What spraining my thumb taught me about my phone
“Will I be using a voice note to have an argument again? Yes, quite likely so”
After weeks of planning, aligning dates and times and finally booking an Air B&B, I had arrived on what I once hoped would become an annual surf trip in Cornwall. I had never surfed before, and can still say weeks later, I have never surfed. Unfortunately, once we arrived at one of the best surfing beaches in Falmouth, the tide was going out, the ocean far too choppy and we were left with the option of body boards or nothing. Let’s just say, I walked so Total Wipe Out could run. With the rope tied to my wrist and board in front of me, I took two steps onto the shoreline before a wave took me right out, bending my fingers backwards and causing a pain that I, at the time, compared to a car accident that put me into a coma when I was four. And that is how my thumb met its bitter end.
I am not usually one for optimism, but in the longer run, spraining my thumb may have been one of the best things for my mental health that I can take away this year. With my dominant hand off limits, my other hand was easily worn out, making it easy to resist mindlessly scrolling through onslaughts of social media posts or texting with solely my index fingers, prodding my screen like some sort of soccer mum. Using my phone was a chore. And so my screen time reduced. A win is a win, I don’t care what y’all say.
But of course, here in 2023 using a mobile is pretty much unavoidable, to stay in touch with loved ones, for work, and in my case during that period, for difficult conversations – cue receiving paragraphs over text. I thus did something I had never done before, and that was to have an argument with a voice note. Speaking aloud about how I was feeling instead of typing and reading back, and editing, and reading again made me feel a weight lifted that you sometimes can’t quite achieve via a text. There has been a lean towards voice notes in recent years, research has found that 62% of millennials and 72% of Gen Z use voice notes regularly. I was surprised to find out one of the reasons behind the voice note increase – over half of the study said that they use them to convey emotions they find more difficult to do so via text. In my personal experience, I have found that people hide behind their screens, preferring to type out messages that they would never say in real life to your face.
Will I be using a voice note to have an argument again? Yes, quite likely so - I would especially recommend if you want a more cathartic release than texting.
It’s unfortunate that it took a sprained thumb to drag me off my phone, and I’d be lying if I said my screentime has not shot straight back up to what it was before. But I am trying to implement strategies to avoid using my phone, especially the apps that have me in a chokehold and spiral me out of control (cough, cough, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, Threads). So if spraining your thumb isn’t an option, then I would advise putting time limits on the toxic apps – it’s the next best thing.