LISTEN ON
Welcome to Hidden Gems, a special series of the 3 in 30 podcast.
Typically, these episodes will consist of one takeaway from one of my favorite previous episodes of 3 in 30, but today’s is a bit different. Today I want to share with you a hidden gem of something that I recorded as an Instagram Live a few months ago, but you may have missed it if you’re not on Instagram very often or at all.
For this Instagram Live, the tables were turned, and I was interviewed by my dear friend Andrea Davis, who is the founder of Better Screen Time. You probably recognize her name because she was the guest in our full episode on Monday about when to give your child their first cell phone. In this Instagram Live, Andrea and I talked about how our own phone use as mothers is so important, as we try to model for our kids how to have a healthy relationship with technology.
This can be a guilt-ridden topic, and I am far from perfect at modeling the best screentime behaviors for my kids, but it’s something I think about and work on all the time, and I hope this honest conversation with Andrea will give you some ideas as you navigate this for yourself and within your own home. We are truly all in this together.
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3 Takeaways For What I Learned From a Year of Picking Up my Phone Less
- My anxiety is way less. I have diagnosed anxiety that I’ve dealt with my whole life. And I have found that I notice a marked difference in anxiety symptoms when I am on social media a lot of the time and a lot of the day. I think we worry about anxiety and mental health struggles with teens who are on social media, but we don’t talk about it as much with adults
- I do need mindless escapes. I had thought that when I took social media off my phone, that I was going to be the most productive person in the world.What was interesting to me was that I found that I still reached for my phone and checked other things. My brain actually does need a mindless escape, and when you’re working hard and you’re depleted, you actually need a hit of dopamine sometimes. Replace phone use with something else you love and enjoy such as reading, talking to a friend, etc.
- I have to be willing to accept trade-offs. When I decided to step back from social media, I was afraid that it would negatively impact my business and my podcast. And it did. But I was happier and more secure in my attachments to my family. I was less stressed out. And that trade off was worth it to me. Dismiss the fairytale idea that you won’t miss out on anything. That isn’t always true. Sometimes you have to accept the trade off. What’s happening in your real life is more important to you than what might be happening if you were trying to be all the things and be in all the places, including digital places all the time.
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Mentioned in the Episode:
Andrea’s amazing course “Creating a Tech-Healthy Family” is on sale starting tomorrow, April 11 and goes through April 21st. Go to 3in30podcast.com/tech for an additional 10% off the already 20% OFF Sale.
