Recharge

Screen time statistics on our iPhone is not for monitoring kids. It's more for us. That's the reality of it. Let's not pretend otherwise. Many of us are too attached to our phones.

Being awake means that I am struggling to deal with the message notification alerts or sounds. For those coming from pharmacist or nurses, I really have to respond right away because the sounds come from my hospital phone. For those alerts from other sources like WhatsApp or corporate mobile application, I try my best to take a look. But if I don't have time, I just ignore them and move on. The problem is that I could have missed important messages. Whether we like it or not, we can't ignore the messages for too long.

We all need down time. It won't be easy, but we need it.

So we can be free.

So we can be happy.

So we can go on living a normal life.

Another term for this recharging retreat is the "restorative niche." A restorative niche is basically a space and time in which we are allowed to shut out the noise and chaos of the world, to be alone. It can be a bedroom. A nook in the library. Or even a mental space. Mine is the one-hour run from my workplace to home in the evening. Ever since I picked up this habit, I'd taught myself to ignore my iPhone when I run. I'd tried to remember that looking at the screen serves no purpose except slowing down my pace. With time, I knew that distraction-free run is a healing for the chaos. A restorative niche.