My phone is making me miserable

My phone is making me miserable.

Four weeks ago I had a fall whilst out running. I sprained my ankle badly in Edinburgh city centre but managed to wave down a taxi to take me home. This was the start of a long lay-off from running.

I noticed that over the past four weeks, my mobile phone usage had increased significantly. I also noticed that it was making me miserable.

In this video I explore why our mobile phones have such a strong grip over us and why we feel the need to check them so often.

The video offers five key tips I have implemented in my own life to try and curb the use of my phone. These include:

1) Adopting an ‘Airplane Mode’ weekend policy.

2) Deleting the apps which waste the most amount of time – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

3) Setting the phone to greyscale.

4) Turning off all notifications.

5) Getting outside more.

These are all new actions that I have taken to try and get a hold of my miserable phone addiction.

The simple solution would, of course, be to use a phone that doesn’t have all of these unnecessary features. But as a filmmaker, I do make great use of the camera function on my phone and this has allowed me to capture many magical moments that I would otherwise have missed. I would gladly keep the camera and also the notes app, but get rid of everything else.

Filmed over the course of a week in April 2021, this video features footage from sunrise at Portobello beach in Edinburgh and also footage of a trip to the coastal town of North Berwick, which is approximately 45 minutes east of Edinburgh.

Is your mobile phone affecting your happiness? If so, you’re not alone.

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