Reclaim your brain: why it’s time to stop scrolling our lives away
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A few months ago, we asked our readers a simple question: are you happy with how much time you’re spending on your phone?
We received hundreds of responses, and they made one thing clear: many of us are deeply unhappy with how much time we spend on our phones, but find it hard to pull away.
“I’m unhappy, I feel addicted. My ability to concentrate seems to have vanished.”
“I can’t just sit and ‘be’ any more. I automatically reach for my phone if there is a moment of downtime. My brain struggles to settle and focus for any period of time.”
“It’s the first thing I reach for in the morning, and last thing I use at night. I think it’s affecting my ability to be fully with people.”
“Even when I’m not looking at it, I can feel it tugging away at the back of my mind.”
If you also struggle with your phone use, you’re not alone. And with the arrival of a new year, we think it’s the perfect moment to do something about it – and we can help.
This is why we’ve launched Reclaim your brain – our new series and free coaching program that will scrutinize the hold phones have on us, and explain how we can begin to escape their grip.
The newsletter is designed to help you waste less time on your phone using tried and proven methods, and you can sign up here.
‘I stress about the time I’ve already lost to mindless scrolling’
Something isn’t quite right, is it? You might have noticed it yourself: the jarring little moments that have become so normalized, when perhaps they shouldn’t be.
It could be someone almost walking into you in the street because they’re staring at their screen. It might be your friend who can’t stop looking down while you’re sharing a meal, scrolling through Instagram instead of paying attention to you. Or it’s the concert where phones seem to outnumber people, wielded as if everyone is about to have their memories wiped on the way out.
There’s also the smaller, weirder moments: checking your phone when it hasn’t even buzzed. Feeling anxious when you don’t know where it is. Closing an app after exhausting all its possibilities, only to mindlessly open it again. Scrolling when you should be going to sleep, opting to be sleep-deprived instead.
While people have always managed to find ways to procrastinate, it’s remarkable how effective phones have been at eating up more of our attention over the last decade.
A 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 31% of US adults said they were online “almost constantly”, up from 21% in 2015. Half of those aged 18-29 said they were “constantly online”. Meanwhile, a recent review of 82 high quality studies found that excessive phone use has been worsening over time (look out for our deep dive into the science of phone addiction, coming later this week).
Personally, I struggle most when I’m alone, free from anyone’s judgment, and can’t escape the beamlike glow of my phone screen. I stress about the time I’ve already lost to mindless scrolling through TikTok, Instagram and X, and the time I might still lose; the hours that will eventually add up to days, months and years.
Despite knowing I want to spend less time on my phone, I’ve never been able to meaningfully reduce my screen time. And as I started reading what Guardian readers had to say about their phone use however, I realized I wasn’t alone.
“I’m finishing a doctoral degree and I feel very disturbed by the way the phone is taking my time (and I can’t control it despite trying to),” wrote Anna Karla, 32, from Lausanne, Switzerland.
“I have to look at a computer screen, like many people, all day at work,” wrote Sara Jean Harden, 30, from Phoenix, Arizona. “When I get off work, I can’t keep myself from looking at my phone.”
Maybe it’s time to try something new.
A free, fun newsletter to help you scroll less and live more
Over the next several weeks, we’ll publish articles exploring all different aspects of our phone lives. But to really make a difference to you, Guardian readers, we’ll also offer a free six-week newsletter to help you reduce your screen time in the new year.
The newsletter is co-written with Catherine Price, the author of How to Break Up With Your Phone. She’s crafted a week-by-week plan with tried-and-proven tasks and tips for reducing your screen time.
The newsletter will also include weekly diary entries from our intrepid reporter Rhik Samadder as he battles his own demons to unglue himself from his phone. Can he finally restore some balance in his life? His methods are unorthodox – and definitely funny – and you can read about his epic journey by signing up.
One more thing: we’re not here to create a panic around what phones are doing to us, especially as scientists are still trying to figure out their various impacts – and many disagree with each other. We’re also not claiming that all screen time is wasted time: phones allow us to read the news, stay in touch with our family and friends, learn new languages and enrich our lives in a whole range of ways. They can help us unwind when life’s many stresses have spun us the other way.
Instead, the simple question at the heart of Reclaim your brain is the same one we asked our readers: are you happy with how much time you spend on your phone? Is it quality time, or mindless scrolling when you’d rather do something else?
The key, then, is finding the right balance between our physical and digital lives. Will you join us?
If so, look out for our series of articles over the coming weeks, and sign up to the Reclaim your brain newsletter here.
