I've been thinking more about how much time I spend in front of a screen every day and how much of that time is providing me value. That led me to brainstorm some daily goals or habits that would promote less screen time such as taking at least 45 minutes away from screens in the middle of the day (sometime around 11 am to 1 pm) or taking at least an hour break from screens right after the work day. I'll try some of these out and maybe report back if I've found them useful.

The thing that struck me though was that my instinct was to frame the goals around spending time away from the screen rather than thinking about the time I spend in front of it. It felt like I was admitting to myself that the default state is in front of a screen, which is probably true.

How long has it been this way? There's the obvious discussion of having computers in our pockets always at the ready but I've had my phone time fairly under control. The more recent problem I feel like I have is that remote work makes it so easy to pick up my laptop near the end of the work day and transition to my couch where I can slowly drift toward mindlessly consuming Hacker News or Reddit or whatever distraction du-jour is on the menu for the day.

There's no longer the forced environment transition of a commute, co-workers coming to my desk for a face-to-face conversation, meetings that require walking across the building searching for some obscurely named conference room (not to say that these are necessarily good things...). If I so choose, or my brain's dopamine center chooses for me, I could spend every minute of my day with my eyes glued to this screen. Time away from it requires intentionality and a bit of discipline.

No, this isn't new information or any shocking revelation. Many of us have been learning to adjust due to the switch to more remote work these past 3 years (and holy shit it's quite a realization that it's been 3 years). But I think the fight for balance is constant and every once and a while I need a reminder that if I'm not thinking about how I'm spending my time then I'm probably not spending it wisely.

Some meta-discussion -- This, my second post, has been more of a ramble than a well-thought-out post. I don't feel like going back and editing this so I'm just going to post it as is.

#100DaysToOffload #2