Well! Every person, when they first get their phone, it comes along with the usual parental controls, restrictions and lectures(http://miliscape.com/phone-cied/). Of course, I was no exception to this universal rule. Well, I was, up until a certain point.

See, it started with the typical, “Who me? I WOULD NEVER EXCEED ANY LIMITS! What do I even use my phone for? You’ll see that me getting my own phone doesn’t even affect my screen time!”.

Little did I know…

For the first few weeks after I received my phone, my screen time stayed extremely low, my maximum being only 30 minutes everyday. I proved over and over again that I was responsibly handling the privilege. My parents were satisfied, I was in Wonderland, and we all lived happily ever after.

No, that wasn’t what happened☹.

Thankfully, I had been given the privilege of installing WhatsApp on my phone, which I was extremely grateful for. But then, obviously, I HAD A SOCIAL LIFE. I had people to talk to, music tastes to share, projects to complete, utter nonsense to chat about, rivals to tease, annoy and argue with, best friends to contact etc etc etc. Eventually, all of this piled up, pressurizing my screentime. And I don’t mean my total, I mean just my WhatsApp timing. From just 30 minutes a day, it skyrocketed to 2 hours a day, even 3, the lowest being 58 minutes.

Because of this, I had my phone confiscated twice, during which it plunged but then increased again. I got numerous and countless lessons on investing my time in something more productive, the actual necessity of a phone( Well! according to my parents, I should not be involved in prolonged chitter-chatter simply because I met my friends in school everyday), the history of their century, where they didn’t even have phones till 21 and how having a phone was a privilege.

Eventually, I became exhausted of the lectures. So, I decided that I would bring down my screentime. I thought it would be extremely easy.

I was sorely mistaken.

It was INCREDIBLY TOUGH, stopping myself from checking my phone every 15 minutes, cutting down on my chats with my friends, telling myself over and over again not to touch my phone throughout or after school. I realized that whenever I was deeply engrossed in activities that I enjoyed, my screen time was less. Surrounding myself with hobbies helped me curtail my internet usage and I managed to bring down my screen time significantly. I was incredibly proud of myself, but you know IT WAS HARD!

My parents suggested setting parental controls for me and the worst part was that I couldn’t even delete the app because it required parental permission. FIRST, YOU SET CONTROLS. THEN, I TRY DELETING THEM AND THAT ALSO REQUIRES PARENTAL PERMISSION!! Did that help? Maybe to a certain extent.

Bad habits are hard to be broken and good habits are hard to develop. The unwelcome distractions do sprout up periodically and there are certain days that my screen time shoots up. Nowadays I set timers for myself and turn off notifications. It has been quite helpful!

How do you manage to live life off the internet? Do share your views.

Signing off…