Ever since August 2023, I’ve been meticulously tracking my time in 30-minute segments using a beefed-up Google Sheet, inspired by Rob Dyrdek’s “Life System.”
One of the categories I created is a catch-all bucket simply called “Waste.” It’s where I log time spent on non-productive activities—basically, time on my phone.
Scrolling Reddit. Searching Instagram. Watching YouTube.
(Caveat: I use YouTube for productivity and creative stuff. But there’s a difference between studying a video of Adam Savage talking about organization… and watching Uncle Roger roast people’s fried rice attempts.)
Logging
After over a year of daily and dutiful logging, I started to notice some patterns.
The more stressed I felt, the more time I wasted.
(P.S. For me, stress isn't necessarily a bad thing.)
But those creeping spikes of “waste” were how I coped with stress—ways to wind down after a long day, or at least tell myself I earned the right to scroll.
Another pattern: I’d reach for my phone immediately after waking up. Like I needed it to trick myself into getting out of bed. It never worked. I always regretted it.
And yet… I continued.
Fault
It’s the phone! Of course it's the phone. This damn phone...
It’s Reddit’s fault. No—it’s not Reddit’s fault.
It’s the phone’s fault. No—it’s not the phone’s fault.
If I were being kind to myself: maybe it’s not even my fault.
It just is.
So… what do I do about it?
Solution
Fast forward to today: After trying various things, I believe I’ve found a solution (for me).
No, it’s not ditching all my apps. (Although I’ve seriously considered it.)
No, it’s not switching to a dumbphone. (Also considered. Many times.)
It’s this simple principle:
I made it hard and annoying to do "bad" things.
On the obvious end, I uninstalled all the time-wasting apps from my phone. (YouTube stayed.)
On the (perhaps) ridiculous end, I got a folio phone case. One with a flap and a latch. So now, just looking at my phone feels physically annoying. I hate using it.
And weirdly? I love that I hate it. It’s like that Mitch Hedberg joke... Where now, if I want to look at my phone, I have to convince myself that it's worth the effort.
I write jokes for a living, I sit at my hotel at night, I think of something that's funny, then I go get a pen and I write it down.
Or if the pen is too far away, I have to convince myself that what I thought of ain't funny.
- Mitch Hedberg
Result
My screentime plummeted. (According to Apple.)
But that’s just metrics. And metrics aren’t the point. Meaning is.
What matters more: I’m writing more, because I have attention to give.
I’m more present, because I have time to offer. I’m more myself. And I have more to give.
In my case... Getting a phone case that sucks was the solution to my phone sucking my time.
