Below a screenshot of my cell phone’s home screen (here’s the link if it doesn’t show):
…See that big ol’ Screen Time block at the bottom?
That’s an intentional effort of mine to increase my screen time awareness so that I can deliberately work to decrease my screen time usage.
Before, I would get one push notification each week summarizing my screen time averages—but it was after the fact... after the usage was done and all I could hope to do was be more aware the next week so as to reduce it before the next push notification was sent out.
And, as you might expect, this strategy didn’t really change much week to week.
But, ever since I added that big ‘ol Screen Time block to the bottom of my home screen, my screen time has dropped remarkably.
…And it’s all because I’m getting reminders before the fact.
Seth Godin once said that the best way to make any long term change is with enough short term feedback.
Most of what we do every day is already programmed into our lifestyle as habits. If we want to change that unconscious programming… we need to deliberately and proactively and creatively find ways to consciously remind ourselves to do those new things that go against our current unconscious programming.
Otherwise, the programming will prevail and we’ll keep looking back—after the fact—wondering why the heck nothing is changing.
P.s. Need help programming new habits into your life? My 30 day guide will help. Details here.