Many of you know my struggles with email. I have to use it for work and due to the pandemic, I’ve had to put my work email onto my iPhone XR so that I can access the daily COVID-19 screener our school district expects us to do. The screener consists of a series of questions meant to see if it is safe for me to go to school and teach. It’s easier to take the screener from my phone so I do. I take a screenshot of the results so I’m ready to share it when I get to school on the days I’ve been teaching there remotely. However, there has been some “collateral damage” that has resulted due to me having email on my phone; I’m checking it obsessively again. That is until about 3 weekends ago. I made a decision that it was in my best interests to stop checking email over the weekend. I’ve just cleared the third weekend of not checking and by the time this blog post “goes live,” I will be entering my fourth weekend.

Not checking my email on the weekend has actually been easier than I thought it would be. I have more discipline than I give myself credit for. Prior to making this decision to NOT check my email on the weekends I did some “work” in the Screen Time settings of the phone to “shame” myself into NOT using email that much on my phone during the day. That “work” included setting time limits as to how long the email (and other school related apps) I use daily remain “open” for my use. I also instituted a passcode I need to enter, when the time limits I’ve set expire. Meaning, I have to manually input the passcode to continue using email (and other school related apps) when my time limits expire. I thought this would deter me from checking so often but it really has not. I have no problem putting the code in when the time limits expire. Mind you, this is only happening during the week. You would think that if I’ve been able to stop checking these apps for 3 weekends I could do it during the week. That’s a discussion for another time. Not checking email and other school related apps on the weekend has produced some positive results.

I’m not on my phone as much. For example, the week of April 25th through the 2nd of May I averaged 60 pick ups a day. Only 8 of these were for the Mail app...none on Saturday or Sunday. Last week I averaged 62 pick ups a day. 16 of these pick ups were for Outlook, none of them on Saturday or Sunday, 8 were for the Mail app, none on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

I’m reading more. I actually started a really cool book that I’ve deemed my “summer book” recently and believe it or not...not checking my email on the weekends has contributed to me getting this book started. I say this because the email has not been a distraction.

I’m spending more time with my wife. I don’t have a way of measuring this but can tell you anecdotally that not picking up my phone on the weekends to check email has given me more time to talk to my wife and be with her.

I’m really looking forward to the summer...one of the first things I plan on doing is taking email off of my phone. It is my hope that I will be able to keep it off my phone moving forward.