Cutting Out (Part III)

This article is part of my Cutting Out Phone Addiction series. You may read Part 1 and Part 2 before continuing.

I know this will be hard to believe but at some point before I turned 30, I joined a Taekwondo class. They didn't specifically mention that it was for kids, just that it was for beginners. So I joined for two 6-week terms. Then I left because I had to start working in an office again and won't be able to make it to 7pm classes on Thursdays. I promise it wasn't because I was getting my ass kicked by the kids.

Anyway, during Taekwondo I learned that you're supposed to always aim further than your initial objective. For example, if I want to hit someone's chest, I should make the space behind their chest as my target so that the impact is a lot harder.

I guess in corporate slang it's a "stretch goal" - when you have a goal that's achievable, but you stretch it a little more so you get better results or whatever.

I'm saying all this because it seems that I'm always revolving around the 50 minutes to 1h 15 minutes range of phone screen usage per day but never really staying below an hour. I know, as with all goals, I shouldn't rush this. The whole point of the Reclaim Your Brain challenge is to be kind and gentle with ourselves and to create long-lasting habits.

BUT I CAN'T!!! I'M AN ALL-OR-NOTHING PERSON!!! I WANT INSTANT GRATIFICATION! WHY IS MY PACKAGE FROM SHOPEE TAKING SO LONG?! (It's been 3 days... only)

Ahem...

My first thought was, of course, go harder, fix your goals, you're not doing this right! But I know this is what is realistic for myself. So I'll keep at it.

As a reminder, my goals were to:
1. Use social media with purpose, and;
2. have less than 1-hour screen time per day

Week 3

Average screen time per day last week: 1h 32 mins. 23 days in a year. That's 3 weeks! Not bad... but literally the amount of time I spent in France and Belgium last year when I visited my then-fiancé.

Also if anyone's wondering why I start my posts on Sundays, it's because the iPhone screen time calculation for the week is from Sunday to Saturday. I found out that I could change it but I'm halfway through this challenge and too committed in my ways. So we'll do that for a future challenge, or something.

Sunday, 29 June 2025

Screen time: 0h 50 mins

It rained buckets the night before and I was attacked by mosquitoes. Great for the drying plants from weeks of heat, not great for me. I had bad sleep but still managed to wake up for work.

Saw an email as I was on the bus that I had a package to collect. Yay! My new wiper is here. How convenient, I thought. I ordered it on Shopee 2 days prior. Got me thinking about how easy these days to get something. It has always been pretty easy for me to go out and get stuff. I live close to a mall now, and we live close to markets and old-school HDBs with shops at the bottom floor. It's not like it was difficult to get things replaced.

But these days, you can use a tiny screen in your pocket to compare prices and get A Thing. No more walking through hardware stores in multiple neighbourhoods or malls to get the best price for a thing.

That email made me look down at my watch and decided, I needed to change my watch strap which was torn and broken and could, at some point, yeet my watch to oblivion.

So of course I ordered another one from Shopee. This time, I made sure to get a metal one so it doesn't tear like this current one, and the one before it.

I also noticed that I default to checking my phone when I have "nothing to do". Now that I check my phone less, I've started noticing ALL the things I SHOULD do, especially at home: cleaning the cats' toilet, cleaning our bathroom, cleaning the house, sorting out books to be donated, sorting out my life into boxes and luggages in anticipation of my move....

I've decided that even though I have an A5 BuJo, I want a smaller sized notebook to track events and deadlines - basically to replace the calendar app on my phone. I bought a cute little A6 monthly and weekly calendar book from Muji and planned to start the calendar fresh in July, so I did. I updated my working hours so that I know when I have to work and when I can lepak.

I came home, cleaned the cats' toilet, talked to my husband until midnight on Discord because he was going for badminton and I was going to sleep.

Monday, 30 June 2025

Screen time: 1h 25 mins

My cat meowed at me after I gave him food before 6 am and was going to get a nap in before work. I scolded him, loudly. He wanted me to clear his poop. Fair. I can never be a mother. I will traumatise my children.

I was putting on my earpods to listen to a podcast when I remembered why I always used my phone on the bus: I get a headache whenever I try to read or solve sudoku puzzles on the bus. I have no such problems on the MRT or planes. I'm guessing it has to do with the motion which you can't really feel on the MRT or planes. I don't remember having the same issue with trains on the railway. I will update again when I do take trains (I foresee that I will, considering where I'll be migrating to).

I finished Amanat, making it my 15th book of the year. 15! That is incredible. I felt like I was lagging behind in terms of reading, with book-less periods stretching for weeks on end. I really blamed it all on the Wedding™ but I know myself well enough to know that, sometimes, I just can't be arsed. If this goes well, I could hit 30 this year! Which is decent.

Things I used my phone for today:
1. Calculating hours worked in June by double crossing my schedule noted in my BuJo with the one sent to my email. And even though I managed to calculate it on paper using a pen, I didn't trust myself. I should have because I was correct.
2. Googling if I could terminate a bank account without going to the bank itself. My logic was, if I can open a bank account online using just my SingPass, surely I could do the opposite in the same way. Turns out, no.
3. Figuring out if I should book a flight somewhere using my KrisFlyer points. But what will I do in that somewhere? Ugh.
4. Whatsapp. I honestly don't know why I use it so much. It doesn't take long to reply texts.

Then I spent the evening replying emails, eating a good dinner (without watching or reading anything; important!), ordering a remote control on shopee because the current one broke down (excuse me?) and drafting this post. Et voila!

Tuesday, 01 July 2025

Screen time: 1h 40 mins

One of the tasks for this week was to train our attention span by doing one of the following: meditate, read and doing one thing at a time.

I had to wake up early to fetch my mum to work. Yes, the 4 AM Call Time routine. When I came back, I managed to sit down for a meditation session on the Waking Up app before I went back for a nap.

I woke up 2 hours later with a headache. All my plans for the morning (to go to the bank to terminate an account, clean the house, work out) before I started work in the afternoon, went out the window.

I ordered breakfast for my sister and I, which was done using a combination of two apps: Shopback for cashback and Grab, for the ordering. Sigh, a bunch of "tools", again. I also used - take a deep breath - Shopee to order some canvas bags. I need to uninstall Shopee from my phone, seriously. This convenience was making it too easy for me to part with my money.

I managed to sort out some books for donation and put them out in the living room. One less clutter in my room....

I saw that I had a skip-the-line book hold and snapped it up, and now I have an ebook to read, teehee.

I ended the night by changing my instagram username on my laptop and booked a mani-pedi for the weekend, since I had a voucher to utilise (thank you, my brides' fair ladies!)

Wednesday, 02 July 2025

Screen time: 0h 57 mins

I sent my mum to work this morning. In the spirit of doing one thing at a time, I muted the radio on the way home. I ended up humming Le Petit Lapin (a song I repeatedly listen to in class...) and because I thought of the word "recall", my thoughts went to Don't Recall by KARD. Amazing how our brains make connections when we aren't doing 20 things at once.

This week we're supposed to leave our phone behind as we go for a walk or have lunch. I've pretty much had a headstart on that last week so this week was no different. I drove without my phone which, I realised, could cause potential problems as I did not drive without an identification on me. I should probably bring my wallet with my driving license...just in case. Other than that, I have not had my phone in my pocket at all. Because, why?

I know I had work at the cafe today, so I meditated before taking a nap. I woke up afterwards, had time to take a shower, feed the cats some kibbles and washed their kibble container. Resolved to wash their toilet the day after.

I used my tablet to read 33% of the ebook I checked out the day before, thanks to some down time at the café. It also helps that the book is pretty interesting. So interesting that I sent a message to a friend whom I know is also a fan of the author, and to my husband to complain about the male characters. I know, charming.

I also realised that I love making excuses about working out. It's too late in the morning (you literally start work at 3pm sometimes), it's too hot (turn on the AC, then?), I've got something to do (but you're on the couch scrolling on your phone instead of doing the thing you're supposed to do). I know I can always find time to work out, and I can just work out in the evening after work when it's not too hot, and I can always eat a snack for energy, do a light workout, eat dinner, shower and sleep.

So that's what I did. In the evening, I ate a waffle for snack, did a knee rehab work out (my knees are whack), showered, and wrote.

See? Easy peasy.

Thursday, 03 July 2025

Screen time: 1h 43 mins

Finally, an off day. I send my mum to work and came home to nap, sleeping in until 9am. Bliss.

I woke up to make breakfast and clean the cats' toilet, even though I already cleaned it 4 days ago because it was stinky. I ignored the 10 cartons of cat food that we received the day before because I had to run some errands.

I thought I was familiar with the area, so I decided to drive there without maps. WRONG! I still needed it but used it with narration only. I got lost driving back home, though.

I used my phone a lot today to send messages to people after my errands and to see their responses. It was cute.

In the evening, I did a work out for my knees that have been hurting since January and it's affecting how I work (which involve a lot of squatting down). I did some stretches and realised how stiff I've been...

Called my husband for a short while to say hi while I had my dinner and he had his lunch.

Friday, 04 July 2025

Screen time: 1h 24 mins

Relished in the fact that this was the last day of the week that I'd have broken sleep because I need to send my mum to work. I don't enjoy it at all, but I appreciate the work my mum does. I'm sure her workplace appreciates it too.

I came home and read a bit, then took a nap as I was going to work that day.

I started thinking about getting a bluetooth keyboard for my tablet, since it's a lot more convenient to work on it than my laptop. But, 5 minutes later, I decided not to. The whole point of dedicating my laptop for "work" is so that my brain associates my sitting down with my laptop as work, and my tablet is meant to be for leisurely reading. I don't want to meld the both together.

Although, if - a big IF - my 8-year-old laptop finally decides to go, I'll consider the bluetooth keyboard solution paired with my tablet.

In between serving customers and reading, I thought about how crazy it is that when we read a book or consume any other form of media, the stories are woven into our daily lives - like we are experiencing multiple worlds at once. I was rooted in reality - mine - but somehow I was also in a world where I knew the character I'm reading and knowing her problems intimately... like a friend.

After work, I had dinner with my family at home and spoke to my husband while he prepared to head out for his weekend trip.

I wished I was there preparing it and going with him.

Saturday, 05 July 2025

Screen time: 1h 05 mins

Finally brought the French books set aside to donate to Alliance Française. I KNOW! I've had them out since Tuesday. I bought some bread for breakfast and lunch, seeing that I made a nail appointment at 12.30pm. I was really cutting it close.

The books were bulky but it was satisfying to finally say Au revoir! to them. I hope whoever who picks up my books will benefit from them as much as I did and maybe even more. This is always my wish whenever I put books out for donation.

Work was hard and so I was glad I had booked a nail appointment right after. In between all the waiting and breaks and commute, I spent time reading my book which was due in 2 days. I was 70% along the way.

At this point of the challenge, I realised my phone has become a real multi-functional tool in my life, like a Swiss army knife. I use it for some of the things asked for in this challenge: using the waking up app to meditate, the banking apps for important financial tasks, to stay connected with my friends and husband (sans social media!) and to listen to music and podcasts.

But I've also started realising that I would still grab it whenever I feel it close to me for no other reason just to LOOK at it. I don't feel sad anymore when I don't see a new message or notification. It's just become a shiny little rectangular rock. And I guess that would be something I'll need to work on.

Also, I got my last Shopee package! I will be in Shopee JAIL for the unforeseeable future. Brb uninstalling it right now.

If you've enjoyed this post, you may read the rest of the series here.