Like most Americans, my screen time is admittedly off the charts, and I occasionally try to get my screen time down to a few minutes a day and I have spent weeks within the last year with exceptionally low screen time, but I’ve come to realize screen time is a fairly useless metric. Here’s why:
I am paid to be on a screen for 8 hours per day
There is no escaping my monitor. I am obligated to be online for 8 hours a day as my office job involves staring at a screen the entire time I’m being paid. Much of my screen time accumulated on my phone is during working hours, when I have downtime, am taking a break, listening to music, the local police scanner, or financial news. Which brings me to my next point.
Quality Screen Time VS Quantity
Simply trying to reduce screen time to the lowest quantity possible without any consideration to what you are doing with the screen time is like a person trying to improve their heath by focusing only on the number of calories they consume.
Imagine two people who both restrict their diet to 1500 calories. One eats 1500 of gummy bears, the other 1500 calories of lean beef, vegetables, whole grains and fresh fruits. One will thrive and one will get sick and eventually have major health problems.
It’s the same with our screen time. If you spend 4 hours a day doom scrolling and reading propaganda and misinformation; or choose to spend your time on your device learning, writing, thinking, and even to some extent, playing, you will have another outcome.
How I Control My Screen Time
I have deleted social media accounts and apps leaving just 2, Instagram and Reddit. I deleted the apps from my phone and I just go straight to the two subreddits I have an interest in, using my browser. Both often have interesting commentary on topics I’m interested in. Since I’m not logged in, I can’t comment, upvote, or engage other than to scan the sub for important information. I don’t respond to posts or create posts generally, and I find this really curtails my interest in using the app.
I put both of these apps onto a tablet and I set up the tablet to automatically turn itself off at 11pm. What this means is every day that I have the notion to use my logged in accounts, I have to turn the tablet on before I can access these accounts.
How I Spend My Screen Time
The apps I use all day every day are Jetpack, to write these posts, Robinhood, to manage my portfolio, and Perplexity, to ask questions from AI models. The reason I like to use Perplexity is because it actually provides links to sources so I can check the accuracy from the response. I also use WhatsApp to chat with some friends who also are interested in the financial markets.
In conclusion, there are good and bad ways to spend time on a device, focusing simply on time is useless because you may be spending 4 or 5 hours a day learning about an interesting topic, practicing a skill, such as writing, or challenging your mind with interesting discussions. People who spend 4 or 5 hours per day shopping, doom scrolling, and venting online, will have a negative experience.