Habits - An Experiment

Habit Post #1: February 1st.

For this class, I had to choose one habit that I would be willing to break for the duration of the semester. This experiment is a simulation to experience what it is like to break a habit. While the habit I have chosen is not as serious as some of the addictions I will see in practice as an Occupational Therapist, I believe going through the process will be extremely beneficial. I will be editing this post with my progress and reflections throughout the semester.

I have chosen to give up the habit of constantly checking my phone. I have an iPhone and I find myself constantly looking at it to see if I have received any new texts, calls, emails, tweets, facebook posts, or snap chats. Half of the time, I know that it will have nothing on it, but I still feel the need to look at it in order to respond immediately if there is a notification. I chose this habit because it is very distracting when I am doing school work, driving, when I am in class, or even when I am speaking with someone. This change could help me to be more focused and to make others feel that I am more focused on them.

On a scale of 1-10 based on committment, I would say that I am at a level of 7. I want to change this happen to stop being so connected to my phone, and being more connected to in-person relations. However, I do not believe that this habit has an extreme negative impact on my life, so I do not think that it is absolutely necessary for me to stop.

My specific goal is to check my phone when it is appropriate and not to feel the need to answer things immediately. I plan to make this change through strategies like putting my phone on loud, so I know if there is definitely a notification. I also plan to keep my phone in my bag during class or while driving. I will try not to have my phone immediately with me at all times. For example, if I am in the living room talking with my roommates, it should be okay that my phone is upstairs and I may not see notifications for a short amount of time. Overall, I plan to slowly become less connected to my phone. I may turn off some notifications that are distracting when studying.

In order to be successful in this change of habit, I think I will need the support of my own will power. I will also need the help of people around me. When everyone else is also on their phone, it is hard not to be on yours. If the people around me can be more connected on a face to face basis, rather than sitting in a room all in separate conversations through texting, it will be easier for me to not feel so compelled to constantly check my iPhone.

Habit Post #2: February 8th

I made some progress this week. I used the stategy I mentioned last week of putting my phone on loud, rather than silent when I am at home or not in class. This helped me because I often knew it did not go off, so there was nothing on my phone to check. However, there still were times where even though I heard no noises, I felt the need to check my phone.

There are several triggers to this behavior that are difficult to overcome. One is if I am waiting for an important email. Another is if I am having a texting conversation with someone and I am waiting for their reply, or waiting for a phone call back. I also constantly check my phone when I am bored.

To become more successful next week, I want to start leaving my phone in a different room of the house just for a short amount of time so that I start to become less attached to it.

Habit Post #3: February 15th

This week, I decided to let my roommates in on the experiment. I told them about my assignment and what I am trying to do. I asked them to please firmly tell me to stop if I check my phone while driving or if it ever gets in the way of one of our conversations or something important around the house.

I also started to leave my phone upstairs in my room some of the times I am downstairs in the house. This is heard for me because last week I put my phone on loud to hear when I have alerts. Our house is old with thin walls and sometimes when I am downstairs I can hear that I received a text or email and I want to go upstairs to check it. Sometimes I am successful in resisting, but other times I feel the need to check right away depending on if I am waiting to hear from someone or if I am not doing anything else particularly important.

Next week, I want to count how many times I check my phone in class and be sure to reduce that number.

Habit Post #4: February 22nd

This week, I honestly have not paid much attention to my habit experiment. Games have started for lacrosse and the time of exams has come for the semester. I have been stressed and busy and have not had the energy to count how often I check my phone like I wanted to do this week.

I have still been following the other coping mechanisms I addressed earlier in the blog. However, I want my goal for this upcoming week to actually pay attention to the number of times I check my phone when I shouldn't.

Habit Post #5: March 2nd

This week, I really paid attention to when and how often I am checking my phone. I noticed that in class, it depends on what we are doing and if I am waiting for something specific. For example, last night in class I was waiting for texts regarding my ride home from class, so I was checking my phone pretty often. In another class, we were doing small group activities where we were discussing with peers, and I checked my phone more often in that than I do in lectures. While driving, I only have been checking my phone at long red lights or if I am again waiting for something specific. I noticed I really slip up after fieldwork on Fridays. During fieldwork, I am there for 8 and a half hours and have no access to my phone, not even during lunch. When I am done for the day, I have all kinds of messages and emails piled up and I find that while I drive home I am on my phone more, which I know is terrible and dangerous and needs to stop. This week at fieldwork, I want to sit in the parking lot before I leave and answer what I need to. When this is done, I will put my phone on silent for the rest of the ride back to campus.

With spring break coming up, I will have more time to be on my phone, as I will not be in class or doing too much school work. I want to make sure that I do not lose the progress that I have made. While I am at home, I want to leave my phone upstairs in my room for portions of the day so that I can spend  time with my family. This will be my goal for the 2 days I have at home for spring break. The rest of the break I will be in South Carolina with the lacrosse team. I will probably use my phone a lot then because everyone else will likely be on theirs. However, I would like to be able to bond more with my teammates and not focus on my phone when I should be having face to face conversations.

Habit Post #6: March 22nd

These past couple weeks, my lacrosse team has traveled on several long bus rides, including to and from South Carolina (11 and a half hours). I used this time to try to not be on my phone and interact with my team members instead. My one teammate who was sitting behind me on the long bus rides and I started a competition. We both have iPhones that have a percentage of battery. We had a contest of who could have the most percentage of battery left at the end of the 11.5 hours (aka who could use their phone less). This competitive aspect really helped me to focus on not using my phone as much. Also, because this was my last lacrosse spring break I wanted to spend time with my teammates and cherish the bus rides we have. Now on other bus rides, my teammate and I ask each other how much battery percent we have left. This has really helped me to engage in team activities instead of listening to music, texting, or playing games.

Habit Post #7: April 3rd

Over Easter break, I got to see my friends from home that I don't get to see often during the school year. When I was with them, I wanted to make sure I really caught up with them and paid attention to what we were saying and doing, rather than being on my phone often. Usually, when I am at home I am texting my boyfriend because we don't see each other like we do at school. However, I realized I get to spend most of my year with him and should really focus on my time with my friends who I won't see again until summer. My friends and I had a lot of plans together and the one night at the bar I noticed we were all on our phones a lot. We all agreed to put them away for a majority of the night and enjoy our time out. Having friends who agree to challenge themselves really helps me to keep working towards my goal. I really think my phone use has significantly decreased, especially during important times like these. I still have days of "relapse" where I don't put in as much effort and continue to go back to my old habits, but that is totally normal.

Habit Post #8: April 11th

Last week, I challenged myself to do what I talked about in a previous post and sit in the parking lot after fieldwork to reply to what I needed and then drive with my phone on silent. This was easy for me because I drove two other classmates to fieldwork and could socialize with them so I didn't even think to look at my phone. It's a lot easier to not use my phone when I am around other people who aren't constantly on their phone. The next challenge I have for myself is to watch a movie without checking my phone. While relaxed and watching a movie, I always find myself texting or on twitter. I want to truly engage in and watch a movie, meaning paying attention the whole time.

Habit Post #9: April 19th

This week, I watched a movie without using my phone at all during it. It was hard to do as at first I could hear all the notifications I was getting, so I had to put my phone on silent. It was nice to relax and watch a movie without thinking of a million different things. Putting my phone away gave my busy mind a break and gave me a chance to focus on something I enjoy, rather than emails from professors or peers texting me about irrelevant things or school work. Because this week was the last week I would write a post for, I wanted to really challenge myself. Friends live in the house next door to me, and when I was going over there to hang out the other night, I left my phone at home. It was hard because I was waiting on a text from someone and was not sure if I had received it or not. However, it was nice to be around my friends without any distraction. When I came back to check my phone I had the text I was waiting for and no other important notifications, indicating that it was fine to be without it for a little while.

Summary:

I selected the behavior of constantly checking my phone because it was behavior I was willing to change and felt that I needed to change. I feel as though it was interfering with important things, such as school work and social interaction. My mom always tells me to get off my phone and preserve the social skills of my generation. I think she is right that this is a problem for people my age and I wanted to change it before it got worse. I felt as though this was a challenge that was possible for me to do in small steps and therefore achieve even with my busy schedule.

It was very difficult at first for me to abstain from being engaged in the behavior. Although it was easier towards the end, in the beginning I felt restless as if I should be doing something more because I was so used to multitasking. It was hard for me to ignore my phone when I know that important emails, texts, calls, and less important things such as tweets, snapchats, and facebook notifications come through. Towards the end, as I got used to the feeling of being relaxed and disconnected, it was easier and less overwhelming.

I had support from my friends and roommates, who were sometimes willing to challenge themselves with me. It was much easier to achieve my mini goals when I had someone pushing me and reminding me. It also was easier for me at times like Easter break where if all my friends didn't agree to do this with me for the night, I would have been the only one not on my phone and felt the need to constantly check it. Having a support system really makes a difference in any situation, but especially situations that bring about change.

Through this assignment, I learned that I like to multitask and it is hard for me to focus on just one thing. However, it is important to focus on only one thing most of the time. I think I use my phone as a distraction not only to procrastinate sometimes but also just to have more to do because I like to be busy. I also learned that I can challenge myself to things like this and succeed, even if it is hard at first. I do think that was a great behavior to start with, as now I know more about the gradual process if I ever want to stop a more serious behavior.

This assignment helped me to realize how hard it is for something who struggle with an addiction to give up their behavior. My behavior has no physical dependence and it was still hard just to break a habit. I can't imagine trying to break a habit that not only consumes someones life, but could also have a physical dependence. I imagine that it is very hard to break an addiction that is a huge part of your life. However, through this assignment I have realized that it is equally as hard to break something that is not a huge part if your life. For example, I am a full time college student and athlete and I also work and make time to have fun. It was hard for me to focus on breaking a habit when I had so many other things going on and I was so busy and overwhelmed. The addiction cycle can be present in any situation, even if it does not totally consume someone's life.

I think to someone who is trying to change a behavior, the strength-based approach is best. If I were working with someone with an addiction, I would always try to focus on the positive things to build on their confidence. I think this approach is a way to really understand the client's point of view and make the treatment individualized. There are many ways to approach the situation through this approach and all of them are client-centered.

I believe that habits can be broken, although it is never easy. Habits can also be picked back up very easily and it takes a lot of determination and motivation to stay away. I do not think that addictions can ever be fully cured. I believe that it is a disease of the brain and the tendency is always there. While the addictive behaviors may end, I think the temptation and sensitivity to triggers is always there. Someone can totally cut out their addiction behaviors for the rest of their life, but I think they still are technically addicted and will never fully break away from the experience.