Alright, so this past month, I decided I’d actually try and do something connected to, you know, how our minds work. Nothing too heavy, no textbooks or anything. Just wanted to get practical with myself about a habit that was bugging me. My phone. Felt like it was practically attached to my hand most days. So, I thought, okay, let’s actually look at this thing properly for a bit.
Getting Started – Just Noticing
First off, I didn’t jump into using any fancy tracking apps or anything like that. Seemed like too much fuss setting it all up. Instead, I went super basic. I grabbed a small notepad and a pen that were just sitting on my desk. For the first few days, my only goal was this: every time I caught myself picking up my phone just to scroll or out of pure habit – not for an actual call or important message I was expecting – I’d make a little tally mark on the paper. That’s it. Felt a bit strange doing it, almost childish, but I stuck with it.
The Messy Middle Part
Well, let me tell you, those little marks added up quicker than I expected. Way quicker. Especially during downtime, like waiting for the kettle to boil, or sitting down after work. Just pure reflex, reaching for the phone. After maybe three or four days, that notepad page was looking pretty full. It made me stop and think, okay, why am I doing this so much?
So I started paying a bit more attention to the moments before I picked it up. What was going on?
- Boredom? Oh yeah, big time. If there was a quiet moment, the phone was the instant fix.
- Avoiding something? Sometimes, definitely. Like if I had a task I didn’t really want to start. Quick scroll felt easier.
- Just plain habit? Absolutely. My hand just seemed to move on its own towards my pocket or wherever the phone was.
Seeing it written down, even just as tally marks, made it feel more real. So, I tried a small experiment. For an hour each evening, I started leaving my phone charging in another room, like the kitchen, instead of having it right next to me on the sofa or desk. Honestly, the first few times felt really weird. Like I was missing something important, even though I wasn’t. That urge to just check it was surprisingly strong.
What I Saw Happening
After a couple of weeks of this tallying and the ‘phone-in-another-room’ thing, some patterns became super obvious. Lunch breaks were prime scrolling time. Right before bed was another big one. And yeah, sometimes even right after waking up. The funny thing was, looking back, half the time I wasn’t even enjoying what I was looking at. It was just… automatic. Mechanical.
The main change wasn’t really in the numbers, though maybe they dropped a tiny bit. The biggest thing was the awareness. Just the act of having to make a mark, or thinking about why I was reaching, forced a little pause. A moment of actually noticing what my brain was doing on autopilot.
So, End of the Month…
Did I magically transform into someone who barely uses their phone? Nope. Let’s be real. It’s still a big part of daily life. But, I definitely feel more in control now, or at least more aware. That’s the key takeaway for me. I catch myself reaching for it out of habit much more often now. And I actually ask myself, “Wait, do I really need to look at this right now, or am I just bored/procrastinating/on autopilot?”
Sometimes the answer is still “Yeah, I wanna check the news” or whatever. But other times, it’s a clear “Nah,” and I manage to put it back down, or just leave it where it is. That feels like a win. It wasn’t about hitting some magic low number of pickups. It was more about the process of paying attention to my own automatic behaviours. Just noticing them is a pretty powerful first step, turns out. Simple, but effective for me this month.
