The year I got my attention back

What I learnt from my seven day challenge to reset my smartphone habits.

Last year was the inaugural launch of the Spring Screen Break. Initially, I was going to ditch my smartphone altogether and replace it with a dumb phone, but in reality that wasn’t going to work for me. Instead, I completely dumbed down my smartphone so that it became, quite literally, a phone and a camera.

The first thing I noticed almost immediately was how much better I slept. When we consider how important sleep is for our general mental health and wellbeing, this was a significant finding for me.

The other change was a deeper sense of settlement within myself, and an ability to sit and focus on whatever I was doing in a way that felt noticeably different from when my phone had social media on it, including LinkedIn, Pinterest and other platforms.

Another significant change, which has continued throughout the year, is that I have read considerably more books than I think I have in the last decade. Honestly, I think I have read around 15 books this year, some related to work and others simply novels.

When I first started reading books again, it genuinely felt as though I had forgotten how to read. My head sort of moved with my eyes as I read along the page, and I remember thinking, this is so weird, I’m being so weird! But it really did feel as though I had forgotten how to read.

It only took a few days of regular reading before I was back to keeping my head still and letting my eyes do what they needed to do.

That has been a real highlight for me: rediscovering the depth of thinking that is required when physically reading a book. Having also read The Digital Delusion at the beginning of this year, which examines why EdTech has failed to deliver many of its promised educational benefits, it has reinforced for me the importance of reading from a physical book or piece of paper.

In fact, Horvath, the author, argues that one of the most useful things a family can do is buy a printer so that homework and worksheets can be printed and completed physically, with a real pen or pencil. Of course, that comes with its own challenges. Printers are expensive and ink is very expensive, so this is not necessarily an accessible option for every family.

The reason this matters is connected to what happens in our bodies and brains when we physically interact with a book or worksheet. Learning is not simply about absorbing information; it involves a whole three-dimensional biological process.

When you are reading a physical book, for example, your recall of a particular piece of information may include a spatial memory: “That was somewhere in the middle of the book, on the left-hand side.” You can physically return to the place where you encountered that information. That physicality, and the spatial placement of memory, are important aspects of how we learn.

This is probably one of the biggest things I have learnt this year: deep learning requires deep thinking, and our capacity for deep thinking can be significantly disrupted by the constant interruptions and fragmented attention associated with social media.

But, like many people before me have discovered, you can do these experiments and resets and then slowly, slowly, slowly find yourself slipping back into old habits.

My first bad habit was discovering that I could access Facebook through Messenger. I wish I hadn’t learnt that, but there we are! The other thing that happened was that I downloaded Instagram about two months ago for work reasons. Having also taken up art and creative making again, I have spent many hours watching people paint. Goodness, it’s so absolutely enjoyable, but it comes with a consequence and a cost.

And that question of cost is something I keep coming back to.

I remember when I stopped smoking, and one of the things that helped me most was recognising what smoking was actually costing me. I read The Easy Way to Stop Smoking, and there was one example that really stayed with me.

When you are a smoker, you are often thinking about when you can get your next nicotine fix. You are therefore never completely present in what you are doing. Even when something wonderful is happening, part of your attention may be occupied with when you can leave and have a cigarette.

The example in the book was a father at his daughter’s wedding. While the ceremony is happening, rather than being completely present in this extraordinary moment, part of him simply wants it to finish so he can go and have a cigarette.

When you frame it like that, you suddenly see the cost.

It is costing you joy. It is costing you presence. It can even cost you something in your relationships.

And I think technology can do something remarkably similar — except it is woven into far more moments of our everyday lives.

My husband gets very annoyed with me when I’m on my phone and not properly present, and fair play, he should get annoyed!

So this Spring Screen Break, I’m going back in for the reset.

I want to see how long I can go without social media. I’ll probably try to go beyond seven days, but more importantly, I want to pay attention again to what happens when it’s gone — to my sleep, my concentration, my reading, my creativity and my relationships.

I also want to become much more conscious about what I choose to use, when I use it and why. If I consciously decide that I want to spend 30 minutes switching off and watching people make art, that’s okay. What I want to reduce is finding myself lost in a scrolling void with no clear end point.

And I want to actively look for alternatives — other places and other ways to get the information, creativity and inspiration that I currently get through social media.

Because perhaps the most important thing I learnt last year wasn’t what I gained from social media, but what came back when I took it away.