Photo captured in my home in California, depicting the iPhone app “Present,” which helps reduce screen time.
As I wrote about in my last blog post, there is tremendous joy to be found in being truly present with others, apart from technological devices. Even though I know this from firsthand experience, I still find myself spending way longer on my phone than I'd like to.
Last year, in an attempt to spend less time looking down at my screen, I discovered the iPhone app Present. When I downloaded it, I was asked how much estimated time I was currently spending on my phone. Based on my answer, I was told me that I'd spend an estimated 10 years on my phone...ummm YIKES! That was a shocker. But then the app assured me that the average app users screen time declines by 50% within their first week of using it. Even so, I didn't know if this app would really be of any help in achieving my goals of disconnecting. After all, I've tried other methods to reduce my screen time before and while they've helped in certain ways, I still find myself coming back to my phone much more than I desire.
But recently..I realized Present really could work for me when I discovered there was a weekly "Leaderboard" that placed me competition with other people. I'm competitive by nature, so competition is a fantastic motivation for me. Each week, users can advance to a new league, all the way up to five leagues. Once a user advances out of the first league—from Bronze to Silver—he or she can either get promoted, demoted, or stay in place from week to week. Since watching my results in this weekly competition, I've been able to start keeping my screen time under an hour.
Two days ago, I had a realization that Present was not only motivating me to reduce my screen time, but it was also helping me be truly engaged with others. On a drive to dinner in downtown LA with my husband and mother-in-law, I decided to leave my phone at home. In the car, instead of compulsively checking messages or apps, I found myself enjoying delightful conversation and learning Korean with my husband and his mom, both of whom are native speakers. On our way to dinner, my husband and his mom taught me how to count to 1o in Korean. Then on our way home, my husband continued teaching me to count in Korean and I discovered a pattern: all numbers from 11 to 99 incorporated the words for 1 through 10. Following this pattern, I quickly learned how to count to 99 in Korean. My husband then taught me the Korean words for one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, and one million. Once I learned these words, I could extend my counting skills to grasp numbers from 101 through one million.
Without my phone, I playfully joked with my husband that in about 30 minutes I had learned one million Korean words. But the real lesson in this story is not in my newfound ability to count in Korean—though I was very invigorated by the experience. The sweeter reality is that in disconnecting from my phone, I was able to connect in a more meaningful way with my mother-in-law and husband than if I had brought my phone for the ride.
So I'd encourage you, if you have an iPhone, to try the app Present and see what you think.
It just might help you, too, be more present with others.
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