Away from the False Glow

How do you manage screen time for yourself?

I stood in a crowded metro train, looking out the wide rectangular window with rounded corners and fixed glass at nothing in particular, it was dark apart from the area lit by the lights of the tunnel placed a certain distance between each other.



My eyes appreciated this darkness. I had been experiencing some mild headaches recently, they would go away after a short while but they would return again the next day or sometimes the same day.



My ears made note of a song that played in my earbuds. The song caught my attention and brought me out of my thoughts. I pulled out my smartphone and added a song to one of my playlists. As I was about to keep my phone back in my pocket my mind hovered over the thought of watching some more of the episode of the show I was watching nowadays.



People used to ask me what I do during my one-and-a-half-hour journey to the office and back.



“Shows on online streaming platforms,” I would say.



When I stepped in the metro train every working day, I straight away looked for a seat or a place to stand comfortably and my next set of actions would be to put earbuds in my ears and then pull out my smartphone from the pocket and turn its Bluetooth on. Once the earbuds were connected, I next opened an online streaming service app and continued the show I was watching or would start a new one. The same string of activities took place on my way back as well.



On some rare occurrences like my headache issue, I would listen to music. Nowadays I cannot imagine how I could stay with earbuds in my ears for such a long time.



Watching of the show continued even at home. When I got home and freshened up, I sat in front of the television with a cup of coffee and continued my activity from the train and till when it continued? I honestly did not know. I often slept late and had to get up early for work. Back then it seemed like the perfect solution to escape the thought of the work pressure at the office. Little did I know it was affecting my life for the worse.



The scene outside the window of the metro train changed and the city and its light came into view. The next station was about to come.



‘There is a nice little coffee shop near the station. A cup of good coffee would certainly be nice about now,’ I thought and I got down the train trying to avoid my eyes from coming into direct contact with the source of bright white lights present at the station. I turned off the music and headed there. There were many people there, I made my way through after some hustle and managed to get a cup of coffee in a brown disposable glass.



There was no place to sit but there was plenty of space to stand. The coffee as expected had a robust flavour along with a hint of chocolate from the chocolate powder sprinkled over.



I thought I heard someone speaking to me and I saw an old man looking towards me and smiling. He was a security guard somewhere as I inferred from the uniform, probably in a senior position which did not involve a lot of movement. I turned back to see if I was standing at the wrong place.



The old man made a gesture with his hand and I understood. I pulled out the earbuds which were still in my ears and hindering my ability to listen properly. I had intentionally left them in my ears to allow less sound of the busy street in.



“Can you tell me the time?” said the old man, still smiling.



‘Time?’ I thought. There was a time when asking for time was a normal thing when I was small. Not everyone wore a watch and I don’t know why. But now I was hearing this question after a long time.



I took out my smartphone and told him, “It is 7:30 pm”



The old man looked at the wrist of my left hand for a while and asked, “Is that a watch?”



“Yes, it is,” I said, I always wear a watch, but then it struck me, I had actually forgotten its purpose and I realised from my memory that I have been doing it for a while. But then again, I also check for notifications in my phone while watching the time, but was it really needed?



I remember that moment even today, and then I made some readjustments in my life to reduce screen time. I stopped watching the shows in my travel time and limited them to two episodes, if it was possible within a certain time period at night.



Even at my work place I took regular breaks from my time on the computer. My headache problem went away and the earbuds stayed for the majority of the time in their case. Overall it was a good improvement over life and I believe the experience comes from the world around us in the present and not from its digital iteration on the screen.

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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