Things I learnt during Scroll Free September

Scroll Free September is over for another year! And while I won't pretend that my life was completely scroll free for the entire month, I have definitely cut down on my scrolling a great deal, and it really made me notice and think about my habits.

Related post - Thoughts on scrolling

Here's what I learnt while taking part in Scroll Free September 2019:

* When you don't get sucked in to scrolling then you have more time in your day. It sounds obvious but I really noticed it. I found that at some times of day I was able to get on with other jobs instead of scrolling on my phone (for example while cooking, while the children shower and get ready for bed) and that then freed up my time later on.

* Also, sometimes it's nice to just sit and stare into space without needing a screen to keep your mind busy.

* If I can't physically see my phone then it's easy to forget about it.

* But if I don't know where my phone is or I've left it at the other side of the house I begin to feel anxious, especially during the school day, in case someone is trying to contact me (even though I know that I would hear it ringing and that my FitBit would buzz.)

* It's annoying when you are trying to talk with someone and they are on their phone, especially if you've set aside the time to talk and made an effort to keep your own phone put away. I don't want people, especially the children, to feel that they don't have my full attention, because if something is important to them then it should be important to me.

* Facebook - the less you use it, the less you miss it. If you don't post anything then you don't feel the urge to check for notifications. If you don't see the start of a thread then you don't need to keep checking for updates. It's easy to pop in a couple of times and catch up with the things that you want to see (as long as you can fight the urge to keep mindlessly scrolling!).

Having said all this though, I do appreciate having my phone and it does many things which are useful to me and enhance my life. I like to take photos of things, whether that's to remember a special moment or to photograph something for reference. I love the access to music that I have through my phone, especially on the boring school run. The shared shopping list app that I use is a fantastic help, and I enjoy using apps to track my fitness and weight.

So it definitely has a role to play in my daily life, it's just making sure that it remains a positive rather than negative influence, and Scroll Free September has definitely helped me to realise that.