How I Reduced Screen Time From 7 hr to 2 hr a day.
By: Sujith Dusa
Tags: Lifestyle, Planning, Life, Time Management, Productivity

Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash

So one fine evening I was scrolling through youtube and I saw this video where a person had quit his social media for 1 straight year even though he was having a few thousand followers on Insta. Although he was having these many followers he was wasting a lot of time scrolling through the app for hours and this made him decide to quit social media.

Now after watching that video, I decided to check how much time I was spending using my smartphone and it was shocking to see that I was using around 6 to 7 hours daily and there were even days when I used more than 8 hours per day.

As I am in the final year of graduation I have online classes to attend, but these stats don’t include the time spent for online classes because I was not attending them at all and wasting my time in many different ways ;)

This made me realize how much time I was wasting on this virtual stuff which doesn’t make any sense(Not All) or any difference. Even though most of the time I use my phone for gaining knowledge but it only lasts for a few days and I’ll be back on track wasting my time.

So this time I decided to take some serious action on this to reduce screen time and focus on things that are important and that will help me in long run.

Planning Phase

I decided to reduce screen time, but I took n number of decisions in the past that didn’t last long. So this time I need a plan and I made one.

According to the plan, I should only use around 2 hours/day and use a maximum of time doing other things that are important to my personal and professional life (if I have one).

The plan contains the following things

Mute Notifications For Apps That Are Not Important. Download Screen StopWatch (It is a wallpaper app that shows how much time you have consumed). Consume data that will help you personally or your work. Start a writing/reading habit (optional).

This is the design of my plan and I decided to follow these rules strictly to help myself.

Having a plan itself is a bonus point because it will help you do the task in a well-structured manner without hopping between different things.

Implementation Phase

No plan will ever reach its goal without proper implementation.

By now everything was ready from my mindset to the plan. Let’s see how the week went day by day.

Day 1

I was waiting for this day to start and finally, it happened.

On the first day, I used my phone for around 2 hours as per the plan and I felt very happy for myself.

Day 1 — Completed (Happy)

Day 2

After completing day 1, I was ready for day 2.

And day 2 was no different from day 1, everything went on smoothly and I reduced screen time as much as possible.

Both days were quite similar in terms of how I spent them.

Day 2 — Completed (Super Happy)

Day 3

This time, I used more than day 1 and day 2, but it was just 10–20 min above 2 hrs.

On both days, I managed to use less than 2 hrs, and three days combined the average boils down to 2 hrs.

Day 3 — Completed (Satisfied)

Day 4

On day 4 I was shocked to see how much I reduced my screen time. It was just a couple of minutes less than an hour.

I not only reduced the screen time but was also doing things that are important.

Day 4 — Completed (Very Very Happy)

Day 5

Day 5 was similar to Day 3 and the screen time was slight above 2 Hrs.

By this time I was habituated to the plan and was not checking the phone constantly.

Day 5 — Completed (Satisfied)

Day 6

Day 6 was a kind of black day for me, I used more than 4 Hrs.

But on day 6 I was having some exam, so I need to check my phone constantly.

Ok, I shouldn’t have done that but it eventually happened. Instead of giving excuses, I accepted that this day I used a lot more than required.

No path to a great thing is a cakewalk.

So it happens and we should learn from those fall downs and should not repeat them.

And it was not over because the average was still just above 2 Hrs.

Day 6 — Completed (Not So Happy)

Day 7

After spending more than 4 Hrs the previous day, I wanted to reduce the average and reduce the screen time as much as possible.

And finally, I used less than 2 Hrs on the final day of the week, and the average also reduced a bit.

Day 7 — Completed (Felt Very Happy)

Result

Image From Gallery

As you can see the average was 2 Hrs 32 min from 19th Dec to 25 Dec.

From 6 or 7 Hrs/day to an average of around 2 Hrs/week it was a short journey where I learned how much I was wasting and how much time I can utilize in a day.

These are the changes I observed in these 7 days.

I spent more time with my family. Was away from all the internet bullshit. I was more productive than earlier. I realized how much time I have in a day and how I can use it. Increased my confidence levels. Organizing time properly. Spending time with myself.

Was It Easy?

HECK NO!

Even though it seems very easy to tell, but it was tough to make it happen.

During the first two days, I used to unlock my phone constantly to check any updates.

But all the notifications were off and when I unlocked my phone, the wallpaper showed me how much time I spent. So this led me to lock my phone and keep it aside.

After two days, the urge of checking my phone reduced, and I would spend hours without my phone.

After one week I still want to continue this streak and if possible I will try to reduce more screen time.

Key Takeaways

You have a lot of time in your hands, you just need to prioritize things. Having a goal is good, but having a plan to achieve it is better. So have a plan. You will not be forever in this world, so spend time doing things that are important. Less bullshit means you have more space for good things to observe. If you think you will miss everything if you don’t use your phone, just think again.

This is my first post on Medium. So ignore my mistakes, if any.

Thank you for your time. Have a great day. Keep smiling :)