Reflections from Dumb Phone Summer
Dumb Phone Summer Wrap Up
This summer, I decided to “dumb down” my smart phone in an effort to simplify my life, stay more present to the moment around me, & re-evaluate how I used my phone overall. (You can check out the blog I wrote about it, here.) In short, what this looked like practically speaking for me was making the following changes to how I used my smart phone:
removing email completely from my phone
utilizing “Do Not Disturb” periodically throughout the day
only using Instagram on my phone once or twice throughout the day to respond to DMs, re-share, or post content - NO SCROLLING
removing text messages from my home screen
remove Safari from my home screen & only using when necessary
removing other distracting apps & only keeping ones that serve a “utility” purpose
How the Phone Detox Went
Overall, while there were definitely inconveniences included in this little challenge, I REALLY enjoyed my “dumb phone summer”! It was very enlightening in regards to how I want to use my phone moving forward. I’ll share some of the benefits, struggles, & which changes I intend to keep as part my normal rhythm moving forward.
The Biggest Benefit
The biggest benefit I experienced during this summer challenge was rest for my mind. Life this summer was crazy enough with 3 kids home at home from school & running a business & just the fullness of regular ol’ thangs. Streamlining how I used my phone and what I allowed myself access to throughout the day helped bring a sort of peace to my life.
Before starting this little detox, I would compulsively check my email for work & hop on/off of Instagram all throughout the day. My summer boundaries were SO good for helping me stay present & FOCUSED in the moment, knowing I would have a chance to check in on work things at a time set aside later on in the day. My default had been to multitask with work mixed in throughout the day, which was okay at times, but would often lead me to checking out completely to what was happening right in front of me.
In complete honesty, raising children can at times feel mundane and repetitive -cutting up lunch into tiny bites for the baby, sitting on the floor playing with blocks, folding the laundry, picking up the same toys over and over, repeat. But, I BELIEVE, despite how I feel, that it is GOOD and worthy work. Yes, it may be repetitive and yes, I may not always have something grand to “show for myself” at the end of the day, but what a great privilege and blessing to have tiny humans to raise, to teach about God and His truth. It’s tempting, in the midst of these daily moments, to feel lonely or unproductive. And in those moments, it’s tempting to grab my phone and check out completely by hopping on Instagram or try to bolster my self-worth my multi-tasking with my business. Putting these boundaries in place for a season was so good for my soul.
The Biggest Struggles
One of the realities of running a business & “working from home” for me means that work life bleeds into my personal life at times. Yes, it’s up to me to create boundaries when I think it’s necessary, hence this whole challenge, but sometimes these boundaries just aren’t black and white.
For example, sometimes this summer, I needed to refer to time-sensitive work issues while on the go with the kids. Not having email on my phone was a big inconvenience in those moments! Most of the time, saving my time spent on email for specific periods of time at my computer was great and was all that I needed. But occasionally, this created a problem for me.
Or as another example, as great as it to be “unplugged” from my phone while on vacation, running a rentable photography studio means that I need to be available to my clients when they’re using the studio, whether I’m on vacation or not. That’s just how it is!
Different occupations require different levels of connectivity from us on our phones and sometimes those things are out of our control. I will always prefer a job that allows me more freedom to completely unplug and take time away from my phone, because it’s something I am passionate about, but sometimes I have to bend for what is required from me.
More Realizations
Internet | After reflecting this summer, having the internet on my phone is a convenience that I am thankful for. I use it a lot for searching for information needed in the moment - an address or hours for a restaurant, the dates for a summer park activity, meal train info for a friend, Google translate when chatting with a new friend I made, etc. I’m thankful that my boundaries reduced online shopping/perusing, exiting a convo to look up random info, and other things like that, but I was thankful to have it there when I need information quickly in the moment. My summer schedule with my kids was very much on-the-go, we were probably out adventuring more than we were at the house, and I often used the internet on my phone for quick and helpful info that contributed to our activities running smoothly.
Texting | I am realizing how much I use texting for helpful & brief communication. The Messages app still takes up the most screen time on my phone, but as I reflected on it throughout this challenge, I found that it’s helpful for coordinating and communicating quickly. In regards to connecting with other people, I will always prefer face-to-face conversations or talking over the phone, but I am glad to have texting on my phone for utility purposes.
Social Media | Not scrolling on social media was sooo nice. It was such a silly time-sucker for me and when I run a cost benefit analysis, it is clear to me that the benefits are meager compared to the distraction it can often be for me.
I’m going to make a few controversial statements now about social media... Scrolling social media for the purpose of “keeping up with people” is a ruse. In my opinion, thinking that social media helps us “keep up with people” is a trick of sorts. I just don’t think we were designed to be so connected with so many people. We each have different capacities for relationships, but I think we were only meant for so many meaningful relationships with people we love and social media offers a false promise and idea that we can stay close to more people than is really possible. When you stop using social media, you realize quickly who really matters to you and who you really matter to. And in all honesty, this can be a HARD thing to accept. We may WANT to stay close to everybody, all of our friends from high school and college and distant relatives, etc. But there are only so many people that we can actually know deeply and show up for when they need us most, and vice versa.
Personally, I feel most connected to people through quality time and conversation. So while I may be able to see what friends are up to on social media and that may give me a sense of knowing them, there often isn’t a real two-way connection happening in that moment.
I hold deep places of love for people I’ve known from different seasons of my life and when I do get to see people who live far away from me, it is SO special to reconnect and catch up and share vulnerably about what’s going on in life. And I think it’s OKAY that in those moments, I may not know everything that has happened in their life since I last saw them. It’s a reasonable expectation and is something we can catch up on when we get to talk one-on-one.
Habits I’m Going to Keep in Place
No email on my phone | Though inconvenient at times, I really enjoyed this boundary. I know myself and I can easily get sucked into checking my email all day. I preferred having times set aside to sit down at my computer and respond to several at once, instead of responding to individual emails all throughout the day. I feel more focused overall and like less communication is slipping through the cracks.
Not scrolling instagram | I tried only using Instagram on my computer at the start of this challenge, but the desktop version of Instagram just isn’t very user friendly. I had to re-download it to my phone in order to re-share things we were tagged in or create reels because the computer version didn’t have that capability. But, I didn’t use get sucked into the black hole of scrolling endlessly and my mind felt much less cluttered because of that. I’m planning to keep a similar rhythm with how I use it moving forward.
Using do not disturb | This was so helpful when I was in work-mode and didn’t want to be distracted!
Charging my phone in a separate room | This was just one more physical barrier and boundary to help keep me from scrolling at night or first thing when I wake up. This is a no-brainer for me.
Conclusion
I think participating regularly in challenges like this are a helpful way for me take a step back and re-evaluate my priorities & values. I can be an all-or-nothing type of person, which can be both good and bad… But I do respond well to challenges like these because they me clear my mind and sort of hit reset so I can decide which habits in my life need changing. I’m hopeful that the new habits I’ve built will serve me well in not feeling so busy and frantic in this very FULL season of life!
If you’re feeling like your phone has become a burden in your life, I encourage you to take a step back from it with a little detox of your own to re-evaluate things. I promise you won’t regret it!