The white Christmas that many of us hoped for in northeast Indiana arrived a few weeks too late and has certainly caused some stress these past few days trying to traverse the frigid winter wonderland.
Some stress from the winter weather, however, might not be as severe as what many Americans said they were feeling during the holidays last month.
I read a short story on CBS News a few days before Christmas about how a third of Americans reported they were more stressed out during 2023’s holiday season than the previous year. The article cited a survey from the American Psychiatric Association in which the top sources of stress were listed as buying holiday gifts, finding gifts and the price of holiday meals.
Fast forward a couple of weeks.
While my wife and I were in Arizona, we heard another report about stress. This time, it was on NPR as the reporter cited another recent poll in which the American Psychological Association found that almost 25% of adults across the United States said they were experiencing “high levels” of stress — up from 19% in 2019.
The alarming statistics caught my attention as we listened to the report. The story was actually about a new book that has come out to help people manage stress. The book is titled “The 5 Resets” by Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, the reporter shared.
I haven’t read it yet but it’s on my list of non-fiction books to borrow from the library sometime this year, as the NPR reporter did a superb job of capturing my attention with the report.
As we listened to the report, one of the tools the author of the new book suggested for having less stress revolves around technology and cutting back on how much we use it, as everything from emails, news headlines and social media are causing us to be more stressed.
Few statistics stop me in my tracks as much as the one that was cited in the report about how often we touch our phones in a given day.
People interact with their phones — which includes tapping it, swiping it or clicking something on it — an average of 2,617 times a day. That mind boggling number represents more interactions with our phones than there are minutes in a day.
I use my phone a lot throughout the day but I certainly hope I’m not interacting with it even half that many times.
The article also pointed out that more than 50% of people surveyed said they grab their phones within five minutes of waking up each morning.
I would be part of that 50%.
I stopped using an alarm clock about a decade ago, as my phone wakes me up each morning to the tune of a loud radar beeping sound. It’s the first object I reach for each morning as I turn it off.
And since it’s already in my hand, I’m quick to open the morning’s headlines to catch up on any news from around the state, nation and world that happened overnight.
About the same time I stopped using an alarm is probably around the time I started consistently consuming more news online instead of picking up the print product from the gas station or having it delivered to my door each morning.
So what’s one to do?
The NPR report suggested spending no more than 20 minutes a day scrolling on our smartphones. My iPhone tells me that my daily average is two hours and 50 minutes — well over the suggested time I should spend.
I’m not sure I’ll ever reach the 20 minutes since I use my phone for so many purposes — from my calendar to tracking my runs. Using it some three hours a day, however, is too much.
Another takeaway we heard on the report was to move your phone away from your nightstand so that it’s out of reach and less likely to be used right before you fall asleep or right after you wake up in the morning.
Seems like a good idea to me and an easy change to make.
My wife and I have already started working on the first suggestion to limit time on our phones. My daily average use was down 20% from last week.
Now we just need to find an alarm clock so that we can put our phones on the other side of the bedroom.
I’m sure we have one somewhere in the bottom of a box in the basement. If not, buying one with those Amazon gift cards from Christmas sounds like a great idea.
I think I can justify a bit of screen time this week to make that purchase.
jdpeeper2@hotmail.com
