A recent study by Locket, an app that counts how often cell phone users unlock their phones, found that the average user checks his phone about 110 times each day.
WHAT??
I only check mine about FIFTY times a day. Who are these people??
These people are us - you and me. Some studies suggest that the average count is more like 150 times a day. But if you think about checking your phone for everything from phone calls, emails, text messages, the time, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat, Words with Friends, etc. that's roughly 8 times an hour in an 18 hour period.
Guilty. But of course, I have to keep up with Social Media for my blog and all that....sigh. It's still just too much, and that's the honest truth.
I've challenged myself to go Hands Free more often.
To set down my phone and be present in the moment. To enjoy the people I'm actually WITH, and not be caught up in conversations taking place in the Twitterverse. To wear a watch and not "check the time...oh, and email" every hour.
We miss so much of life when we are glued to our phones and our devices. We miss long periods of silence, and thinking, and looking into the faces of people we love. We miss the car rides and the radio and the conversations that happen in little moments not filled with social media overload.
We miss learning. And reading or studying for hours at a time, without distraction. I worry for kids these days. If I struggle as an adult, how much more do they struggle to focus?
I think the best thing we can do, for the quality of our lives and our children's lives, is to go Hands Free as much as we can.
I love Rachel Macy Stafford's Hands Free Mama posts, and now I've discovered that this awesome writer has a new book. I can't wait to read it.
A Guide to Putting Down the Phone, Burning the To-Do List, and Letting Go of Perfection to Grasp What Really Matters!
I believe that the quality of our lives will improve in direct proportion to the time we spend less distracted.
Today's Small Thing - yes, I can't get away from these - is to go Hands Free.
Try it for an hour. See if you break out in hives, or see if you survive, but just barely. Perhaps - I hope - you'll LOVE it. Could you go half a day? A whole day? Maybe it's unrealistic to do that, but certainly being aware, and putting our phones and ipads away whenever possible can only be a good thing.
Let's savor life. Let's stop missing it.
I'd love to know how your "Hands Free" challenge goes. What do you notice when you put down your device?
**I'm an Amazon Affiliate, which means I might make enough to buy a cup of coffee with my earnings this year when you purchase through my links. I only link to things I believe in, that are already part of what I'm writing about. Feel no pressure.
