Day 2: My Sleep Quality is So Much Better With No Phone

As I enter my second official day with absolutely no phone use whatsoever, one thing in particular has been sticking out to me more than anything: my sleep quality has improved drastically since going no-phone.

I think any logical thinker can chalk this improved sleep quality to not using OLED and being exposed to blue-light before bed, both of which have been proven time and time again to negatively impact sleep quality. But I also think there is something to be said about the body's process in completely readjusting itself to living with no-phone.

I've had a cellphone as long as I can remember. Well, maybe that's not entirely true. I can, actually, remember not having a phone at all. But by the time I was 12 years old, my parents had bought me one of those simple BlackBerry-esque phones, just so they could know where I am. By High School, I had the latest iPhone like all of my other peers. Fast-forward to this day, my adolescent physiology (a.k.a. developmental years) has been closely tied to a cellphone. As smartphones got smarter, my reliance on them increased. When I was in High School, every one was on social media; Instagram, Twitter, what have you. If you weren't on some sort of social media, your "friends" (quotations around friends because what kind of friends behave this way??) wouldn't even talk to you. As if texting just wasn't possible. Oh, and Snapchat. Ugh, snapchat.

Admittingly, I haven't really been keen on social media, so maybe this whole no-phone adjustment has been a bit easier for me than most people who rely on using social media to stay connected with their friends. I kind of gave up on friends and social media my junior year of college when I realized if I didn't contact my "friend group" first, I probably wouldn't hear from them ever again. So, I did an experiment: I decided not to reach out to my friend group. Alas, I didn't hear from them again ... ever. Granted, I did end up transferring to a much better university (I'm trying to compensate my emotions right now by flexing), but still ... social media and staying connected with your friend group is a real thing. I'd even go as far as to say that is the single most difficult part about going no-phone. 

Thankfully, I've given up on friends. My best friends is my girlfriend and my English Bulldog, and my three chickens: Isa #1, Isa #2, and Carrie. I don't even like eating eggs, they just make good pals.

Digression aside, the point of this Day 2 posting was to update everyone on just how much better of sleep I am really getting. I'm still going to bed late, as I'm a natural night-owl, but not as late as I am capable of. I find myself getting in to bed by midnight now (as opposed to 2-3AM) because, quite frankly, there's nothing really else to do. I'm usually asleep by 2AM because I spend an hour+ just bullshitting with my girlfriend, and I'll wake up around 2PM. That's 12-solid-hours of sleep. Before I'd fall asleep by 4AM after doom-scrolling for hours upon hours, then wake up around 10AM or 11AM. I'd be lucky to get 8 quality hours of sleep. So that is a huge plus I'm noticing going no-phone.

Thanks for tuning in to Day 2 of this No-Phone journey! If you enjoy reading my blog posts, I'd really appreciate if you hit that little button on the left side of your screen under "Join The Movement". This just means you'll receive email updates when I post, and more importantly to me: it'll show people are interested in what I'm writing and saying ... and that would mean a lot to me. So, thanks!

See you tomorrow for Day 3.

Oh, and a quick note ... my Kobo e-reader has finally arrived (things take so much longer when not using Amazon, but that's a price I'm willing to pay to not help Jeff buy his fourth mansion this month). So I'll be looking in to setting that up, maybe doing some side-loading of LEGALLY downloaded ebooks because the store prices are just crazy! I've never used an e-reader and the e-ink is much different from the OLED I'm used to ... so ... we'll see how it goes.