Know the purpose of your phone

- When I say smartphone in this course, I'm referring to any handheld device that can perform many different functions and run an endless array of apps in addition to making calls. This includes Android, iPhone, or whatever else comes along in the future. It's a little absurd that we call these devices phones, isn't it? One of my favorite comedians, Gary Gulman, said, "Calling an iPhone a phone "is like calling a Lexus convertible a cup holder." And really, the generalized way we think of smartphones often gets us in trouble. Just because we can do anything doesn't mean we should do everything all the time. There's a time and place for each of your phone's different functions. Take a look at the download titled Purposes of Your Smartphone. This worksheet can help you categorize and budget the different ways you might use your phone. You'll see a list of purposes of smartphone use. Next to each purpose is a quick definition. For instance, one purpose is to send text messages. The definition includes other text-based messaging apps. Some definitions have subtle differences. For example, the distinction between social media for recreation and social media for work. If using social media is part of your job description, such as sales or marketing, then time spent this way would go to the purpose of work. But if you're commenting on friends' posts and uploading pictures for fun, then that would be social media. Scan through the list to get an idea of what each purpose means and feel free to alter the definitions to your taste. There are also spaces at the bottom to add your own purposes and definitions. Next, enter a rough amount of time you spend in that purpose each week. Remember to consider that your weekend use is likely different than your weekday. Maybe making actual phone calls takes you a small amount of time, maybe 30 minutes per day. So your total would be 3.5 hours per week. On the other hand, you might estimate you spend one hour per day on social media with on extra on the weekend, so you might put eight hours there. Now this is just a tool to guide your choices, so don't worry if things aren't perfect. While you could optionally use an app or a spreadsheet to track usage, I'd prefer you to just give it a quick guess. Our goal is to increase your awareness rather than getting precise numbers. The last column, Target Hours, is the most important. How much time do you really want to spend on each purpose each week? Perhaps you feel the time you're spending on phone calls is appropriate, so no change is needed. But you may feel eight hours per week on social media is a bit too much, so you decide to cut that in half. Make your choices now and as we progress through the course, we'll talk about how to make your new vision a reality.