I used to feel quite superior because of how little I relied on the tiny gods in our pockets – the devices that require so much time and devotion from everyone else. Then I started to get “screen time” notifications. This unwanted weekly intrusion was sobering: on average, I was using my phone for nearly four hours a day. And the bulk of that time was spent on social media.
When I really thought about it, I could see how this came to be. Setting an alarm before bed turned into scrolling through Twitter for an hour; checking the weather became a marathon Reddit session. All roads led back to social media, even if I’d picked up my phone with entirely different intentions.
I was eager, then, to see if an Amazon Echo Dot with Alexa could change my behaviour. Reflecting on how I found myself inevitably in a social media hole whenever I used my phone, it felt logical that, if I could replace tasks I used my phone for with the smart speaker, I’d avoid wandering on to Twitter and ultimately prevent unnecessary phone time.
When the Echo Dot arrived, I decided that the living room would be the best place for it. Setting it up was a doddle, although it did involve using my phone, but before long I had linked the speaker with my music streaming provider, my Audible account and had even saved recipes that I thought I might try during the week. That first evening – seduced by the allure of shiny new technology – I sat for two hours listening to podcasts on the sofa, my phone forgotten.
Conscious that the Echo wasn’t there just to feed my true crime addiction, I scoped around to find out some other skills and tasks I could assign it. To prevent myself from waking up and looking up the news, weather and tube status on my phone, I decided to programme a morning routine – a set of Alexa’s commands triggered by a simple voice instruction. The next morning while having breakfast, I asked Alexa to “start my day”. First came a fact of the day, then the weather and finally the Guardian’s news briefing, a 30-minute cut of the latest news, sport and reviews, read to you by Alexa.
It was all very useful, but, being in a shared flat, having Alexa tell me the weather forecast out loud while my flatmate slept felt a little inconsiderate. And while I wish I had 30 minutes to spare to listen to a podcast each morning before leaving the house, it’s just not realistic. Like with any new addition to your home, Alexa and I needed to adjust.
Diving back into the app, I reprogrammed my morning routine, replacing the news briefing with a mindfulness exercise. To get the news, I decided that I would use the Guardian skill. The next morning, after being told that it was Britney Spears’s 38th birthday that day, I luxuriated in a minute’s worth of mindfulness, bathed in the soundscape of a forest, before asking Alexa to read me the headlines. When it was time to leave, I realised that I had only used my phone that morning to tweet a happy birthday to Ms Spears. Win.
My phone use in the evening, however, was still a problem. Flatsharing means you have to be flexible, and arriving home after my flatmate I soon understood that it would be impossible to sit in the living room all night listening to audiobooks or podcasts or even doing Harry Potter trivia. I could hardly ask him to turn the TV off and vacate our shared space so I could listen to an episode of My Dad Wrote a Porno. So, the decision was made: I would take Alexa to my bedroom.
Not only could I now set up alarms to wake me up, but I could also add little reminders each morning to water the plants or to not forget my phone charger before leaving the house without Alexa booming them out at 8am and freaking my housemate out. In the evenings, I found that I didn’t mind being holed up in my bedroom, as Alexa read me audiobooks and podcasts. As someone who needs background noise to sleep, I found that dozing off to a podcast was far more comfortable than wearing headphones in bed. I even added a sleep timer so that I didn’t miss anything when I eventually fell asleep.
Most notable, though, was how easily using the Echo and Alexa replaced my phone. Sure, I was still drawn into the odd scour of Reddit and Twitter, but just asking Alexa to play me the latest episode of What Makes a Killer (yes, I know, not really light bedtime listening) instead of scoping it out on my phone before ultimately playing it while simultaneously bingeing on social media, meant I gave the podcast my full attention. I also didn’t fall asleep with my phone in my bed, either.
It’s probably still too early to say that the Echo and Alexa have changed my life. But without doubt, it has shifted my behaviours. I make time in the mornings for mindfulness and engage properly, instead of just getting riled up by the latest scandal on Twitter. Mostly, though, it’s made me realise how much easier it is to find time in the day to take for yourself when you’re not sucked into hours scrolling on your phone. This week alone I’ve made my way through five hours of a new audiobook and my morning mindfulness is a revelation.
Surprisingly, given my initial trepidation towards her, I’ve actually grown fond of Alexa. And yes, she has helped me use my phone less; my average screen time is down by 23%. I’m still addicted to Twitter, however, although I’ve found a compromise – Alexa now tweets for me. The problem is my flatmate now thinks that I talk to myself.
