Do you know that nefarious little piece of "wasting your time most efficiently"?

I'm a bit in a rush today so I'll make this quick:

Your smartphone.

(And other very similar devices that fall into this category.)

During the past years, I've seen singers being unfocused and emotionally troubled due to incessant texts from girlfriends, boyfriends, mothers, fathers, dealers, A&Rs, etc.

Or there was this drummer in one of my radio shows who got so distracted with updating his social media feeds that he didn't listen to his bandmates about the song structure - it turned out to be the worst live recording I've witnessed. 

Oh, and don't forget about mix revisions. Back in 2017, when I didn't have strict policies about mix revisions, I suffered from the experience with a band that sent me three different revision notes for one mix. And then they had a huge fight once I confronted them with the fact that they had to send me only one mix revision note so I could work properly.

There are so many other examples. It's scary. Be it on live shows, at the radio station, in the studio, at festivals, or elsewhere.

How is this possible?

Every week, I'm speaking to producers and musicians that work from their home studios. And they complain about not getting things done. When I ask them about their phone consumption, they go quiet. And a few of them take action, remove their phone from their productivity session, and release great music. 

Just imagine how would you feel to talk to someone who's holding up a giant newspaper all the time.

Ridiculous... if you ask me. 

If you feel the same, let's change this.

From now on, turn off your phone during your productive hours. Turn it off. And put it away. Like the other room, or at least at a distance that's not easy to reach. Allow yourself to check it once every three hours or so. And only for five minutes. Set a timer if it helps you.

Do this for a few weeks and notice the difference. 

I'm doing it for over a year.

(And I wasn't even a heavy user.)

Now, I'm checking my phone around three times per day. I haven't missed anything so far. But it feels great. I'm also handling most social media stuff on my laptop. It saves additional time since I don't have to write with only two fingers, or rely on that mind-numbing dictate function that drives me crazy every time I use it.

Tell me: How much time do you spend on your phone every day or week?

(If you have an iPhone, there's a weekly and daily consumption statistics.)

And how much do you want to reduce your daily or weekly time?