fbpx

What Is the Phone-Free February Challenge?

Photo from Daria Nepriakhina via Unsplash

What Is the Phone-Free February Challenge?

By Movieguide® Contributor

In an attempt to help people manage their screen time, a non-profit has launched the Phone-Free February challenge, but despite its name, is not actually asking participants to go phone-free.

Nonprofit the Global Solidarity Foundation hopes to inspire the public to consider how much time they spend on their phones by participating in the Phone-Free February challenge.

“While phones help us achieve many important tasks, they are also designed to keep us hooked,” the nonprofit explains on its website. “This highly addictive design has us checking our phones an average of 221 times every day.”

However, the company understands that it is impractical for people not to use their phones at all, so they encourage them to only use them for their crucial functions during February. This means cutting out time on games or social media and only using it for calling, texting, navigation and other similar functions.

A large portion of the challenge revolves around making your phone “as boring as possible” by limiting notifications and even changing visual settings to remove bright colors and blue light. The Global Solidarity Foundation also encourages those who participate in the challenge to reconsider their phone habits by keeping devices out of the bedroom and putting them away before bedtime.

While limiting the use of phones is important, another part of the challenge is to engage in more real-life activities to replace the time normally spent on phones. This helps participants take their focus away from their phones and put their energy towards productive, healthy hobbies.

The creation of the Phone-Free February challenge is similar to other wellness challenges such as Dry January, where participants give up drinking alcohol for the month.

These challenges are meant to help participants gain control over their addictions, while also helping them realize just how much of a hold these habits have on them. Furthermore, abstaining from them for a full month helps participants experience how their lives would be different without these behaviors.

These challenges have the potential for a complete life change. Actor Tom Holland, for example, decided to become completely sober after doing Dry January at the beginning of 2023.

READ MORE: WHY SPIDER-MAN STAR TOM HOLLAND IS LOVING SOBRIETY


Watch FATHER OF THE BRIDE PART II
Quality: - Content: +3
Watch THE NOT-TOO-LATE SHOW WITH ELMO
Quality: - Content: +2