We need to talk about: Habits VS Happiness

We need to talk about... Habits VS Happiness

Words: Mike Raven

Before this goes on sounding like a ‘woke’ awakening of a twenty-something, let me elaborate... How much time have you been spending on your phone recently? If you’re anything like me you’ll say “oh I don’t spend that much time on it” or “I only check social media occasionally”. Chances are that in actual fact you’re spending much more time than you ever imagined screen-gazing, and your denial is getting in the way of this realisation. I’m here to tell you that it might be suppressing your happiness.

When was the last time you told yourself you were going to do that thing you used to love? Maybe you were going to start painting again or you were going to learn to play the saxophone; maybe you were finally going to try a local ceramics class, because you’ve always thought you’d be good at using one of those spinning pottery wheels (or maybe they just look really fun). And when did you actually not bother at all? Ending up laid on the sofa making your way through an entire ‘share’ bag of crisps, scrolling endlessly through Instagram whilst chuckling to yourself at various memes of famous z-list celebrities with ironic captions? I thought so.

Have you ever done any of those things in the presence of others? Or had it done to you? This vexatious trait is now handily termed as ‘phubbing’, think of it as a distant cousin of the selfie. And you’ve guessed right, it’s a combination of ‘phone’ and ’snub’. Phubbing happens when you have company and they snub you by texting or tweeting or scrolling down their social feed, which insultingly seems to be much more interesting than you. Annoying, isn’t it?

Of course there is a time and place for social media, but to put this in context, Ofcom recently reported that on average we now spend over one day a week on our phones, in fact it’s actually 34.3 hours! That’s over an entire day of missed

opportunities, skills un-learnt, friends and lovers neglected every week. Not to mention over 24 hours of additional screen time, which has been proven to have links with insomnia and depression.

Luckily there’s a solution to this epidemic and it’s closer than you may think. In actual fact the answer is so simple I nearly missed it myself. I was - and still often am, like you. I searched endlessly for apps to help me with my app problem (ironic, I know). ‘What app can I use to help me check what apps I use the most?’, ‘Is there an app which can help me stop using apps?!’. These questions seem somewhat juvenile for the enlightened, but luckily I am now able to share the secret, and it’s you.

The secret is you. (Well actually it’s you and me, it’s us.)

There is a degree of will power to this but it’s simple enough to understand. The next time you want to do something that brings you joy, something you’ve never actually managed to get around to doing, simply make time and do it. Leave your pesky phone in the bedroom, turn on ‘do not disturb’ and galvanise your soul! I can guarantee that you’ll love it and hopefully you’ll forget all about that dog from Instagram for at least an hour or so. Think about all the pots you could make on that enchanted pottery wheel of dreams, the songs you could learn on the saxophone or, all the paintings of your cat you’ve now managed to finish just in time to gift everyone for Christmas (you can thank me later).

Luckily for those wavering in perseverance your, pocket sized foe now comes with some handy settings to give you pleasant reminders to back away from the digital world. It can even shut down specific apps entirely, restricting them from use. And at the end of every week you’ll get a summary of your average screen time to follow your progress towards your goal of phub-free personal progress and inner peace... Namaste.