iPhone 12 VS Nokia 3310

I remember the day that my parents finally gave into getting me an iPhone. I was so excited and giddy as we got dressed and drove to the mall. I guess all of that excitement brushed off onto my parents too because before I knew it, all 3 of us were trading in our Blackberry Curves for the glorious iPhone 4.

As I grew older, my iPhone did not. My cherished iPhone 4 turned into the 5, then the 5C, the SE, the 7, then finally, the iPhone 11. That’s 6 phones in the span of maybe 8 years. Don’t get me wrong- there was absolutely nothing wrong with any of them (except the 7 which I broke). I simply and mindlessly followed the trend to switch phones to get the latest features and a growing screen.

About a month ago, my dad was telling me about the new iPhone 12 and the iPhone mini. Just to let it be known, I have a weakness for objects that are smaller than the status quo. Proof? I drive a Smart car. Anyway, here I am, with a perfectly good iPhone 11, ready to jump to the 12.

The following Sunday, my phone pings with the weekly “Screen time” updates. Normally, I just ignore these however this time something prompted me to look. 6 hours and 29 minutes...PER DAY. I knew that I spend time everyday on Instagram and all those fun apps, however I would’ve never thought that I spent 6 and a half hours on my phone everyday. I don’t even remember what it was that I was doing.

Thus started my journey to reduce my screen time. I used to constantly complain that I don’t have time to study or complete my work or cook or clean. I realize now that that is absolutely true. When you take out 6 hours of your day, of course you won’t have time to do anything. This ”lack of hours in a day” enabled some irrelevant behaviours. Since I didn’t have time to prepare a lunch, I was justified to spend $23 on Uber Eats. Since I didn’t have time to go through all of my emails at work, I was justified to bring my phone to the washroom (don’t judge, we all do it).

A week later, again on Sunday, I receive my screen time notification: 6 hours and 13 minutes. How come my tedious efforts only reduced my time by 16 minutes a day? I wasn’t in control at all. The infinite scroll into a black hole was eating my time and my energy.

I needed an extra push to help me get out of this terrible cycle. When a friend messaged me on Instagram, I replied then ended up spending about 10 minutes just scrolling, practically free-falling from post to post. Same thing when people messaged me or send me notifications on Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp, email, etc. I may not have been scrolling on WhatsApp for hours, however I started there then ended up somewhere else. I realized that I was making myself too accessible. Not only did this type of accessibility eat up my time, it justified me paying $50 a month for my phone bill just to be able to have internet wherever I go. All that so I could look an a funny (hilarious) meme, on-the-go.

So I took the next step: cutting my phone bill in half. I stopped paying for data and even requested a data block on my phone. I can almost hear you saying “What about Google Maps?”. Let it be known that you can pre-download geographical locations on Google Maps, therefore you don’t even have to use data to navigate. Plus, I paid the extra $500 for navigation in my car, so why wasn’t I using it? A week later, my screen time was down to a little less than 4 hours. That’s when the Nokia 3310 came into my life.

The Nokia cost about $80 and has barely any of the features the iPhone has. Surprisingly, it does have a browser and a Facebook app pre-installed, however with my data block and no possibility to connect to wifi, I have no temptation to go on it. It has buttons, and games like Tetris and Snake.

There’s no way to know exactly how much time I am spending on my Nokia. One thing I can tell you however is that I am waking up earlier with more energy, I have time to have breakfast, prepare a lunch, take care of my parrot and dog, get prepared myself, and drive to work without being pressed for time. Before, the first thing I used to do when I opened my eyes in the morning was grab my phone and scroll for a good half hour (you probably do it too). Yes, it does take some effort to text as I have to press 7 four times to get the “s”, however I appreciate it because I value in person and phone conversations over text conversations.

My approach to reducing screen time is not suitable for everyone, I understand that. This being said, it is very important to be 100% in the moment at all times. You may be losing precious time and energy in your day too, without even being conscious of it.