Remember the last time you were alone for some reason, especially in a public place, for example when you arrived earlier than everyone else at a restaurant, or were in your dentist’s waiting room, or waiting for a flight or a bus. Without knowing who you are, I can assure you that not more than 5 minutes passed before you already had your cell phone in your hand scrolling through social media, playing a game, or just looking at the home screen for no reason.
I know because this behavior is already very normal and it happens to me too; it’s like a fear that others will think we have nothing to do, or a fear of boredom, but above all, it’s that we are addicted to the cell phone. And it’s no surprise, apps are specifically made by advanced engineers, even behavioral psychologists, to keep us glued to the screen. Why? Simple: the more time we look at the screen, the more advertising we will see.
The reason I have never had a smart watch and instead prefer a normal watch is because I check the time for many activities I do. But when I take out my cell phone to see the time, I see a WhatsApp notification, I answer it, then I see another from Instagram, I enter and see what is for me the most useless notification in the world: “So-and-so, whom you might know, is on Instagram”. But once in the app, I see a funny video, open it, and then start watching videos one after another. After 30 minutes, I remember what I was doing and that I only wanted to check the time. Using a normal watch has helped me a little to avoid this, but if I had a smart watch, I know myself and I know it would cause the same effect.
Although it is very, very, very difficult to no longer depend on the cell phone, I try to do things that distance me from it, like deactivating notifications. So far I haven’t achieved it; I have tried and failed a bunch of times and I keep looking at it much more than I would like. But things like this (resisting having notifications and the urge to look at the screen reach my wrist) I think are steps in the right direction. I hope to be able to keep my word and not succumb to marketing and buy myself one, which I have been close to doing several times.