Control The Screens Before They Control You

So how is it possible that I've recorded 15 videos in a course on ADHD productivity,

And just now number 16 is something on screen time?

That just seems like terrible planning on my part.

But nonetheless,

Here we are.

So control the screens before they control you.

Look,

We're all distracted by our screens.

There's lots of interesting stuff on your phone.

That's probably not news.

All of us have to figure out a way to sort of use our screens for good and not evil.

Your phones too much.

Now,

This is by no means an accident in the sense that,

You know,

Online content,

Whether it's websites or apps or games or whatever,

Like they are very much optimized to get us there and to keep us there.

There are really,

Really smart people getting paid really,

Really a lot of money.

To figure out how to get us there and how to keep us there longer.

Like every little bit,

Somehow or other means more money for the people who own it.

So this is a temptation for all of us,

But especially if you have ADHD,

It's much easier in just sort of an impulsive moment to just be like,

You know,

Bam,

Over or like toggle,

Click,

Right?

And now you're off on some other website.

So it's too easy to get there and it's too easy also to sort of lose track of time and not actually realize how long you've really been on doing some fun thing on your screens and not like that work thing you're supposed to be doing that's like right next to all the really fun stuff so um You know,

So one of the things then to consider here or to think about is have you ever actually looked up your total screen time,

Right?

Your total time,

But also the breakdown of like how much time has been spent in various places.

It might be rather surprising,

By which I mean kind of shocking,

By which I mean,

Oh,

My God,

What am I doing with my life kind of a thing.

Something to think about.

You know,

Part of the issue is that screens are really easy.

They're kind of like they're very pleasant palate cleansers,

Right?

In other words,

I did this thing.

I finished it.

Before I go to that,

Let me just take a quick look.

Or I'm walking from here to there.

Or I'm,

You know,

Going to the bathroom and here it is,

Right?

Like it's that little filler.

It's that sort of mental cleanser,

So to speak.

And it's also just that path of least resistance,

Right?

With a click or a swipe,

We're there.

So it's easy to get in.

And then when you're in,

It's easier to kind of stay there or stay there a bit longer than you intended.

So the goal here then is to try to be intentional about it,

Right?

Like there is absolutely good stuff on your screens.

And sometimes,

Honestly,

Like just eating kind of junk food is sort of nice.

And just looking at sort of mindless,

Stupid stuff on our phones or whatever is like,

It's kind of fun,

Right?

Like it's at the end of a long day or it's the middle of a day.

We're taking a break.

Whatever,

Right?

Like you don't have to live like a monk.

But if you don't have some sort of a plan for how much time am I spending?

Where am I going?

What am I doing?

It's too easy to spend too much of that time online.

And too much in this case is defined not by what other people would vote it.

But like for you,

Like,

Do you regret it afterwards?

And I've sort of said this in the last video and I've said this some other places.

I'll probably say it again in some yet other places.

But it's sort of like defined as afterwards.

Are you going to regret it?

Are you like,

Oh,

Man.

I really could have spent that time better.

I think there's also the issue with a lot of online content is that it's like,

You know,

It's sort of OK,

Right?

It's like kind of interesting.

It's not the worst.

It's definitely not the best,

But it's not the worst.

So like,

I don't know.

I mean,

I guess.

But I don't know,

Like is kind of interesting good or not?

Right.

And if you're looking at things that are like,

OK,

What are you not doing in that time?

Right.

So maybe we're better off finding something better.

Um,

If you sort of grab your screen and you're sort of on it without almost thinking about it and you just sort of find yourself on your phone or you've like clicked over,

Toggled over to a different tab,

Like how do you sort of put your screens further away?

Or how do you put a little bit of a bump,

So to speak,

To create something of a pause?

So for example,

You know,

One suggestion I saw in an article about this was like,

Just put a rubber band around your phone.

Of gets in your way you need to in an intentional way like pull the rubber band off or slide it up or down and that for some people that that little bit of resistance might be enough nope all right now put it away i'm not doing it let's go do something else right like maybe that's enough probably it isn't but like i don't know maybe it is so I got to admit,

You know,

In the last couple of years,

I've become much more sort of forceful about this idea of internet blockers with clients and people I talk to,

Right?

So in other words,

You know,

These internet blockers or internet limiters or whatever,

Right?

They're these services.

You pay for them.

You download the app on your phone.

You install an extension on your browser,

On your computer.

For adults,

Um,

Is that it gives you much more control over what you do,

Or it gives somebody else more control over what you do.

So you can set either the total amount of time that you can be online or the total amount of time specific to different platforms or like one hour of social media per day or whatever.

Um,

Or you can set blackout times.

So from like 11 PM to 7 AM,

You know,

It blocks all of that stuff.

On.

So first of all,

The fact that these things exist and people pay money for them and these companies make money to stay in business tells you everybody,

Lots of people are having trouble with this.

So you're definitely not alone.

Definitely not an ADHD thing,

But it's also especially an ADHD thing.

The proof then really is in the pudding in the sense of.

.

.

How's it working out?

Like,

Do you feel good about how you're managing your screen time?

If the answer is mostly like,

Yeah,

I mean,

It's fine.

Keep doing what you're doing.

If the answer,

And I'm going to guess if you're watching this video,

I think probably we already know the answer.

If the answer is like,

I don't know,

I think I'm spending too much time.

Or if the answer is,

Oh,

No,

I'm definitely spending too much time.

At that point,

I think maybe you need to really consider one of these blockers or limiters.

If you're resistant to that idea,

If you acknowledge,

Like,

Yeah,

I definitely spend too much time,

And also I really hate the idea of one of these,

You know,

Blockers or limiters,

I think you really need to kind of spend some time to think about that.

Like,

Why is it?

And,

You know,

As I'll sometimes say,

You know,

What do you want and what are you willing to do to get there?

So,

Again,

Do whatever you want,

But just sort of be honest about it,

Right?

Comes across of other things,

Great.

If you're not okay with spending that much time online.

Then maybe you got to do something different about it.

So let's talk how to put it to work.

Really,

Really think about your time online.

What improves your life and what takes away from it?

And at what point does improving your life flip over to like actually kind of taking more away?

And like,

What do you really want it to be?

Right.

Where is that balance for you at this point in your life,

Given what else you got going on?

If you do want to limit sort of this,

Some of the more junk screen time,

Meaning that it's just not that great,

Kind of like that,

Like,

Eh,

It's all right kind of stuff.

Like,

How do you set up some barriers to that?

You know,

What barriers would work best for you?

And then finally.

.

.

Actually make a point of measuring your time on the various platforms or services and compare them against what your preferred time would be.

And if those two things are too far apart.

I don't know,

Maybe you need to take some stronger action on this.

Think about it.