Ever wonder how much time you spend checking your phone on a daily basis? And how much does that all add up to in hours and minutes? In a recent survey of 8,000 people, the “Average daily screentime usage” was 3 hours. Most people spend between 1-4 hours on their phones. If you spend a quarter of your day on your phone that accumulates into 100 hours a month…and “Over the average lifetime, that amounts to a staggering 11 years! (Adam Alter, Irresistible, p.15)
Three hours per day is a lot of time. Think: what else could one do with at least some of those 3 hours? …Spend more time with family and friends, have face-to-face conversations, cook a meal, eat a meal without a phone interrupting, go for a walk in Nature, …maybe even write a thank you note?
If you have the slightest inkling that you might be spending too much time on your phone, then I recommend that you tune into ABC’s Good Morning America this Thursday morning, Sept. 6th at 7:00 a.m. Catherine Price, author of How to Break Up with Your Phone, will be interviewed in a special segment with Dan Harris. Catherine coached Dan through an abbreviated phone breakup. Listen in to find out why Dan Harris felt he was spending too much time on his smartphone and what he did to break that pattern.
*…”Americans check their phones about 47 times per day. For people between 18 and 24, the average is 82. Collectively, this adds up to more than 9 billion phone checks every day.” How to Break Up with Your Phone (p.6)
__________________________________________________________________________
References-
Adam Alter, Irresistible-The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked. Penguin Books. 2017
Catherine Price, How to Break Up with Your Phone. Ten Speed Press. 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/well/phone-cellphone-addiction-time.html