How a phone lock screen can change your life
Your phone lock screen stinks.
Ok, maybe that’s a bit dramatic… but there’s some truth there. Let me explain.
Most people have a lockscreen that they like (they pick the photo), that expresses something about them (cats), that’s funny (a comic or Bart Simpson), or shows a picture of a loved one. And our phones are our most personal tools, so all these make sense. There’s nothing wrong with any of them.
But also? Most people pick up their phones at least 100 times a day… and end up staying on their phone and using it for a long time. The average amount of time people uses their phones is five hours daily (very easy to do, since phones have been engineered to exploit human psychology and foster addiction).
This is not the best use of time, for the vast majority of humans. Studies show that the more time we spend on our phones, the more anxious, insecure, and jealous we become - and the more our IRL connections suffer. Phone overuse is not the path to human flourishing.
So it actually makes a lot of sense to use a lockscreen that prompts you to think about your larger life goals. Do you want to be a distracted, inattentive, reactive person who’s endlessly tethered to your phone? I didn’t think so. So having a lockscreen that helps you not become that person is a good idea. The goal of phone use is to get more out of our phones than they get out of us.
In his very worthwhile book The Tech-Wise Family, Andy Crouch says,
We are continually being nudged by our devices toward a set of choices. The question is whether those choices are leading us to the life we actually want. I want to life of conversation and friendship, not distraction and entertainment; but every day, many times a day, I’m not in the wrong direction. One key part of the art of living fearfully with technology is setting up better nudges for ourselves.
YES. And an effective phone lockscreen is one such nudge. Seeing it there, when we pick up our phone, can be a reminder of who we want to be as a person, and how we want to live digitally (to help us get there).
I recommend that lockscreens:
Depict some form of natural beauty or other visually appealing scene
Be simple and minimalistic, so that viewing them produces a sense of calm
Carry a very brief reminder about using the phone well
Be changed out frequently (because we become habituated to it, we look past it and it loses its impact). I find every three or four weeks is an optimal time length.
To get you started, I made six free lockscreens that fit these criteria perfectly. You can get them here! Hope you find them useful.
Here’s to living well with our phones, and being people of flourishing!
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