One stat that will make you re-think your phone use

The average person touches their phone 2,617 times a day.¹

That’s not the insane stat I want to share with you.

Admittedly, I shared it just to get you to go, “whoa!” and read the rest of this week’s letter.

There are actually a few whoa-inducing things I want to share on phone use, and some tips I’m using to help me reduce my dependency.

Let’s dig in…

I shared a post on LinkedIn this week that compared phone addiction to trying to escape from an IKEA.

It felt like the perfect analogy for where we’re at:

We enter this digital world, forget where we are, and mindlessly follow the signals that lead us to more and more things we didn’t ask for, unable to find the exit.

The truth is though, we aren’t addicted to our phones.

We’re addicted to the feeling and experience they provide.

Just like we’re addicted to those delicious IKEA meatballs.

(Okay, maybe that’s just me 🤤)

As Gabor Maté says, addiction isn’t about the substance (device).

It’s about the pain it helps us to avoid.

Now, you might be thinking something like,

“Cory, I don’t feel pain when I pick up my phone.”

And that might be true, at least on the surface.

But the thing about the pain we experience in the modern world is that it doesn’t always scream.

Sometimes it’s a whisper in the form of boredom

Or in the retreat inside of the bathroom when you’re exhausted from a long day and are just trying to get a moment to yourself (🙋‍♂️ been there!)

We don’t always scroll to avoid pain…

We scroll to avoid silence, or to avoid being still.

We scroll because we’re tired and it feels like “rest”.

We scroll to feel connected, when we feel a bit alone.

We scroll to feel a spark of joy, when life feels hard.

It’s not because we are weak.

Like any addiction, we are adapting to our environment.

But adaptation has a cost.

Every swipe, tap or scroll is a trade.

By the end of the day, the average person has scrolled 300 feet worth of content², with almost nothing meaningful to show for it.

(That’s the size of the Statue of Liberty. Whoa!)

I don’t expect everyone who reads this to put their phone down and never pick it up again.

Our phones are so very useful.

We’ve just been trapped by the attention merchants who exploit these subtle pains we experience in our reality.

But this is important to me.

At the risk of being hyperbolic, the future depends on it.

We have to find a better way to leverage the value of technology, without letting it consume us.

Here are 3 things I’m doing to reduce my dependency:

1. Eliminate all non-essential apps.

   • Yes, that means instagram, facebook, and tik-tok. There is nothing essential about them. Stop tricking yourself.

2. Disable all notifications

   • This includes for messaging, emails, and other apps. Almost nothing is urgent, and you’re going to check anyway. This helps you check less.

3. Download Blank Spaces App

   • Turn your phone into a dumb phone and reduce distractions tenfold. Get the app here.

For those of you that want to take it a step further, I have a couple free downloads in my signature that could help.

Feel free to check them out and hit reply to this email if you have any questions.

Much Love,

Cory Firth
Creator of One Minute Weekend

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¹ Dscout Research: People Touch Cellphones 2,617 Times a Day [link]

² We Scroll Through 300ft of Newsfeed a Day, And Bad News Gets Most Attention [link]