Last week I made a bet with a good friend of mine that I could go a full week without my phone in hopes of proving that I am not addicted to this $1,100 device.
So, I proceeded to make an announcement to my small group of Instagram followers that I was going to take a week off from using my phone.
That “week” lasted eight long hours. Those eight hours, coincidentally, were the exact amount of time I was asleep. But during that “week” of detox I learned something.
Welcome to Chill Pill, a Friday biweekly column about slowing down in a world that rarely lets us do so as college students. Here, we will talk about balance, burnout and the small things that can make college life feel a little less overwhelming.
As embarrassing as my failed detox was, it made me realise how uncomfortable I was with being bored. A few seconds of silence; I reach for my phone. Waiting in line? Phone. Riding in the car? Phone. Eating alone? Phone. Having nothing to do for three minutes? Oh, I’m using that phone.
We have become so accustomed to constant stimulation that boredom almost feels uncomfortable, even unbearable. The second our minds become quiet, we fill the silence with something — a TikTok, a text or an Instagram story — to avoid sitting there with nothing to do.
But what if boredom isn’t something we need to fix?
Being bored gives us something that our phones rarely provide: space. Space to think, to daydream, to notice our surroundings, “touch grass” or even come up with an idea simply because our brain has nothing else competing for its attention. Some of our best thoughts don’t form because we are scrolling through our phones. They come when we are walking, staring out a window or doing absolutely nothing.
I think sometimes we’ve forgotten that doing nothing is allowed.
We don’t always need to be productive. We don’t always need to be entertained. We don’t always need to know what everyone else is doing (well, unless they’re someone important, or interesting, or someone we’re mildly obsessed with). Sometimes it is okay to sit in silence and let your brain wander.
And maybe that is what my failed phone detox taught me. The goal was to prove that I can survive without my phone for seven days. But the goal should have been to be comfortable enough with boredom that I don’t feel like I need my phone every time I experience it.
So, I think I am going to try the challenge again. I won’t announce it to my Instagram this time. And I won’t promise that I will last a full week. I’ll just start by putting my phone down. And when I’m bored, instead of immediately reaching for it, I’ll try something different.
I’ll be bored.
So take a chill pill. Put your phone down. Let the notifications wait.
For once, do nothing. Be bored.