We’ve all heard the same story again and again: phone addiction is rampant, social media sucks, etc. We’ve all been there — stuck on our phones when we could be doing something else, scrolling through Facebook just because we’re bored, reaching for the device as a reflex. While our desperate parents would be quite happy to see us weaning off the phone, where do we begin the process?
Here are some situations in which you can leave your phone behind in the dorms or at home (or in your bag, if you like a challenge). Each situation has its own level of difficulty, depending on how much time you’d be away from your phone for.
Beginner
1. Relaxing
We often grab our phone to kill time while relaxing. Instead, keep it somewhere else, and find another way to relax — one that doesn’t leave you scrolling through a random Tumblr or Instagram profile. Take a short walk around campus, but don’t take your phone. Leave it in your room, and run out of the dorms to get some fresh air. Leave it in a friend’s room while you chill out in yours and read a book or draw/write something. If you start with short periods of relaxation without your phone, it can start countering your reflex to reach for your phone every other minute just to pass the time.
2. Exercise
Go to the gym or the field for a while, and get your body moving, but don’t always run back to the bench to check the time. Of course, this means that if you have music on your phone, you won’t be able to access it while you’re gymming, but it’s a small price to pay. Sweat it out on the field or the treadmill for a while before you get back to your room to see what’s happened while you’ve been away.
Intermediate
3. Studying
I know what you’re thinking: why is this under intermediate, instead of extremely advanced? It’s actually not as hard as it seems to leave your phone elsewhere while you study. In college, the chances of you taking courses you don’t hate are much higher, so preparing for them should be much more enjoyable…or at least, tolerable. Change your study environment: go to the library and leave your phone outside, and study for a while without it near you. Or you could, as mentioned previously, leave it with a friend for a while and study in your room. Studying without those tiny distractions every ten minutes will also contribute to your self-esteem, especially if you’re feeling guilty about spending too much time on your phone instead of working.
4. Class
Now, this is where the real challenge starts. This is one and a half hours in a high-intensity environment where you’ve got to pay attention to the professor and your classmates. You probably also have to take notes and talk in class. If participation counts for a large chunk of your grade, or if your professor is very touchy about the presence/use of phones in the classroom, it’s even more important to keep your phone in your bag or leave it out of class. By paying attention in class, you also take full advantage of what the lecturer and your classmates have to contribute to the discussion. Also, the nuclear fallout from being caught is really not worth the five seconds of staying up to date on your messages. Take it from any poor soul who did get caught; you’ll surely find one on campus.
Advanced
5. Talks
This is slightly harder. Unlike classes, you don’t have as much incentive to pay attention. Your grade won’t get cut, you don’t have to speak if you don’t want to, you’ll never see the guest speaker ever again. There won’t be any penalty if you’re scrolling through social media for the entire talk. That’s why it’s all the more important and challenging to try and keep your phone elsewhere during the talk. There’s no penalty, and no incentive except an increase in your knowledge. Additionally, there’s another person in front of you who has taken time out to share their experience, and it’s nice to respect that.
6. Meals
This is the real challenge, if you end up sitting alone for dinner. Stay off Facebook and WhatsApp for anywhere between fifteen minutes to half an hour while eating by yourself. You could take a book along, or find someone to chat with, or even just eat without multitasking. Enjoy the mess food as best as you can, since there won’t be an app to distract you from the strange tastes that come with every new edition of Mix Dal.
Leaving your phone behind really will test your resolve, especially when you see everyone else on their own, not focusing on what’s around them (I’ll admit, I’m guilty of this too). But it can also increase your self-control, and help you get out of that endless cycle where you just grab it because you’ve got nothing else to do. At the very least, it’ll please your parents.
Of course, there is another way, but it’s not exactly very fun: you could always drop your phone one time too many like I did. That will result in a non-functioning phone (for whatever reason) for at least three or four days until you can get it fixed or replaced. I’d suggest sticking with the voluntary option that allows you to use your phone outside of these situations, or as a reward for abstaining temporarily.
Edited by Vidushi Rijuta (UG 2019)