"It's because you're Always on that Damn Phone!"

As annoying as this phrase may be, there are some scary levels of truth to it, that explain a lot of things in your life. This article is not going to tell you that you should get a flip phone and never look back, rather, it is going to hopefully change your perspective on phone usage and inspire you to be the owner of your phone, rather than your phone being the owner of you. You need to start creating and being the author of your own story, rather than watching other people do this. This article is about meaningless phone usage that can be called binge use. I don't have to explain any further, because we all know that binging is not healthy and is commonly referred to in phrases of guilt.

What do you say?

That is, when people in your life ask, "what are you doing?" or "what did you do today?" I'll bet the bottom dollar that you only talk about the highlights of your day, even though the scary majority of your day are filled with phone and or screen time. Even if you happen to be on your phone when someone asks what you're up to, you'll probably say something like "not much..." Not "I'm on my phone" because that phrase sounds lazy and antisocial. That is because being on your phone is an obvious time killer that you know you are not proud of. When I say time killer, I mean that it is not a meaningful activity that is getting you any closer to happiness or achieving what you want to achieve in life. That's right, your screen binging is quite literally preventing you from living a life full of passions and other activities that you are proud to share with people. Instead, you're spending who knows how long on instagram or any other platforms, watching videos, or looking at posts of celebrities or other people besides yourself doing whatever they're doing. You're wasting precious time watching other people make moves and be in the spotlight, instead of working on yourself and trying to achieve something. So, ask yourself, "what about me?" because you're focusing on everyone but the most important person; you.

I am NO Psychologist, but...

There are definite links between your screen binging and you being impatient, unable to focus and unable to be pleased by truly beautiful things that require imagination. Think about it like this, you're on your phone scrolling, going through endless posts and receiving endless hits of dopamine (instant gratification). Notice how I said endless, which is because there is no limit to the amount of content you can binge your way through. It is not like google, instagram or youtube are going to send you a message and say "hey, you should go do something else, you've been here for a while." In fact, that is exactly what they want! More money for them! So, does this sound familiar? You're listening to music and you find yourself spending more time hitting that "next" button than actually listening to music. Even when you find a song that you want to listen to, you rarely listen to the whole thing and will probably hit next before the song finishes. This is because you're used to scrolling through endless posts, getting your dose of instant gratification and moving on once that has happened. This relates back to the song scenario because a lot of songs don't grab your attention right at the beginning. They take a bit of time to grab your attention and you're pressing next because you're used to just scrolling past a post or whatever it is if it does not interest you right off the bat. This is where the impatient part is exposed and your inability to concentrate.

It Translates Further

It translates to other areas of your life like your inability to focus on your game plan, or fully commit to learning something new or getting something done. This is because these types of tasks never involve instant gratification, rather, they require endless hours of uninterrupted beating on the drum and focus. Anything else you can think of that is related to getting stuff done or enjoying the little things, connects back to your instant gratification binge. Getting an assignment done for example, where many people procrastinate, when they literally had a month to get it done, do so because writing involves thinking, failure and does not come with instant results and pleasure.

Wexting (An Absolute Low)

Walking and texting. This makes you look like an antisocial zombie. You look as if your phone is taking you for a walk, like when an owner takes their dog for a walk. If you can't even walk somewhere without looking at your phone, then there's a problem. You're quite literally seeing the world through the lens of your phone screen, rather than through your own eyes. For example, I go to Ryerson University, which is located in a lively and eventful part of Toronto, which means there are lots of beautiful sites to take in. Look around. Take it all in. It doesn't matter where you are. Besides it being bad for your posture to be walking and texting, you're taking the fact that you live in a safe place that people in war zone countries would kill to live in, for granted.

How you can Fix yourself

Come up with a game plan and commit to it. For example, you can say to yourself, "okay, I can only go on social media for a maximum of 45 minutes per day." This is obviously subjective to your lifestyle, but you get the point. You should also avoid screen binging as soon as you wake up in the morning because who wants to have giving into a problematic habit be the first thing they do in the morning? If you are really serious about this, you can even turn off notifications for instagram and any other apps you always use. You're going to go on them anyways with your usage limits, so why do you need to be notified every time something happens? That is another reason you can't focus. You're carrying that damn phone around with you like a soother and its going off every 5 minutes and preventing you from focusing on something as simple as reading a book, or having a real conversation with someone. Just check it after. Is it really THAT important that your friend sent you a post or that someone posted a story for the first time in a while? By putting a limit on your screen time, you will actually value it and use it for more meaningful things such as checking up on your friends, telling people that you love them or getting exposed to valuable ideas.

It's your Life

For those of you who actually had the discipline and concentration to read til the end of this short article, I salute you. Now, you can call me crazy, behind the times or anything you want. I don't care. At least I tried to make a difference. People always say they want to accomplish things while they're off school and want to return to the following year as an upgraded person. Well, make it your mission to take this seriously and accomplish it, because I promise you, things will get brighter and everything will suddenly become enriched. You'll start to find more reasons to wake up every morning and that is what life all about. After all, you're an adult now, so you should act like one. It is time that you become obsessed with what is good for you and your future. Lastly, remember this; nothing good comes instantly.