How I'm Handling My Break Up. . . .with my phone

Last time I was here I told you how I was making February the month to break up with my phone. Since we are in the first week of March (and just had our time route back to the glorious time of giving us more sun!) I thought I’d give a little re-cap.

What I learned, what actually worked, where I failed, all the things. Here goes.

First of all, let me begin by saying I did not completely unplug and can say it was not a clean break up. That being said, I am going to push forward with this break up and continue to do my best to keep this fella from hoarding my time.

What worked and Why

Moving my phone charger from beside my bed and across my room was a simple step and helped me not reach for my phone first thing in the morning (which I had already mastered, but this was reinforcement). It made my evening time on the phone be much for intentional since it was not right at my fingertips. Some nights I would give myself an alotted 5 - 10 mintues of phone time at the beginning of my night time routine, then put it away, meaning I had to get up and walk across the room to put it in the charger, then I would crawl back in bed with my book.

I found I focused more on my book and did not get “itchy” fingers to reach, mindlessly, for my phone.

I found that the “itchiness” to grab my phone while winding down was simply a habit I had developed. It wasn’t a helpful one and even just being aware of it helped me stop myself, marvel at how stupid that was, and try to do better.

I found that the phone, the reading new work emails, or annoying promo emails on my personal email, and scrolling social media did nothing to help me wind down.

And since the whole intent of a night time routine is to wind down and get good rest, the less I was on my phone the better I was at clearing my head, reading and eventually falling asleep. Some days are better than others, but as a whole it’s a much calmer feeling. (This is still a huge hurdle for me as my sleep has been trash lately, but I can only imagine how worse it would be if I was doom scrolling!).

During work hours, I often time block by setting a timer for 30 - 45 minutes, move my phone to another room and actually focus. This actually works. It takes away my really bad habit of reaching for my phone when I have a work issue I need to noodle or do not want to deal with. It makes me actually do the work rather than grab my phone for a distraction or quick dopamine hit.

Recently I have been taking some walks without my phone. Typically, if you see me out walking my dog, I will have an ear bud in one ear as I will most often be listening to a book, podcast or music. I swapped out the phone for no noise in my ear, which if I’m honest can be a good thing or bad thing, depending on what is going on in my head! I did find that sometimes it was really good to be noise free. To not have a story, a commentator or music filling that space, and actually have the white space for more calmness and clarity. I also found myself talking out loud more to my dog. . .

Drive time was the same. I used to not understand how folks could be in a car without the radio. I totally get it now. Sometimes, even on some of my car trips, it’s nice to be noise free.

In my effort to reduce my phone time, especially my Instagram time, I have had my instagram set on a time limit. Well, I have to confess that does not work. It is far too easy to give yourself an extra five minutes. So, that does NOT actually work. BUT I did find that keeping the time limit made me much more intentional about the time I was spending looking at my feed. While I might have overridden the time more often than I’d like to admit, I am still visiting less and less. Plus, I am much choosier about the accounts I follow, why I am there and what I am consuming. As my time is limited I don’t want to waste it and I actually do not feel as I’m missing out on anything I really need to see or consume.

A change to my own Social Media Consumption

I have drilled down on the content that educates, entertains and inspires me. For me, that is real health and wellness accounts, with certified and credentialed leaders, lovely home and garden accounts that make viewing feel good for the beautiful content, solid fitness accounts that offer new workout ideas and knowledge to try and share with my own classes, real people with real stories , those sharing faith and inspiration, some new to me accounts of creative, working women, and female lawyers, sharing their own tips and tricks and, of course, my real life friends and, yes, give me all the fun dog videos!

Unexpected Benefit

Far less Amazon packages are showing up at my front door! I had not really thought of this but it makes so much sense, doesn’t it? Mindless Scrolling = Mindless Spending. Instagram (and I hear Tik Tok, but since I am not on Tik Tok I cannot speak to this) make it sooooo easy to click and purchase. It’s actually ridiculous. And since I have declared 2026 to also be my year of saving v. spending, the easy consumerism created by all the links is NOT in my best interest.

My Takeaway

All in all, this has been a needed break up for me. I also do not think I am the only one out there affected by our screens. I know our children are. I often think that if this is something I am having to deal with, and I am of a “certain” age, then how ingrained and addicting it is this to those young, still forming brains that are now growing up with smart phones and the constant deluge of information, influences, photographs and sound bites.

I see how my phone and the short form information has shortened my attention span and focus. I am working to override that. I see time wasted falling down rabbit holes that leave me unfulfilled and wondering why I didn’t have enough time in my day. I see how easy it is to not be bored, even though I know the best ways to tackle boredom and the actual beauty of boredom.

We are all too busy living big, full lives to twiddle away our precious time staring down at our phones. While I do not want to totally give up my “Instagram friends” and meaningful content, I also want and need more real life, face to face, conversations. I have hobbies to enjoy, DIY projects on my list, books to read, Mahjong to learn, hours to bill ):, posts to share here, Pickle to play, dogs to walk. . .

So, that’s how the break up is going so far. I plan on continuing and know it’ll keep getting easier.

As always, I’d love your own experience, input or ideas!