Thoughts From A Six Week Break From Social Media (And Other Deep Work Changes)

Since iOS introduced the feature “Screen Time” I have been thinking a lot about my social media use. I also have been aware that I use my phone way too much (almost four hours a day) and let too much of my life be dictated by a never ending list of things to read, podcasts to listen to and news to keep up with.

I recently read “Deep Work” and as the holidays approached had a conversation with my friend Preet Anand about productivity and efficiency, especially as the parents to young children. He told me how he stopped checking social media and unsubscribed from all news emails. I decided that instead of diving into my screens over the holidays I would try this out, and since I like a challenge, for all of January as well.

I began by not checking Twitter, Reddit, Facebook and Instagram. This basically meant removing those apps from my phone as my desktop usage was pretty minimal. I also decided to keep a journal, included below.

So, how’d it go? Am I happier, more efficient and more productive?

First, I will say that I am more content and feel like I am living a simpler life, less stressed and certainly less reactive. “Happiness” is a word that we as a society are struggling with a lot lately, and the dopamine hits that social media provides are a real thing. The break has caused me to think about purpose more than efficiency and that’s certainly a good thing.

Secondly, I may not be more efficient, but I am more mindful of about what I am working on and when. As the experiment progressed I found that my phone usage overall was dropping but I was replacing most of it with something else. First it was email, and after I removed from my phone, realized it was probably a bigger change to my life than social media usage. I then found myself listening to a lot more podcasts and reading more with the kindle app/device. Sure, a “better” use of time, but I was conflating “education” with “entertainment”. There’s nothing wrong with entertainment, but I was still addicted to my phone, just in a different way, so I stopped those too.

For the past 2–3 weeks I am finding myself more productive with my phone, where in the past I would never write a product spec on mobile, now I am. It reminds me of when the iPhone/iPad first came out and they were criticized for being “consumption devices”, yet there’s so much creative production that can be done in the small moments of life.

So what now? Back to social?

My phone usage is now down to a little more than an hour a day (over 70% decline!) mostly comprised of iMessage, Slack, and writing. I don’t plan to add social media back to my phone, but I do plan to approach it like my personal email. These digital services are not urgent, they aren’t important and they certainly don’t need to be looked at multiple times a day. When I’m on my laptop and need a break from work or have a few extra minutes maybe I’ll check them.

Instead I look forward to enjoying the small moments in life; meditating for a few minutes, watching a flock of birds while waiting for the bus and enjoying the peacefulness of an elevator.

Check out my journal below and please, let me know what you think! Open to feedback and curious if you have taken a break from social media or thought about taking one.

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Dec 20th. Day one in the books. I miss Twitter, not much else.

Dec 21st. I keep opening my phone with nothing to do and then putting it back in my pocket.

Dec 22nd. Sports is better with Twitter.

Dec 23rd. Took email off today which in some ways has been bigger change than social. Way less time on my phone.

Dec 24th. I still miss checking the news in the morning. Twitter. Reddit. Email newsletters, and in that order.

Dec 25th. Merry Christmas. Your “social network” is not on facebook. It’s your phone’s contacts.

Dec 26th. Less and less usage each day, a hard habit to break.

Dec 27th. I am a big fan of Pocket and when I have a break, love to read long articles. Without social or email newsletters nothing comes in. Deleted pocket today.

Dec 28th. A really useful feature of social media is being able to get support or provide feedback for a product/business. Many channels exist, like email and webforms, but response rate is way better on social.

Dec 29th. Reading on my phone is better than a physical book, but starting to move to kindle paper white which is even better.

Dec 30. Doing more and more productive things on my phone. Not sure if it is true Zuck wrote his s1 on his phone but I could actually see it happening now.

Dec 31st. Maybe it’s just because it is New Years but wow I do a lot less on my phone than other people. A lot.

Jan 1st. I was on the couch during a small down time window and looked at my phone. Nothing to do, put it back in my pocket. Then napped for a few minutes. I did that twice today.

Jan 2nd. Thought about what a month with no phone and not taking my laptop home would look like. I feel like we worry too much about emergencies and not being connected.

Jan 3rd. I was almost bored. Almost.

Jan 4th. I remember Justin Khan trying watch only, but I don’t have LTE watch. I’d try it today if I did.

Jan 5th. Yes I’m reading more (2–3x, especially books), but I’m writing way more than ever. Especially docs and short stories which I never did on my phone. Reminds me of the early days of iPhone and iPad thought of as consumption devices, not creation devices.

Jan 7th. Still get to the elevator at my office and unlock my phone, nothing to do and then put it away. Habits are hard to break.

Jan 8th. I’m a crazy person, I have started to talking to myself. Pumping myself up for a hard workout or convincing myself to answer that last email.

Jan 9th. Friend texted me a YouTube video of Jon Oliver talking about being a Liverpool fan. Then watched 30 more minutes of random YouTube videos. Then deleted YouTube from my phone.

Jan 10th. Struggling with what to listen to as I don’t want to spend cognitive load on choosing music. I get through my discover weekly, friday new music, release radar, shared music and usual playlists i listen to each week.

Jan 12. Been lying to myself about what is education (podcasts, books, articles, etc) when it is actually entertainment. Which is ok, but need to be honest about it. Going to take a break from all of these too.

Jan 14. Omg I do not miss email on my phone.

Jane 15. Listening to more Jazz. Classical. Chopin. Bach.

Jan 16. I miss reading. Writing is exhausting. I think that’s generally true, consuming is easy, creating is hard.

Jan 17. I would stress about having content for situations. Jury duty. Bus ride. Etc. now don’t even think about it.

Jan 18. Used to have to find time for meditation, now I find the small moments throughout the day. Few minutes here. 10 minutes there.

Jan 19. Cognitive load of music is addressed. Either jazz/classical stations for the day or I choose an artist and listen to the full anthology for the day.

Jan 20. For some reason not having a place to share media makes me create less of it (look at you instagram)

Jan 22. I’m totally that guy who talks to you when you’re waiting for your bus. :)

Jan 24. Took work email off my phone. We’ll see how this goes.

Jan 26. Crazy news day with roger stone and the shutdown ending. Was feeling left out of the water cooler at work but I think others enjoy sharing news and helping others be informed.

Jan 30th. Adding work email back on my phone. Was using too much of my valuable desktop time where I could be writing, researching and doing other deep work and instead was spent looking through email.

Jan 31st. I did it! First week was tough, but so glad I did this.