Today, aside from scanning through one full article and leaving an emoji on one person's post, I spent almost no time on the app … directly. However, with those few minutes combined with the many, many times that I turned on the app just to turn it off when I realized what I was doing, I logged over twenty minutes on the app according to my phone's screen-time monitor. That shocked me. I guessed that it might have been less than half that amount.
Part of the problem is that I've built the habit of checking Facebook on my phone any time that I'm waiting for something, especially for a computer to load up something. These wait times are everywhere (signing in to a computer, opening a web application, waiting for course materials to upload or download, etc.). Instead of just staring off into space, I usually end up staring at my phone.
These past few years during Lent, I have noted this problem of mine, this continual need to check to see if anyone has said something to me, a perpetual need for validation through response. I like to think that I have decent self-control and that my self-control is continuing to improve, but this habit seems to indicate otherwise. Even if I manage to catch myself before opening Facebook, I still keep automatically opening my phone.
Do you have any idea how many times I opened the weather app today--feeling a bit ridiculous nearly every time?