Bored and brilliant. My experiences with the Moment app and a fight for attention
Everything happens for a reason — we know that saying, right? Sometimes I’m really fascinated how it works in real life. You do one thing, then you do another, and magically they start to consist of the same elements.
This time, I owe it to Manoush Zomorodi — the author, podcaster, and relentless examiner of the human condition and her TED talk on how boredom can lead to our most brilliant ideas, which I found during my research for human-centered design course.
At the same time I decided to try to unplug myself from my smartphone’s precious tentacles and installed the Moment app (made by Kevin Holesh) and found the Bored & Brilliant course there —of course, by Manoush Zomorodi. Everything happens for a reason, right?
So, Manoush, Kevin — this short story is about how it went.
In the Bored & Brilliant course available in the Moment app (and no — it’s not the app for your hairdresser appointment) you have seven tasks to accomplish, one task a day.
Day 1: Observe yourself
Well… that won’t be a great discovery, I use my phone way too often. I listen to music, watch videos, check emails, check apps… we all know that. My average screen time is 2 hours and 30 minutes a day. I pick up my phone about 55 times a day on average and touch it every 18 minutes! The app tells me that I will spend about 6 years of my life on my phone. This is madness!
Result of the day: 49 minutes less screen time.
Day 2: Keep your devices out of reach
Today, I cannot use my phone while I commute. No music, no reading, scrolling… yep, just put your phone in the bag and enjoy the silence, observe what’s around you, start a conversation. I agree with myself on the reading and scrolling part. Listening to music is harder — but I try it. It wasn’t that bad after all.
Result of the day: 53 minutes less screen time.
Day 3: Photo-free day
The app says that Americans take 10 billion photos each month, about 9.5 billion of which are Instagram photos of food. That’s quite funny. Photo-free day was quite simple task to accomplish. I kept in mind to enjoy the moments with my kids and family. Pretty good, Maciej!
Result of the day: 54 minutes less screen time.
Day 4: Delete… that app.
Yeah, right… that was probably most difficult assignment in the whole process. So… Instagram? Yes, but I have all those accounts connected… “fortunately”, I started to sell some stuff on OLX. Yes, OLX is leading now. But what about my used winter tires? Someone probably would like to contact me and buy them… I will. Try.
Result of the day: 58 minutes less screen time.
Day 5: Take a Fakecation
Let’s spend some time of the day without distractions. No phone, no scrolling, no “I will only check that”-thing. This day I worked from home, so it helped to really find time for this. It felt good.
Result of the day: 56 minutes less screen time.
Day 6: Observe something else
I need to go somewhere and just observe people around me, birds flying around the park, the world happening. I tried, but I think I could do better on that. Still, 57 minutes less screen time.
Day 7: Get bored & brilliant
This was a 30-minutes distraction free time, while thinking on something really important. I lay down on the couch, started thinking… I’m not sure that I got really brilliant at that time, but it felt good. Felt like I really needed that.
Result of the day: 56 minutes less screen time.
Conclusion
It seems that I have saved more than 6 hours of my life during the course (my average screen time during the course was 1 hour and 35 minutes). That’s quite a good amount to spend differently. Spending time with my wife, kids, reading, walking, biking, hiking, not working, singing, making some music… or just doing nothing? Yes, that’s something that I don’t think about much. When I have spare time, it’s always an urge with me to do something.
I just can’t do nothing, it’s laziness! It is so hard to fight it.
But, actually, when we do nothing, our brain sets to default mode, which is so great for our health and creativity. We can’t be always connected. We can’t be always online. We can’t be always available. Or — we can, but we shouldn’t. We don’t have to. How about just spending some time offline with my wife, kids, friends? Yes, that’s something worth fighting for.
