I DIDN'T CHECK MY PHONE 1ST THING IN THE MORNING FOR A WEEK

Dang you, Mark Zuckerberg. Your brilliant invention of Facebook has somehow become an efficient time waster and a stronghold of procrastination in my life. I switch my phone on before showering, coffee, and my spiritual discipline, and it's slowing me down.

When I get out of bed, I want to feel alive. I don't want comparison, I want contentment. I want to wake up and form my own thoughts before I let the world inject my head with theirs. I want to muse, reflect, and consider the Word before I sell my mind to a cheap set of opinions.

79% of all people surveyed said that they use their smartphone within 15 minutes of waking up, according to an IDC Research report from 2013. There is a strong bond between the notifications and the consumer, and the news is out: it is not always a positive relationship. The daily morning ritual of checking your phone is unhealthy because it wastes time, lessens productivity, and fuels your FOMO (fear of missing out). Tristan Harris, Google's former Design Ethicist, agrees - he says "apps and websites hijack people’s minds by inducing a 1% chance you could be missing something important."

"You'll always miss something important," he continues. "But living moment to moment with the fear of missing something isn’t how we’re built to live."  

To extinguish this well known insecurity, I set myself the challenge of waking up every morning for a week, and NOT checking my phone. Like, I've got things to do - cappuccino, DUH. Here goes.

MONDAY:
I 'mistakenly' slept through my 6:00am alarm, which I didn't regret at the time, but it's two hours later and the sun streaming through my windows is disturbingly bright, suggesting I really am a creature of the night. Panic ruined my happy negation of responsibility - forget my lofty goals of the paragraph above. There was no time for scrolling.

TUESDAY:
Tempting. Very tempting. There could be a social emergency (A friend needs a place to host their movie night?).  If an important crisis did arise, it is likely I would ignore it - but still.

WEDNESDAY:
I want to believe a scroll through Instagram would help open my eyes, not make me mourn the mediocre day ahead. I am lying in the dark feeling like a cave man stranded in Croatia because, I am a drama queen and it's raining. Yucky weather. It still took 15 minutes to extract myself from under my duvet, but at least no eyeballs were BURNT by the terrible monster called Screen Brightness. 

THURSDAY:
It's almost Friday, I can do this.

FRIDAY:
It's Friday. Can I do this? I'm on the brink of breaking, but the pull of social media has lessened, and the satisfaction of choosing to relax into my day has submerged into my soul. Contentment is empowering. 

So, after a week of not checking my phone in the morning, am I no longer a nomophobic? That is, someone who has a fear of being without a mobile phone? (Apparently it's a thing.)

I will never be immune to checking my notifications or texts, and getting distracted by wild goat parodies, but I will always prefer waking up with an ardent energy for life, unblemished by the cries of those causing comparison and rivalry. Each day is a gift, designed to be opened with both hands, both eyes, and both ears.

This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.Psalm 118:24

Madison xx