I Tried to Quit My Smartphone Addiction and (Spoiler Alert) Failed Miserably

Fail.

It was as if I was making up for the four (only four!) hours of lost time from the day before. I didn't even try. I woke up and checked every usual app (weather, email, Instagram) without a second thought. Once we got into the car, my daughter wanted the Moana soundtrack. Well, let me tell you — they don't play Moana on the radio, and I was not about to have a screaming toddler. Hi, Spotify on Bluetooth; I've missed you so.

Let's just chalk day two up to poor willpower and #toddlerlife.

On the eve of day two, I set myself up for a successful day three by turning all of my data and WiFi calling off (again). I told myself that "it's progress, not perfection" and felt ready to begin weening myself off for the remainder of the week.

I started making little agreements with myself:

"Music in the car is OK, but no texting."

"You can take pictures, but no posting."

"Only 30 minutes on Instagram." I even set an alarm!

Well, give someone an inch and they'll take a mile. I'm that someone.

At this point, I decided to fully give up. Especially since the next day was Thanksgiving. How am I not going to post my #grateful photos of my beautiful family in real time?! If it's not on social media, was there even a turkey? People will start to wonder . . .

Turns out Thanksgiving was the best thing that could have happened to me!

I was so distracted with drinking, cooking, drinking, eating, sleeping, cooking, eating, drinking, cleaning (in that order), that I actually didn't even know where my phone was. For the most part, I was phone-free for the whole day, minus two exceptions: following online recipes and taking pictures (but I didn't post them!). My husband even got annoyed with me for not chiming in on the group holiday texts. I have to tell you — I took that as a win!

I thought to myself, "OK, day five, I am ready for you."

Day five was the nail in the coffin.

Turns out Thanksgiving was just a product of equal parts busy, stuffed, and sleepy.

While I had the best intentions to finish the week strong, I taught a yoga class in the morning and needed my phone to play my music. I told myself that I would turn off my phone's cellular data once the class was over, but who was I kidding? I had a problem and I knew it.

I ended the week feeling completely dejected. My life has become so digital that even my day-to-day activities or tasks, questions, and answers require an IP address. I realised that my fantasy of living digital-free might be just that: a "fantasy."

I will say it wasn't a total fail. My average phone usage for the week was down about 40 percent, and isn't the first step admitting you have a problem? Like I said, baby steps.