During her career in technology, Cat Goetze says she has made an effort to reduce the amount of time she spends looking at her phone screen.
The 100-year LA-based technology entrepreneur said she found herself using her phone too much early in her career and decided to make a concerted effort to curb that habit. She ended up taking “an almost complete break from social media for five years.”
“I was sober while watching the movie, so to speak,” Goetze told CNBC Make It.
Her quest to reduce screen time led her to create a physical phone, a landline-style phone that connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth to make and receive calls. Goetze launched the business in the summer and made $120,000 in sales within three days, according to documents reviewed by Make It.
As a tech founder creating online content for his own brand, Goetze says he no longer takes a complete break from social media, but he still tries to stay away from it as much as possible. In addition to using her own products, Goetze says these five tips have helped her minimize screen time.
1. She changed her phone display to black and white
When Goetze first became “screen time sober,” she says she didn’t feel the need to keep up with the latest technology. At the time, she was using an older device, an iPhone 8, that had few bells and whistles to keep her using her phone, or distractions.
She also adjusted the display settings so that the screen was black and white. Some users say this makes looking at their phone less enjoyable and less distracting.
“It was very hypoallergenic,” Goetze said, which saved her from endlessly scrolling through social media apps.
2. She doesn’t check her phone for the first 30 minutes of each day.
Götze says she tries not to look at her phone for the first 30 minutes of each morning on weekdays and up to an hour on weekends. That means waking up using a real alarm clock.
She found that when she started her day without a phone, she reached for it significantly less during the rest of the day.
“How you start your day subconsciously sets the tone for the rest of your day,” she says. Currently, she focuses on small morning routines like brushing her teeth, writing in her diary, and feeding her cat.
“We’re busy enough as it is,” Goetze says. “I didn’t even notice it until 30 minutes had passed, and the time I spent picking up my phone was drastically reduced.”
3. She left her cell phone at home.
Goetze said her biggest milestone was going the entire day without checking her phone.
She accomplished that by leaving it at home while she was out on errands.
“When I leave the house, I literally don’t even take my phone with me. I leave it there to go to the gym, then go to the grocery store, then one more place, then come home. It ends up taking me half a day, or almost a full day.”
4. She asks if it’s really urgent to check your phone
When Goetze is at home and feels the urge to check her phone, she says this question to herself. “Is there really anything so urgent that it can’t wait until you’re next at the computer? (Usually less than 15 minutes)”
This thought process is usually enough to keep her from taking out her phone until she has time to get back to her desk and do a few digital to-dos at once.
If she is out somewhere and checks her phone, she will stop again and consider whether she really needs to reply to a message or complete a task at that moment.
“Ask yourself, is there a difference between sending this message now and sending it later when you’re not doing something else, like when you’re actually sitting down and intentionally taking the time to respond to the message,” she says.
For example, she recently read an email from an overseas physical phone manufacturer on her phone while waiting in line at a coffee shop.
She thought about replying right away, but realized it was midnight for them anyway, so she stopped and could wait for a reply. In the end, she says, that’s almost always the case.
5. She understands that smartphones are designed to maximize engagement.
Götze says one of the most difficult things about reducing your dependence on your cell phone is giving yourself space and understanding that it’s a hard habit to break.
“The natural tendency is to take on a lot of responsibility and think, ‘This is my fault. Screen time sucks. I have ADHD. I’m stupid, it’s my fault, I can’t pay attention to things,'” she says.
Goetze, who studied science, technology, media and communication at Stanford University, says she believes screen time habits are tied to how companies design engaging devices and social media apps.
Anna Lembke, a psychiatrist at Stanford University, conducted research showing that using social media apps can trigger a dopamine release in users, making them want to continue using the platform. This becomes even more so as AI-powered algorithms learn what users most want to see and respond to.
From Goetze’s perspective, “this is not a question of willpower,” she says. Rather, it’s about “putting external things in place to combat the forces that are already going on,” such as turning your phone screen black and white or physically leaving it out of your bedroom at night.
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