platforms (or not reduce) and then measured their depressive symptoms four weeks later. They found that “The limited use group showed significant reductions in loneliness and depression over three weeks compared to the control group.”