Not All Screens Are the Problem
On the good kind of "getting lost"
I don’t know how I used to pass the time but it wasn’t this.
I need to make a change.
I need to get off my phone. I can feel it in my brain, body, bones, blood, soul, soles, shoes, seat, hands, hat, hair, nervous system, and midichlorians.
I need to get off my phone and the summer is the perfect time to do it.
HOW ARE YOU FEELING?
Fried?
Green?
Tomato?
I’M GRATEFUL FOR
Friends I can trust with what I’m going through
Friends who trust me with what they’re going through
Chili’s ranch dressing
Every Sunday morning around 9:30 am, my phone reports on the average amount of time I spent staring at the screen the previous week.
If I told you my average screen time, what number would it have to be for you to think I have a problem?
Put a number to it. How many hours a day?
I remember hearing a man older than me make a comment about how embarrassed he was by how much time he spent on his phone. He almost didn’t want to say his average out loud. He couldn’t believe it was that high. We egged him on until the reveal: 2 hours a day.
UH OH! If this guy thinks 2 hours is unbelievable, he can’t begin to comprehend how high my weekly average can go.
And then I’ll overhear someone younger than me reveal their average screen time and my eyes go cross as I try to do the math to figure out how they have any time left over to wipe or flush. The phone is a full time job.
If I keep staring at my phone, the summer will rush by and abandon me before I have a chance to notice. I’m still not used to writing 2025 at the top of my journal, and pretty soon the year is going to be half over. Stop it! Everyone needs to slow down!
Something needs to change. I need to get to where I can survive the majority of my day without even thinking about my phone. I need to be able to socialize without checking the screen every 5 minutes. I need to be present. I need to feed my brain with more than just a junk food diet of notifications and public freakout videos.
Last Thanksgiving I spent a week on a cruise with family. Everyday I sat in the shade alternating between reading and napping. No internet or cell service meant the screen stayed dark and ignored. It was wonderful! Like breathing mountain air after months of sucking on a tailpipe. My brain felt so refreshed. I want to feel that way more often!
Before we go any further, I would like to make one thing clear, your honor.
This isn’t about screens in general. This ain’t a screenless summer. No one’s calling for a screenless summer! I’m not throwing out my tv or canceling my membership to the local movie theater. It’s just the phone giving me trouble. It’s the speed and accessibility that make the phone uniquely devastating to my mind and time. There are positive benefits of other screens that my phone will never offer.
One of the best things about playing video games—or at least the games I like—is that it’s almost impossible to multitask. I can’t be on my phone while I’m playing. The controller takes two hands! It’s not worth it to keep pausing, putting the controller down, and picking up my phone. Just turn the thing on silent and flip it over for a while so you can get lost in the game! Those are the types of activities I’m looking to have more of: things that take up my full attention and are easy to get lost in.
I get lost in my phone but it’s different. I’m talking about the type of getting lost where everything else fades away and you’re so focused on what you’re doing that time stands still. You’re locked in. It’s a quiet type of getting lost.
The type of getting lost my phone offers is too loud. Time doesn’t slow down, it speeds up. I’m lost in a sea of stimulations! Sounds, alerts, music, notifications, videos, videos, videos, videos.
There’s getting lost in a good book and there’s getting lost in a sea of angry kindergarteners all screaming what they want you to do next. My phone feels like the latter.
When I go to a movie theater, I get to sit in a dark room where an entire wall is replaced with a screen. I’m not allowed to pull my phone out. My favorite theaters are the ones that take the no phones thing seriously. They’ve got guard monkeys perched in the rafters, ready with blow darts. Good. Yes. Force me to keep my phone off and away. I need it. I need to give my full attention over to the movie if I want to get lost in it. And I do. Getting lost in a movie is like taking my emotions out on a walk. Shock, excitement, embarrassment, hope, relief. Bring the feelings on!
Often walking out of the theater feels like I just got a massage. I’m all beat up and now I feel so loose and relaxed.
When I spend two hours getting lost in my phone I feel like I just took a nap in old chicken grease. The thinking and the feeling don’t run so good.
Everything is moving so quickly on that little screen! I go from app to app, subject to subject, mood to mood. It’s like I never stay on anything long enough to ever have a complete feeling. I just spend hours almost feeling sad or angry or happy. A half feeling. But don’t think about it too long because everything just refreshed and there’s something new to almost feel about!
I am going to lose my mind if things don’t change.
This is my SUMMER OF LOOKING UP.
It’s time to look up from my phone! Pay attention! There’s Here here. There’s something to see hear smell. There are things worthy of my curiosity! My phone doesn’t have a monopoly on what is interesting!
I’m just now realizing I’ve only talked about leaving behind the little screen in my pocket for slightly bigger screens that go on walls, but I promise I’m looking forward to looking up for more than that. Of course there’s nature and people and chill dogs to look up for. You can get lost in a good conversation, in a game of catch, or get lost in the woods! Oh, the last one’s not so good.
I’ll talk more about all that other stuff later. This was just an introduction to the topic and to make it clear I’M NOT GIVING UP MY TV! I know you didn’t ask, but just in case you were planning on asking later…
I’m watching a lot of the new Matlock right now on Paramount+ and I’ve got a full season ahead of me. Kathy Bates keeps making me cry.
Love you like a neighbor,
Taylor Johnson
You have noble aspirations—fight the good fight