Phone Usage/Screen Time goals
Check in more.
I’m not being unique when I say “I want to stay in better touch with those that I care about.” It’s a goal that we all have on some level, the desire to keep more relationships in “talk again soon” territory and have fewer in “it’s been too long” territory. That said, it’s something that matters enough to me to keep an eye on.
Waste less time.
Smart phones suck. It’s what they do. They suck my attention and they suck my time. I’m fine with spending time on my iPhone, but I want to make sure that my time isn’t all wasted on social media and Netflix. Using my phone as a communication/education/productivity tool more than a source of entertainment is the goal here.
“Siri, call mom.”
I try to call my mother every workday. My relationship with her has always been one of the most meaningful in my life, but it grew in importance when my father passed away during my college years. I owe it to her and to myself to keep that relationship strong.
Goal: Check in more
I prioritize staying close to my family over the rest. That’s in part because the four members of my family live in four different states, and our only regular mode of communication is the phone. Early in the year, I have done a great job about staying up-to-date with my family, but there’s definitely some room for improvement when it comes to checking in with my friends.
Goal: Waste less time
I am working to curb the amount of time that I spend on unproductive apps. I capture data with my iPhone via Settings > Screen Time, and record at the end of each week how much time I spent on each app. I have manually mapped each app to a productivity classification: Productive, Unproductive, and Neutral. These are personal designations that reflect my relationship with each app. For example, I am not a person who is likely to waste time texting back and forth with individuals. Therefore, the Messages app is labeled as Productive as I use it mostly to check in with friends and I’m not worried about falling down the texting rabbit-hole. Things like Netflix and the Chess app (I love to play chess, but it doesn’t do me any real good) can be found in the Unproductive section. Items such as Camera, Safari, and Google Maps aren’t, in my view, as nefarious or likely to be addictive, so I keep them labeled as Neutral.
Goal: “Siri, call mom”
My stated goal is to call my mother every weekday. So far this year, I have done a pretty good job at that. The underlying and more important goal, however, is harder to track: strengthening the relationship. I don’t know of a way to quantify this, nor am I really interested in finding one. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made and the relationship we have, no matter what the numbers say.