Week 1 of the Phone Breakup Challenge

Friends: Welcome to Week 1 of the February Phone Breakup Challenge. I’m so glad you’re here.

As a reminder, The February Phone Breakup Challenge is your opportunity to do the 30-day plan in How to Break Up With Your Phone with other people (and me!).

The challenge officially begins today and will culminate in an invitation to join the “How to Feel Alive” community in participating in the Global Day of Unplugging, which is March 7-8. The goal is to end the challenge with a new relationship with your phone that feels good.

All subscribers (paid and free) receive a weekly substack newsletter from me featuring advice and suggestions based on that week of the book’s 30-day plan (i.e. what you’re reading right now).

Paid subscribers also have access to a private “phone breakup support group chat” on Substack where they can interact with each other (and me!), ask questions, and share experiences, resources and advice. The chat is already going strong, and I would love to have you join us!

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This week’s assignments:

This week of the Phone Breakup Challenge is focused on establishing a baseline and setting goals for yourself. There are more detailed instructions in the book itself and in our group chat, but here are the basics to get you started:

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1. Freak yourself out:
   Calculate how much time you’re currently spending on your phone, and consider what the consequences will be if you continue with your current habits. (This is a very mean way for me to start, but it’s also very motivating!) Here’s a calculator that can help.

   1 hour per day ≈ 15 full 24-hour days per year

   2 hours per day ≈ 1 month per year

   3 hours per day ≈ 1.5 months per year

   4 hours per day ≈ 2 months per year

   5 hours per day ≈ 2.5 months per year

   6 hours per day ≈ 3 months per year

   If those calculations aren’t sobering enough, consider just how much of your conscious life is being consumed by your smartphone. If you’re awake for 16 hours a day and spend 4 hours a day on your phone (which is pretty typical), that means you’re spending 25% of your waking life on your phone.

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2. Write Your Phone A Breakup Letter
   
   A lot of phone breakups fail because people haven’t taken the time to establish why they want to change their screen time habits, and what they want to do with their time instead.

   
   So be sure to take the time to identify your motivation and your goals. Why do you want to change your screen habits? What do you want to spend your time and attention on? What would a healthy relationship with your smartphone (and other devices) look like?

   In my book, I encourage people to answer these questions by writing a “breakup letter” to their phone. It sounds silly at first, but it can be a surprisingly powerful way to clarify your motivations and goals. For example, here’s a sample breakup letter that I included in the book:

   “Dear Phone: You fill my head with so much stuff I can’t hear my own thoughts. That’s the thing I resent the most. Why should you get to dictate what I think about, and when? I want to go back to a time when I had to entertain myself, to experience the way boredom breeds creativity, to learn the contours of my own mind and allow it to work at its own pace. . . . I want the ability to stand still in a silent room . . . as silent as I can get with a three-year-old, anyway. As for my boy, I want him to see me, and know he is seen. What’s best for me is what’s best for him, too.” —C

   So grab a piece of paper, set a timer for 10 minutes, start with “Dear Phone,” and see where your mind and heart take you.

   

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3. Practice WWW: What For, Why Now, What Else
   A lot of times, our phones end up in our hands without us knowing how they got there. To help break this autopilot cycle, I created an exercise I call What For, Why Now, What Else. Check out the video above for instructions on how to do it. Please try to get in the habit of “doing your Ws” every time you find yourself reaching for your phone.

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Get the Book:

The February Phone Breakup Challenge traces the steps in the book’s 30-day plan, so for maximum effect, it’s best to have a copy. It comes out officially tomorrow (Feb 4)—you can order your copy here:

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Questions? Issues? Start with the FAQ!

I’ve tried my best to address your most common questions in the FAQ (including how to use the chat feature). For all technical issues with substack itself (including your subscription), please reach out to support@substack.com — they’re responsive and ready to help!

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Here’s to scrolling less and living more,

Catherine Price

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