New Year Resolutions, a Discovery, and Unintended Consequences!

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Even those of us who don’t make New Years Resolutions do think a lot about life changes with the dawn of every new year. Personally I like to set a one word theme for each year that I hope will guide my choices going forward. This is not my idea, I’ve stolen this idea from other friends who have served as an inspiration in this.  Last year was the year to be more Generous in my life and with my resources and I believe I did a pretty good job incorporating that in to my 2015.

So starting out 2016 I wanted to make a change that would continue to make a big difference in my life and in the lives of those around me. I wanted to be more present when spending time with my family and friends and really double down on being a generous friend.

So this year I’ve chosen the word Mindful to guide me.

[rescue_box color=”gray” text_align=”left” width=”100%” float=”none”]mind·ful

ˈmīn(d)fəl/
adjective
1. conscious or aware of something.

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With making choices that I hope will result in me being more mindful I made an amazing discovery, and this discovery lead me to a huge life change that really has had a positive impact on myself and all those around me!

I stopped using Facebook on my phone! 

Wait! Don’t run away! Stay with me for a moment and I’ll explain this insanity because in AGeekDad style this wasn’t done without a little research.

On the iPhone you can track your screen time and app usage under in the Settings app under Battery. In the app, all you have to do is click the clock face and see how many minutes an app has been on the screen for today or for the past week. I assume this can also be done for those who run Android as well. When I checked to see how much time I was spending in different apps I wasn’t exactly shocked to learn that I was a Facebook addict, clocking in an average of 89 minutes a day on Facebook! Yikes! That is way too much time and that didn’t even count the time that I accessed Facebook on my desktop.

So as of the first of the year I deleted Facebook and Facebook Messenger from my phone. Now, after more than six weeks, I can report it has turned in to a great reward that I don’t miss it at all. When out with friends, eating dinner with the family, or watching a movie with the wife, no longer does my phone instinctively come out for me to see what everyone else might be doing! My screen time with that monster and privacy suck has shrank to about 5 minutes in the morning to check in with a few pages I admin and to scan my newsfeed.

And the best part? I now have almost an hour and an half more every day to reinvest in my work, my family, and friendships!

One last thing, here is a great unintended consequence of this life change, my phone battery now lasts all day on a single charge again! This is even more topical after seeing yet another report on this issue, I can confirm the findings as well! Facebook not only kills your life, your time, it also kills your phone battery! 😉

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