As I reflect on 2021, I think about all the great things I accomplished and all the things that I wanted to work on but didn’t get around to doing. So, at the start of this year, I set a goal that I think will be super beneficial over the long run of 2022 and far into the future.
Every Sunday throughout 2021 I would get a notification on my phone notifying me of my weekly screen time on my phone. Some of my weekly averages reached close to nine hours a day of screen time. One thing I should note is that I use my phone for work so that skewed some of my averages, but there were many times that I know I was on my phone for way longer than I really needed to be throughout 2021.
In light of this, I want to limit my screen time each week this year and use the hours and minutes that I would have normally spent on my phone surfing the web, watching YouTube videos, or looking at my timeline on Twitter for more productive activities. I’m getting ready to graduate and am currently on the job market, so I feel a need to be productive throughout my days to apply for jobs and look for other opportunities to participate in during the gap year that I intend to take once I graduate this May.
I firmly believe that actions speak louder than words, so I want to make it my mission to stick to the goal that I have set for myself. Oftentimes, my high use of screen time was the result of procrastinating assignments that I did not want to complete. I would default to using my phone whenever I wanted to get away from schoolwork. While it is okay to take a break sometimes, I shouldn’t always rely on spending time on my phone when I could be doing more beneficial activities. This goal is important to me because it will allow me to get more out of my days. I’ve wanted to use less screen time in the past, but 2022 will be the year that I stick to this goal because I’m setting up a daily schedule and am following it as best as I can to ensure that I complete all the tasks I would like for each specific day. Looking at things I want to get completed and fitting them into my schedule should be a helpful practice that will get me in a good habit of using less screen time each day.
While I do not tend to make New Year’s Resolutions, I do think it is beneficial to set goals for yourself throughout the year and try to work on them to achieve the things that you want in life. I want to get a job before I graduate, so it is of the utmost importance to stick to my goal so that I can find as many opportunities as possible and complete these applications. As I stick to this goal, I look forward to viewing my average screen time every Sunday and comparing them to my 2021 averages.