What if I could give you just one tip for the new year that would improve not only your writing at work but your entire life?
I can. That tip? Ditch digital.
By that, I mean ditch the smart phone as that’s how much of our digital interaction happens.
OK, I realize few of us can totally ditch the smart phone. But we can spend a lot less time on it and improve both our writing at work and our quality of life.
The writing part might be obvious, and I have outlined the ways your smart phone dumbs down your writing at work here. And remember, your phone is a distraction even when you put it away somewhere. Research shows, if it’s in the same room with you, your phone is a distraction.
The quality of life part might be less obvious, but not if you stop and look around at people around you when out in public. You’ll probably see what I see.
I see people in the waiting room at the dentist staring at their phones, parents sitting in school parking lots in their cars on their phones, couples having dinner in a restaurant with both focused only on their phones and not each other, employees pulling their phones out of their pockets and scrolling while at work.
Just the other day while waiting at the train station, I watched a father and two daughters all scrolling on their phones, not interacting with each other, not noticing the world around them.
Yes, we are addicted and it’s impacting our lives
Let’s be honest: We are spending too much time on our phones. An article at Becoming Minimalist cites statistics that prove our cell phone addiction, including:
- The typical cell phone user touches their phone 2,617 times every day.
- People average 3 hours and 15 minuteson their phones every day.
- People often pick up their phone again within 3 minutes of putting it down.
People complain about being busy/tired/overweight/unhappy in their marriages/etc., but spend 3 hours a day on their phones?
Do you know how much you can get done in 3 hours?
You can fix a lot of what ails you in 3 hours a day!
My husband and I do marriage ministry for couples in crisis. Although we ask these couples to leave their phones in their hotel rooms so they can focus on the material we are presenting, many of them still bring their phones to the meeting room. And, quite honestly, their cell phone use could be contributing to their marital problems.
Ways to avoid your phone
So let’s put down the darn phones, okay?? Let’s break the bad habits and develop good ones.
The Becoming Minimalist article mentioned above has good ideas for breaking cell phone addiction. I highly recommend reading it and I have a few more suggestions to add to his list:
- Get into the habit of doing something else first thing in the morning. You do NOT need to check your email, social media or news feeds first thing in the morning. No, you don’t. Trust me.
- Use non-phone alternatives. Wear a watch. Use a real camera and calculator. Buy an alarm clock.
- Go back to paper. Carry a pocket-sized calendar. Keep maps in your car. Use an address book.
- Plan ahead. Look up directions before you walk out the door.
- Carry a book with you, or a journal, or a sketchbook, or something else to do when waiting. Do not use your phone to fill up empty time!
What about email?
OK, you want to keep your email on your phone because of work. I get it. So turn off the notifications. That way you only check email when you want to (preferably during time you have scheduled for that purpose), not when your phone dings you. Then strive to limit doing email on your phone. Email done on a smart phone is email done poorly. If it’s not urgent (and it’s probably not), wait until you’re back at your desk to reply.
Full disclosure: How I use my phone
I’m not a Luddite. I do use my phone as more than a phone. I have the Cornell Labs Merlin Bird ID app on my phone which I love! And that has been quite educational (and I highly recommend it!). I use my phone when I need a ride with Lyft and for music using Pandora. I will look up recipe hints with it when cooking dinner. And I am not sure I could survive without my audiobooks that I get through my local library!
But I am careful and judicious in my use of the phone. I have no social media apps or newsfeeds. I don’t do email on my phone. I was using Duolingo to learn Spanish but when they redesigned it to be gamified to a ridiculous degree, I deleted the app. I do use the camera more than I’d like and I plan to get a real camera in 2024. And to be honest, I would switch to the Light phone if we could get coverage where we live…although I’d miss that bird identification app.
And I do carry my phone with me when outside because I want it with me when walking the dogs in the woods or riding a horse up the hill—for safety purposes. It is also how I stay in touch with my husband when he’s away for work, as short texts are easier for him to manage than phone calls. But having my phone with me without allowing it to become habit-forming required being aware of what is designed to suck me in and saying “no” to it.
Now it’s your turn
You might be reading this (if you’re still reading) and thinking it doesn’t apply to you. But I’d be shocked if there wasn’t something you could do to decrease your time on your phone. Ask yourself honestly:
- What is addictive about what I allow on my phone and how I use it?
- What can I do another way to avoid the addictive aspects?
- What do I really want to use my phone for?
- How much time will I get back if I put my phone down?
Circling back to writing at work
As I promised at the beginning, ditching digital will improve your writing at work and your quality of life. I focused on the writing at work benefits in another post so this was my chance to argue for less phone use from the perspective of improving your life (and relationships). But the two are interconnected because when you are on your phone less, you are less distracted by it while writing and you are less likely to use it for email—two big factors in improving your writing at work.
I titled this blog post Ditching Digital, but only because it’s a catchy title. In truth, I’m not asking you to get rid of your phone. I’m asking you to become the master of it rather than the slave to it. I’m asking you to put it down, put your precious time to better use, and improve both your writing at work and your quality of life.
Sound good?
Photo by Andre Furtado: https://www.pexels.com/photo/standing-woman-surrounded-of-sunflowers-1260988/