Two weeks, no smartphone: how I tried – and failed – to kick my screen addiction

James Ball spends countless hours a week staring at his iPhone. Would a fortnight with just old-school text messages and games of Snake shake him out of it?

Plus! Five tips for resetting your tech life

One Monday morning early this year, bleary-eyed and getting ready for work, I am interrupted by a notification on my phone: an Apple Screen Time alert, informing me my usage last week was up by 60%: to 19 hours 24 minutes a day. I stare at the numbers for a while. Anyone who gets the recommended eight hours' sleep is awake for just 16 hours a day - I apparently spent several hours more than that using my phone. I share a screengrab with friends, who react with concern, if not much surprise.

That I am a heavy phone user hardly comes as a shock to me, either - I work as an editor at an investigative journalism organisation on a team of more than 20, I have a second job as a columnist and I spend more time on Twitter than is good for anyone's sanity. Being glued to my phone is virtually a career necessity, even if I am guilty of spending an excessive amount of time on the game Tents and Trees, too.