How are artists managing their smartphone use?
Some crowdsourced thoughts after my recent post
After my post last week about whether or not I had the guts to throw out my smartphone in favor of an old-timey flip phone, I got sooo many comments that it really validated the overwhem and stuckness I feel around my smartphone use, and screentime in general. One of the most relatable comments was by artist Rachel Gregor:
“As a painter, I'm also really concerned about how everything is viewed through a screen and we're not observing the world for ourselves. Having a screen time limit app helps, I also try to not use any social media apps, I only use browser versions of platforms. If it's clunky and awkward, all the better, anything to make scrolling uncomfortable. When I take a video of something happening to send to a friend, I try to look at what I'm filming and not the screen, I remember getting really frustrated this year when my partner and I drove by some cool Christmas lights and realizing that I did not actually look at the lights myself, I was looking at my phone screen, which is a very sad way to experience the world and a poor simulacra of reality.”
I also saw synchronistic social media posts, like this one by Jerry Gogosian that echoed my feelings, underlining for me the urgency in having more conversations about this subject. I will be interviewing Jerry Gogosian, aka Hilde Lynn this week in another post!
Most of the feedback came in the form of Instagram comments. So if you’re curious you can click through to the post and read them all.
*Spoiler alert* I’m not ready to stop using my smartphone forever, but I am excited to be more mindful and start limiting how much I allow the phone to interrupt my creative flow - at the very least. But I also want to figure out a way to be grateful for the myriad connections and, let’s be honest, sales that social media allows me to have and foster in a way that would have been impossible without such a powerful tool.
Below are some of the main takeaways I have gleaned over the past week based on conversations, articles, and comments I have engaged with. As well as my own experience starting to use some of the suggestions.
We can all agree that we are using our smartphones too much.
The first thing I learned about this is that yes, we are all sick to our stomachs about how much we use our smartphones and how much it is taking us out of the moment- almost without noticing like most good drugs do.
But it’s complicated.
The second thing I learned, or really confirmed for myself, is that it’s complicated.
"I really hate smartphones, the obligation to be present at all times, and the pressure to post interesting content as an artist, etc. I’d like to trash it all, but I feel like I miss out on socializing when I take breaks, esp now that I live in a small town. I’d like to think that we can be artists without social media and smart phones. Is it possible?!”
I spent way more time on my phone the day my post went live because I was excited to read people’s comments and do more research about this subject. Is this a “good” use of the technology? I guess you could say that it is, however by the end of the day my brain felt like it had been whirled through a Vitamix.
One of the reasons it’s so complicated, besides the social interactions, is that Instagram and other social media marketing really can work. In 2023 I made more sales through Instagram than through galleries by far, and it has definitely helped my career to be actively posting my work and building my network. I’m not alone in that.
Social media is often a lifeline for creative folks living in smaller cities that don’t have access to in-person networking in the same way we do in larger cities. A great example of a career that would not exist without Instagram is Rae Klein who famously leveraged her large following from a small town in Michigan to go on to have shows at reputable galleries all over the US. Stories like Rae’s are the carrots that keep us artists grinding away on our social media game despite the time suck, and reduced quality of life.
So rather than fully cut it out, how can we artists and creative folk take a more moderate approach?
There are tools available, but you have to use them.
There are a couple of options that I have put into place, as well as some that were suggested to me but I haven’t used yet. Below is a breakdown of each:
Screentime limits
This is the first tool I was recommended by artist Denis Geary Lopez to limit my Instagram and other social media apps usage. Most if not all smartphones now have some version of it. I have been using the limits for about a week and it has helped.
I set the timer to a hefty 1 hour, and have mostly stuck to it except for Sunday. My oversized scrolling on that day made me think I might need to allow myself one cheat day a week. It has made me more conscious of the times that I do use Instagram on my phone, and forces me to ask myself whether the scrolling I am doing is a good use of my time.
The other thing it has done that has been helpful is keep me from responding to messages right away if I’m nearing the end of my limit. I found that responding to messages all the time can be distracting and disorienting. It is fun, and can be a lifeline in a big city, but it often leads to mindless scrolling much more than any burning desire I have to look something specific up.
Going on Airplane Mode in the studio
This is another one that I have been trying to do on a regular basis for about a month. Other artists I spoke to said they did the same, or even went a step further and put their phone in a lock box with a timer. I am not ready to do this, but curious to hear if other people have. Blocking off that time has meant I protect my creative brain. I realized it was being chipped away at with a thousand tiny blows by checking my messages, posting a story, and so on.
Swapping smartphone out for low-tech phone on nights and weekends
One of the articles I was sent last week appropo smartphone addiction was a NY Times article by Kashmir Hill about how she swapped out her smartphone for a flip phone for the whole month. One of the strategies she culled in her research was using a low-tech phone like Light or a flip phone on nights and weekends rather than doing a full detox all the time.
This sounds cool, but I would almost say that I would want to do the reverse. I’m much more disciplined during the week when I am in my studio and writing. I am less so when I’m out in the world trying to make plans and seeing shows.
Writing this makes me realize that one of my smartphone triggers is uncertainty and a lack of structure. Going to the phone for connection and engagement provides that structure for me that I might otherwise have if I had a more active family life or a day-job.
Being new in LA and not knowing where anything is meant that the smartphone was/is my reliable companion, and my portal to all the friends and contacts that I have that maybe aren’t with me in real life. I have since really tried to be more mindful and open to the chaos of being new in a strange city. I try to make space for the one-off encounter and chat frequently with strangers (lol). But it can be hard when it feels like everyone else is also reaching for their phones instead of talking to strangers too.
What to do? From artist Christina Bowers:
“I set time aside to be on my phone in private so that when I’m out in public I can be fully present. It’s not yet a perfect solution but I’ve had some pretty awesome encounters.”
Stop filming every cool thing I see and experience it with my eyes, brain, and heart.
This is something I wrote about in 2019 at an artist residency in Iceland. It was winter so there were bursts of northern lights that when they happened you had to choose: would you photograph them or watch them?
The annoying thing about northern lights is that their colors are often a lot less bright, and a lot less green in person than they are on camera. This is especially true if your eyes have not had time to adjust to the darkness - something about the lack of cones and rods.
If you decide to whip out your smartphone, that instant blast of screen light will most likely ruin your eyes’ chances at getting the best real-life look at the fading lights. My advice from this essay that I am now reading as advice to my current self, and maybe you if you choose to accept it:
It is at this moment that you need to dig in and appreciate where you are. Humble yourself to the natural world. Close your eyes and feel the northern lights and the arctic winds wash over you. Feel them in your shivering body and let the dancing green and yellow lights warm you — or at least inspire you enough that you forget how cold it is.
You can swap out northern lights for Arc de Triomphe, Time’s Square or any other magnificent place on this blue marble.
Smartphone detox aka Flip Phone February
I am especially excited about an idea that Kashmir Hill offered in her essay I mentioned above called Flip Phone February. She wrote me back right before I hit send, so I wanted to add her suggestion of moving everything to your laptop rather than doing work on your smartphone. She said this made the information less intimate.
I highly recommend reading her article to prepare yourself for the adverse effects of going off your smartphone, like 2-step authentications and vendor notifications that only happen in-app. These examples demonstrate this whole process is going to be hard not just because we are addicted to our phones, but because we as a culture are fully entrenched.
As it gets closer I will be posting more about doing a Flip Phone February, and am hoping to start some kind of group chat for people interested in doing it too. Send me a note if you are!
What’s the real problem?
So what is behind this supersized smartphone addiction? (Other than the fact that smartphones are like glowing pieces of candy with eons of information available to us at the touch of a finger.) Specifically, why are we going to places like the Arc De Triomphe at midnight on New Year’s Eve and not celebrating without our phones?
Something I heard about in an epsiode of BAD AT KEEPING SECRETSthat haunts my brain is the correlation between wealth disparity and problematic social media use. I found this video that also talks about it.
This turned on a lightbulb in my brain. Social media is ultimately a tool for social mobility, and social mobility and wealth inequity are deeply intertwined. And so I wonder, is toxic smartphone usage is due to the lack of social resources and the insane income disparity happening in the US and much of the world?
It would make sense that those without financial capital would lean on other forms of currency like social capital to try and improve their station. If we all felt more secure financially, lived closer to our families and/or had good, free health insurance, would we be spending as much time online as we currently are trying to shore up followers?
Let me know your thoughts. This is an ongoing conversation and I want to include as many perspectives as possible.
Another interesting article! I’m curious to hear how flip-phone February goes.