Just Use a Laptop
dinosaurseateverybody.comI agree with the author's take that shifting how you use mobile technology has huge impacts, but maintaining that shift is more difficult than it sounds in today's QR-code and App-checkout world.
I don't think avoiding phone usage completely is needed, just a shift in mentality towards favoring "I'll sit down and work on this when I get home" over pulling out your phone to take care of things when you first think of them.
Not intended as sarcastic: how is that working out for you?
It's easy to say "Oh, I'll just use my phone in a healthy way in the future" while pouring yourself another drink. I can quit when I want mindset.
I quit. It's very difficult. I had to come back out of the real need for a smartphone today. I noticed the patterns that the author described very quickly slipping back into the day by day.
It's working pretty well. I certainly use my phone for some things, especially if I'm away from the house. But I've just set habits that if I'm doing certain things (writing more than a sentence or two, buying things online, etc.) I just default to a laptop.
Having a microwave doesn't force me to eat TV dinners for every meal. But sometimes it's convenient to just microwave food. Just not all the time.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
> Having a microwave doesn't force me to eat TV dinners for every meal. But sometimes it's convenient to just microwave food. Just not all the time.
It's hard for me to remember the times I accidentally scrolled two hours on my microwave, or saw a person hand a microwave to their kid in a restaurant to entertain them. It feels like the argument you're making doesn't really fit the problem smartphones have become.
I've never really understood people spending hours on a phone. I get fed up and move to a computer. At the very least, it's got a bigger screen and a keyboard, making it easier to respond to a post than the phone does.
I recognize that it's a problem for a lot of people, and I'm sure that OP does too. Because it seems like they're arguing for purposefully using a phone less. They're describing a different way to choose to be.
> I get fed up and move to a computer.
Big screens can be addicting, too - but not being portable helps it be less available 24x7 and makes the problem less visible to those around you.
Do you track your screen time using an accurate/unbiased method like an app? Big screen wasted time may be much higher than you assume.