Foxy experiment #1 – Not sleeping in the same room as my phone will make my life better

(What is a Foxy Experiment? )

Why this experiment?

I know I spend far too much time on my phone. I love feeling connected to so many people, having instant knowledge on tap and there’s always something interesting happening on Twitter. But I know I spend too much time glued to my phone. I know my sleep would benefit from less screen time. I know I could do better things with my time. So…

Hypothesis:

Not sleeping in the same room as my phone will make my life better

Method:

Before I go to sleep, I’m going to charge my phone in a different room to my bedroom. I need my phone though so I can tell the time if I wake in middle of the night. I sometimes also use the alarm on my phone to wake me up. So I’m going to buy an LED alarm clock.

Just arrived, thank you @AmazonUK 😁 My new experiment of not sleeping next to my phone starts tonight! #foxyexperiments pic.twitter.com/tclauXdrBG

— Jonny Fox (@jonnyflyingfox) May 7, 2020

Results:

Day 1

Plugged my phone in the spare room and shut the door on it.  Strange sensation but liberating.

Set alarm on new alarm clock.  Emma was asleep and I wanted to read, so, ironically I picked up my iPad. ( Note to self – buy a clip on reading light so I don’t use iPad in the bedroom)

• I love my Kindle app because I can read any book on it wherever I am
•  but I do love physical books
•  you can share them
•  you can write in them
•  you can pick them up easily and in multiple rooms
• they don’t need charging
•  the pros far outweigh the cons of using a device

I checked the time on the clock, not my phone before sleeping. The red dot reminded me the alarm was set. Result! No time wasted on social media before sleeping 🙂

Day 2

Woke up in the night a couple of times. I smiled when I saw the time; a)  it was the middle of the night and I could go back to sleep and b)  my experiment was working. I didn’t have to pick up my phone to see the time.

I woke up before the alarm. Smiled again when I remembered my phone was not in the same room. The time was easily visible. Waited to see if the alarm worked. BEEP BEEP BEEP. Yes. Perfect!

Bed time – Plugged in phone to charge in the spare room. Quick look at Twitter.* This turned into at least 30 minutes until I realised that I was again on my phone before going to bed. obviously not  an easy habit to break. Left the spare room and walked away from phone. Again, liberating. Walked into the bedroom and can see the faint glow of my alarm clock. YES I thought. This experiment is going to work!  as I got closer to the bed I realised how huge the numbers were! Haha!  again I used the iPad for reading ( ironically)  but this is the last time. I’m going to order a clip-on reading light today).

*(I love Twitter. I learn so much. There’s always an interesting conversation going on. It gives me a link to so many people, a family of connections. very special, hard to describe. But I do spend too long on it. Which in turn affects my enjoyment of other parts of my life and if it affects my sleep, it affects my capacity for enjoyment and being in the moment. And this is why I’m doing this experiment –  to remove the ability (see B J Fogg’s Behaviour Model)  to go on my phone before sleeping and when I wake up.

Day 3

So this morning has been really special. The benefits of no phone are really positive. It’s the Saturday after the VE Day bank holiday. Normally pre-corona, I’d be doing Parkrun but today I’d decided no running. I had a day of running related exercise yesterday – thanks to the amazing RunPals (the running group I’m in): 7 am yoga, then a strength session, then a lunch and learn Garmin/Strava session, followed by a group virtual run on Zoom. (wow, makes me tired just writing what I did yesterday!) So today is a gardening and writing day. 

It’s 10:39 and I’ve still not picked up or looked at my phone. fantastic! F****** BRILLIANT!!  Emma and I had a lovely catch up whilst cooking breakfast and I’ve just spent a delightful time sitting in the garden eating my porridge (porridge for breakfast has been a game changing experiment for me). I’ve been watching the birds enjoying their breakfast at the experimental bird table. (Actually the bird table was lockdown experiment #1 and the bird bath was #2 but anyway…)  whilst eating my breakfast sans phone,  I saw the following:

• a magpie eating pear scraps from my breakfast prep
• a robin singing his heart out from the top of a tall ash tree ( over the last few weeks I’ve been learning all the different trees in the garden. This definitely helps me to feel more connected to nature, plus I love knowing the names of the flora and fauna I see.  Thank you to my parents for sharing their love of the natural world with me when I was a kid)
• a female blackbird zooming  around the garden. The male following/chasing ( I don’t know which)  through the trees at lightning speed.
• two seagulls thermalling in front of the hill, over the town. It’s a beautiful blue sky today, warm, with a very light wind.
• a robin eating seed at the new bird table
• the magpie eating from the seed spread on the ground by the bird table.  Looks like he or she ( how do I tell the difference?)  prefers ground feeding to the table.
•  a rook flying over,  along with carrion crows, jackdaws and wood pigeons.

 I’ve also noticed the beauty of all the different bird songs. I can pick out the robin song, the chat of the magpies, the jackdaws, the great tits, the wood pigeons.  I’m looking forward to learning and identifying more.

I can really smell the blossom too.  I love this time of year. The lawn is awash with daisies. The chestnut tree has blossomed. Looks like it’s been decorated with lots of white candlesticks,  actually like upside-down candelabra.  The other chestnut has red blossom on it.  I’m guessing one is sweet and one is horse (must find out).  One ash tree has bunches of seeds on it already and the other has only just unfolded its leaves. The bluebells are still here. I think that might be the strong blossom I can smell.  It keeps wafting up the hill as I write this. It’s intoxicating and seems more so as I soak up my surroundings.  I’ll investigate after this and find where this ‘spring perfume’  is coming from.

So what’s the actual conclusion of my Foxy Experiment #1?

Well, I’ve been able to sit here, experience all of this and write all about it, all because I haven’t picked up my phone.  A tiny change can have an enormous result and I’m chuffed to bits!

p.s. I did buy that clip-on reading light

p.p.s. it was the bluebells!