I made a watercolor painting of my screen time
A new type of self-portrait
I found the most powerful way to track my screen time. And it only takes a pencil and paper.
I wanted an analog way to reflect on my phone use at the end of each week, so I started an art project where I handwrite my screen time.
This week, I made a watercolor painting of my screen time. Writing out each stat by hand helped me really process the data. I felt pretty good about this week. Instagram was two hours total, which felt reasonable since I use it for work.
This practice complements the mindful app blocker I built called Free Time, which helps me pause before scrolling. It’s been working and has cut my screen time down by two hours a day. My goal isn’t zero screen time, just finding balance.
I posted the painting on Reddit, and it reached the top of the Digital Minimalism subreddit, with 30K views in the past 4 days.
This comment stuck with me. It does feel like my screen time is a self-portrait of my week. This little snapshot reminds me of where my time and attention went. And drawing it out makes me reflect and set intentions for the next week.
How to draw your screen time
1. Print your reference image
Go to Settings and then scroll down to “Screen Time” in your iPhone. You can then print out that photo. I put mine in Figma to turn it into a PDF with the sizing I wanted.
2. Choose your medium
You can choose whatever medium you want, but even just using pencil and paper has a meaningful impact in processing this information.
3. Trace
If you have a lightbox, you can use it to trace your screen time onto the paper. You can also tape the printed reference image to a window and put paper on top to trace directly.
4. Reflect
Voila! You’ve hand-drawn your screen time. It doesn’t need to be pretty or perfect to be a tool for reflection. Write out on a separate piece of paper any reflections from this week or intentions you want to set for next week. Maybe you want to spend 10 minutes less on Instagram.
I’m going to start a thread in my subscriber chat where you can post handmade drawings of your screen time and any reflections/intentions there. I’d love to see your creative interpretations in there!
Relevant Links
Free Time: the mindful screen time app. Download here.
Quietest Places in New York City is coming on Feb 24. Pre-order here.
My book launch party is on March 10 at the Rizzoli bookstore! RSVP for free here.
I posted this tutorial video below on Instagram here.
wow this is genius and beautiful in every way