Your Screen Time Means Jack
I've seen on youtube for a while these videos about reducing screen time. The thumbnail always has some ludicrously low screen time count sub-30 minutes. Which I feel already sets people with a certain expectation of how they themselves should have screen time. It seems to lead some to micromanaging their screen time data like a middle manager with nothing better to do.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't guilty of this. I would try my damnedest to get even below an hour. Then something dawned on me. What even really "counts" as screen time? Like yeah, doomscrolling certainly counts, but what about things like work or even talking with loved ones? That counts as screen time too technically speaking.
This leads me wondering if the people who post pictures of their average 30 minute screen time even have a life. Like do they not text/call friends/family? Do they not do work off their phone? How are they actually getting that low of a time?
It also made me question the honesty of these sorts of videos. Sure your screen time on your phone says 30 minutes, but what about your computer? If you're not actually addressing the root of your habits, you end up just shifting it from one setting to another and calling it "progress".
This was something I did with my dumbphone. Yes, I basically had little-to-none traditional screen time on my phone, but that just got offset with me yapping with friends on Discord and Matrix. So, did I really reduce screen time? Video games, screen time. Hell even work counts as screen time. The issue is that none of these outside factors are counted on your phone screen time, so on a superficial level it looks better. We roughly have a shitload of screen time, but really only look through the myopic lens of our phones because smartphone bad.
I have a bitch with looking at pure analytics, because rarely does it tell a complete story. It's one thing that I despise about the obsession with metrics at work, because people don't actually care about the nuances, they just want number to go up (or in the case of screentime, down).
I think this is where mindfulness of one's own habits matters more. Like yes, you may have say 2 hours on your screen time. If you look only at the number, this sounds like wasted time. However, if you consider how that screen time was spent, it may not seem so bad. Example, if you facetimed your mom for an hour, that counts. If you were texting your partner while at work, that counts. Add that up, and in reality you only spent like 30 minutes. The difference between reading a book on an iPad vs. an e-book is one tracks reading as screen time (well, and one is e-ink, you get the point).
For most, the reason for wanting to reducing screen time is to be more mindful and build deeper connections with people and things in their life. You have to be honest with yourself when it comes to this sort of thing. You have to understand what your real objective is when it comes to reducing screen time.
The point I'm making here is if you're someone who finds themselves constantly anxious about reducing screen time, you need to actually consider how that time is spent. Not all screen time is created equal, but only you can decide that.
Your screen time at the end of the day means jack shit if you don't actually remain mindful of it.
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