A Day With My Smartphone

I wrote those words back in 2017 when working a little project called Deetox, which was aiming at helping people to live a more balanced life with technology and more precisely with smartphones. Yet, I never posted these words…

Today more then ever before, I think it’s time to share my somehow innocent thoughts of the time. We’re more and more pulled in our smartphones and it won’t get any better with the metaverse in sight (where we basically “move in” the technology).

Smartphones have a huge impact on our lives, and it’s both bad and good. Undeniably, it’s really helpful for personal and work life, but it also brings toxic changes. Yeah, that little bad habit we don’t even bother fighting. We are, in a way, addicted to these dopamine hits which are the result of the combination of smartphones and social medias (mostly). I like to say that the smartphone is the syringe and social media the drug.

Are you addicted like me? Let’s walk through a regular day of my life and see if you can relate.

07:30 am 🕢

I usually wake up at 07:30 in the morning (when I’m not being lazy). Obviously, my smartphone is my alarm, so it wakes me up every day. To stop it (snooze it tho), I need to grab it and once in my hand I notice all these notifications which gives me the first dopamine hit of the day.

It all starts while having my breakfast (it is important kids, always get a big breakfast), I check the notifications received during the night but put some on hold, it gives me a feeling of control and power. I keep them for later. I scroll down on Facebook — I don’t use FB tbh — , Instagram and Twitter (I deleted my Snapchat account 😎💪🏻). Finally, before leaving the house, I put on my headphones and hit up Spotify.

09:00 am 🕘

It’s time to ride the train for Paris. Always with music on, I read a book but the urge to check social media is so tempting that I get lost and I have to start the page over and over until I give up. Once at the office, I like to leave my phone for a bit (usually less than 10 minutes) to chitchat with the guys and have a cup of tea. I spend the morning switching between screens, working on my laptop 💻 and checking my smartphone 📱. Music helps me focus and disconnect from the environment where everybody is busy and on calls.

01:00 pm 🕛

As I have a big breakfast, I eat a bit later than noon. During lunchtime, I go out to get food (too lazy to cook for the next day or meal prep for the week) and I love walking in the streets of Paris 🇫🇷. Back at the office, when I don’t eat with the guys I have a one-to-one lunch with my laptop (it happened too frequently lately), learning new stuff on YouTube or working.

02:00 pm 🕐

It’s time to get back to work. My smartphone is always close to me, even when I go to the bathroom. Even tho I always put the “Do Not Disturb” mode on 📴, the habit I’ve created forces me to check my smartphone for no reason. Most of the time I just turn on and turn off the screen quickly, I don’t even notice what time it is. That little bad habit looking harmless is disturbing my productivity and it takes 23 minutes to be fully focused again (it’s proven). This goes on for most of the afternoon.

07:30 pm 🕢

Before leaving work I reflect on my day and my accomplishment of the day, if satisfied I can go home happily. My phone is always there (I make sure it has enough battery for the long ride home), I put some music to hit the streets of Paris 🇫🇷. I also check my notifications and emails one last time in case I forgot to reply to something important.

Once in the train for home, I notice all those people having the same addiction, called it whatever you want, at the end of the day it’s still people hooked on their smartphones getting that social media drug. I also notice that it’s in these little moment, when alone, tired from work, that we let the smartphone take control of our mind and body 🤳🏻. It’s the easiest thing to do after a long day. We plug in to forget everything around us, avoiding eye contact and discussion.

09:00 pm 🕘

When dining with friends, I usually don’t check my phone but if the persons I’m dining with grab theirs, I’ll do it too just because I want to avoid that awkward silent moment 🤦‍. When I’m dining with people, we usually talk, so we don’t really bother touching any devices. However, I noticed something really disturbing lately, my parents spend more and more time on their smartphone. My mom had her first decent smartphone 2 years ago and I observed the change in her life. She can’t live without it now. This shows me that, even if you didn’t grow up with tech, it is super easy to get hooked to it.

10:00 pm 🕙

I never watch TV unless there’s a football on ⚽️. Instead, I spend my evening watch series (Black Mirror ◼️📱 and Silicon Valley 🌉) on my laptop. I constantly engage with connected devices and I can really feel the fatigue from over-using them but I can’t unplug, afraid of missing out something important (FOMO). Rather than giving my brain a break, I’m always seeking for productivity (at least, it’s what I believe).

01:00 am 🕐

Yep, still awake, scrolling that endless news feed on social media. I can feel the fatigue and the need to sleep 😴 but I can’t help myself and scroll down. It’s in those moments that I really feel the addiction, alone in my bed, lights off, knowing that I should sleep instead.

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read my article.

While writing this piece, I made some changes that are helping me to better manage my smartphone and my time. Plus, I feel less addicted by doing simple tasks such as always putting my smartphone on “Do Not Disturb” mode. Please do not hesitate to reach out. Let’s talk about it. ;)

If you can relate to any of this, we share the same feeling, smartphones and social medias are good but a bit — a lot — intrusive and hooking us up. It’s time to make a change in our habits. Unplug 📵!