For a few months now, we've been complaining about how quickly our internet data bundle gets exhausted. It was crazy because a plan ordinarily meant for 6 months got finished in about 3 months. We have 6 devices in the house that make use of the WiFi; our phones, laptops, TV and PlayStation. There were other people using the WiFi too but we changed the password because we felt they were contributing to the excessive usage.
There was actually no way to check how much each device consumed from the bundle on the app so we assumed it must be the PlayStation taking a chunk of the data. My husband stopped playing games online and the data exhaustion seemed to lessen. But then we noticed that our plan still didn't last long enough, and we found out that the TV was infact a culprit.
We tested it by watching 20+ minutes of a show on Prime and we saw that 2gig of data was gone. Considering how many episodes we watch at a stretch on some days, we thought we had found the culprit. Little did I know that that wasn't even the half of it. Yesterday, I decided to check my phone's data usage. I had checked my mobile data usage a while ago but I didn't bother checking the WiFi usage, it didn't cross my mind that it'd be anything more than the usual.
I couldn't believe what I saw yesterday. I was weak to my bones and in awe. I am too embarrassed to mention how much data my phone uses (it's me, I used 😭). To give you an idea, in a month, my phone alone uses 100% of the bundle if we divide the plan for each month.
First, I felt shock, then regret because I should have actually checked my usage before now and curbed it earlier. I thought about the wastage and I felt sad, that's a lot of money, and a lot more screen time than I should have.
It was even more painful when I found out that the app, Instagram took a major chunk of the data. I don't even fancy Instagram so much so why did it have the most usage? I barely scroll more than a few minutes whenever I open the app but I noticed it loads a lot of data in the time that I open it. Well, I immediately uninstalled the app.
The other apps that consume a lot are YouTube and Netflix. I do watch a lot of videos during my work hours. I tend to get bored with work so I like the distraction of a video playing in the background. I have tried working with music playing but I get too distracted because I sing along and have a show and my work pace gets slower.
The videos seemed like a good distraction because I don't feel sleepy and dose off or super drained from doing the same thing over and over. Unknown to me, I was paying heavily for this distraction. It didn't make sense to me why the apps consumed this much but I do have to admit, this is the fastest internet I have ever used (and I watch on high resolution 🥺😭).
I'm not going to delete YouTube ofcourse, it's one of my favourite apps. I'm going to drastically cut down how often I watch videos and I tweaked my settings to lower quality videos. I have free YouTube data from 11pm to 6am on my mobile data bundle so I'll download my favourite videos during that time and watch them at a convenient time.
For Netflix, I also have tweaked the settings to lower quality videos but I don't know how much effect that would have. I'm just going to cut out randomly binge-watching and be more mindful.
This was a lot to take in, I let my guards down and I didn't even know it. I wasn't getting notified of my WiFi usage and I became a mindless phone/internet user. I used to see people on twitter complain about the network provider and how they can't comprehend why their data didn't last. I couldn't relate because I was unaware I was in the same situation or even worse.
Here's this feature I'm going to begin using on my phone henceforth, it limits the apps I can use for a certain period of time so I can focus on work only. It's going to be difficult staring at my work screen all day because it's a monotonous job but I have to take desperate measures.
I think a better way around my situation would be taking short breaks to read a few pages of a book, this means I have to buy physical books. I'd have read ebooks but I'm trying to get away from my phone and physical books still take the crown anyway. This will be a healthier distraction than all the screen time I'd be having.
My overreactive mind has pondered over this for hours. What if all of this screen time is linked to my recent overwhelming feelings? Anxiety? Sadness? Depression? It isn't the main cause but it makes sense that it contributes to it. Anyway, I feel lighter already by making this change and my husband's pocket will feel heavier from not having to spend more on internet. I told him sorry so many times because I feel like shit, I didn't mean to be wasteful 🥺
Cover image - Pexels, edited on Canva.