No Phone Day — Keeps screentime away.
I have been experimenting with reducing my mobile screen time for a while now. You can check out my previous blog here on Screen Time detox, on how I started my journey.
I wanted to take up an interesting challenge — Can I stay without looking at my mobile throughout the day? #NoPhoneDay. On Sunday, 18th October 2020, I tried my first attempt. The question arises, what do I do throughout the day then? How do you use the time?
It’s pretty easy for us that when we get a little free time we just take out the mobile from our wallet and check out the notifications, Funny dance videos, WhatsApp statuses and a lot more… Sometimes, you may also end up buying something on Amazon, even though that wasn't your intent at all.
This is how I spent my time:
- Day started by doing some meditation and physical activity
- 9 am to 1:30 pm — Had attended a fantastic session on Product Onboarding by GrowthX ( If you would like to learn about product growth— check them out — They are really good)
- Followed by a sumptuous meal with family and a couple of fantastic documentaries on Netflix — Bad boy billionaires and Our Planet
- Spent a lot of time with my daughter playing games and telling her stories from the latest Einstein Box collection — Educational box kit for kids.
- Had a great dinner and slept early.
All this while I was at home I ensured that I don’t carry my mobile with me. I just kept it at a secluded place in home with my ringtone ON, only to attend any important call.
Toughest part that I didn’t cover
That evening went out with my wife for shopping at a nearby clothing store. This is the toughest part, as you have your mobile in your pocket and your wife is busy checking out the latest collection and you can’t even open your mobile or stare at your mobile to kill the time.
This has been the most challenging part for me. When you are so used to mobile that it’s become the best way to kill the time and here you are standing idle and you can’t even take your mobile out because of the challenge.
I successfully completed the toughest part and it was a great feeling personally once I completed it.
The next day
I was afraid if I had missed any important discussions on my WhatsApp or I missed any important client email. When I opened my mailbox and my WhatsApp — I realized that nothing important was there. 99% of the emails were just marketing emails and spams trying to take away my time and WhatsApp unread messages still had the same jokes and COVID19 forward messages.
Impact on my week
#NoPhoneDay had a positive impact on the rest of the week as well. My personal productivity has shot up. I was able to do more quality work. My screen time has reduced drastically. Earlier I was thinking how can I achieve < 3hr per day average and now I had a < 1 hr per day average over the week.
It’s been a great personal achievement.
