Do you remember the beginning of the year, when I wrote about the week I spent with the monks under a strict no-tech policy?
Fast forward a month and a half, and I feel as if I’m back at the starting line.
I recently checked the screen time across my four Apple devices: iPhone, iPad, a MacBook for work, and a MacBook for music. The result shocked me. On average, I spend well over 10 hours a day in front of a screen.
The number may be slightly misleading. Sometimes I use two devices at the same time. Sometimes a screen is simply on in the background. Sometimes an app stays open without real interaction. Still, even with all these caveats, the conclusion is unavoidable: it’s too much.
So I asked myself: what am I doing wrong?
First of all, working in tech and AI does not help if your goal is disconnection.
Secondly, I do a lot of calls and work during those hours. And in an industry like the one I work in, blue screens and neon lights are second nature.
But that’s not the whole story.
I know I shouldn’t look at my phone during the first hour in the morning. I do it anyway.
I know I shouldn’t check my phone if I wake up during the night. I do it anyway.
I know I should avoid screens before going to bed because of blue light. I do it anyway.
I know I shouldn’t be constantly “always on” with emails, WhatsApp, and Teams. Messages, quick replies, notifications. But I do it anyway.
And then comes LinkedIn.
I use LinkedIn for work. Literally. Most of my clients and opportunities have come from there. I check updates, engage with the community, answer messages. It generates real value, at least for me.
Right now, for example, UIA is organizing a great event in New York on legal wellbeing, and I’m reaching out personally to my contacts on the East Coast. Most of the time, I even prefer LinkedIn to email. It’s more personal, there aren’t personal assistants filtering messages, and you get the read receipt. Yes, agents could help. Automation could help. But I want the human touch.
The problem is that it’s never just a few minutes.
You enter LinkedIn to write or answer a few messages, and you exit 45 minutes later after a spiral of doomscrolling. One post leading to another. One notification opening five tabs in your mind. Another paper to download. Another debate to follow. And suddenly, you’re not engaging anymore. You’re consuming.
Doomscrolling feels passive. It looks harmless. But it isn’t passive at all. It’s cognitively intense. Your brain is bombarded with information, emotions, opinions, achievements, crises, outrage, success stories. It processes comparison, threat, opportunity, fear of missing out, professional anxiety.
No wonder we get headaches. No wonder we feel stress. No wonder anxiety creeps in.
I don’t have a perfect answer. Moderation sounds obvious, but it’s incredibly difficult. Blocking apps helps, but only to a point. Maybe I need another week with the monks.
That said, when I look at the Apple logo on my devices, my mind goes to the Garden of Eden: the bitten apple as a symbol of temptation. I guess this is just a modern version of the same ancient story.
The fruit is different. The garden is digital. But the sin feels strangely familiar.
