Buying an alarm clock helped my mental health

If you were like me you likely sleep with your phone charging next to you. This is never something I thought of as a problem, but making my bedroom a phone-free zone turned out to be a easy and effective way to help my mental health.

There are plenty of articles advocating for this change which list reasons such as creating separation from work, decreasing the amount of blue light you experience before bed, and avoiding a massive unnatural hit of digital dopamine the minute you wake up.

As a self-declared smartphone hater, I was completely on board to investigate the benefits, so I moved my phone charger to the kitchen and bought an alarm clock (which turned out to be the only real reason that I needed keep my smartphone by my bed).

The first few days were eye-opening; I was alarmed at the number of times I would go for my phone whilst in bed to find it wasn't there (it was multiple times per minute). What was most shocking was how trivial a thought would have me reaching out for my phone. For example, I would think "what shall we do today?" and immediately reach for my phone to check the weather, or "I wonder how our finances are doing" and grab to check our investments.

These trivial thoughts were suddenly allowed the space to develop when I found my phone absent. Cal Newport talks about how we fragment our day into tiny frames of time, separated by digital distractions, which he points out creates anxiety and stunts free thought. Having my phone away from my bed removed this fragmentation, and presented my mind with undisturbed time to think. I found my head much clearer.

The numerical evidence for the benefit of the practice was my reduced screen time. Before removing my phone from the bedroom it was reporting a screen time of 3 hours a day. After removing it this was reduced to less than 1 hour a day.

This screen time reduction was not only due to not using my phone in bed but was also a result of a new separation from my phone that I had not experienced before. Previously my day would consist of waking up, putting my phone in my pocket, and carrying it around with me. After removing my phone from the bedroom, I no longer felt the need to pick it up when starting my day, and it remained on charge in the kitchen.

The final evidence for me was the improvement in my mental health. It's hard to quantify, but I felt 20% happier a few days after making the change. I put this mostly down to seeing less anxiety-inducing information, a reduction in harmful blue light, and the better sleep I was suddenly getting! This sealed the deal for me, and my bedroom will always remain a phone-free zone!