The Power of Screen-Free Time

As many of us are, I am currently working plenty of hours. Or, should I say, plenty more than I used to when I was studying at university.

While I enjoy my job, the aspect I'm not so keen on is spending prolonged amounts of time in front of a computer during my working day. It's made me develop a genuine desire to stay away from screens outside of work, yet of course this isn't always as easy as it sounds. Phones seem to be glued to us these days. I can't help but notice that when I'm on a bus, in a cafe, or even at a party the majority of people I see are sitting there staring at devices in their hands, mindlessly scrolling and often not speaking to anyone at all, even online.

Feeling panicked without a phone sounds ridiculous, but it's a common feeling and it happened to me just a few days ago when I left mine on a bus on the way to a night out. CLASSIC. Despite getting it back within 10 hours (my eternal thanks and loving to whoever found it and handed it in to the bus company instead of just nabbing it), I spent the first few of those hours freaking out entirely and found myself delving into my bag to use it several times despite knowing it wasn't in there. It got me thinking: why am I trying to go on my phone right now? And the answer was usually something along the lines of "I have no idea". It wasn't in there - it didn't buzz or beep, and I wear a watch so I don't need it to find out the time. I predict that this is a habit, something I instinctively do when I'm 'idle'. And I've realised that I need a way to stop this, or I'm going to end up looking at screens for the majority of my life (she says, blogging).

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This is an issue mentioned in a fairly recent episode of Dr Chatterjee's podcast Feel Better, Live More, called 'How to Stay Calm in a Busy World'. The podcast is generally great but I like this episode especially because it features the co-founder of one of my favourite meditation apps (Calm): Michael Acton Smith. Michael talks about the benefits of meditation as well as other things he does to make sure he keeps a healthy mental state. Interestingly, this includes only checking his phone after he leaves the house in the morning and not using it in bed before he goes to sleep. As soon as I heard this rather snazzy nugget of wisdom, I decided to challenge myself to start the same habits immediately. However unlikely it may sound, I'm already noticing the following results:

• My anxiety levels seem decreased overall
• I'm managing to get out the door and to the bus stop on time (instead of having to half-jog-half-speedwalk my way there with a piece of toast in each hand)
• Falling asleep is easier

The first and third of these bullet points are also arguably contributed to by my recent beginning of ReGulAr MeDitAtIOn (ooooOOooOooooh). It genuinely does help you to really relax, but as Dr Chatterjee and his guest Michael say in 'How to Stay Calm...', you need to work at it - as a novice runner training for a charity marathon, you wouldn't begin your training with a 10 mile run. Instead, you might just take a walk around the block and go from there, which is the same approach we should take towards meditation.

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If you fancy giving it a go, I would suggest trying out the Calm app or my current absolute favourite Insight Timer. Everything on there is free, and there's even an offline mode which you can use to feel calmer whenever you need, even if there's no wifi. I know it sounds contradictory to my argument of this post, using a mobile app to meditate, but as long as you're putting your phone down whilst listening, you can really reap the benefits. Technology has its advantages after all.