Your phone is costing you far more than you paid for it

Your phone isn’t stealing your life. It’s just quietly outbidding everything else for your attention.

I watched a video on YouTube this week that reframed the whole “smartphone debate” in a way I can’t ignore any longer.

Not with the usual “phones are bad” hand-wringing… but with one brutal economic idea:

Opportunity cost.

In other words:
Every hour on your phone has a price tag.
Not in pounds… in lost alternatives.

An hour scrolling doesn’t just “cost” an hour.

It costs the best thing you could have done instead:

• a proper conversation
• a book that changes how you think
• a walk that clears your head
• learning something that compounds
• building something you’re proud of
• sleep (the underrated performance enhancer)

And here’s the kicker:

The first few minutes on your phone might be useful.
Replying to messages, checking directions, sorting life admin.

But after a point, the value drops fast.
So the more time we spend there, the more expensive it becomes.

That’s why the debate about whether screen time is “harmful” can miss the bigger point.

Even if it didn’t harm your mental health…

…it’s still replacing the very things that make life feel rich.

What surprised me most was the idea of societal norms.

Phone-checking isn’t just “allowed” now.

It’s basically expected. (I do this - bet you do too) >>>

Standing in a queue? Phone.
Waiting for a friend? Phone.
Sitting on a train? Phone.
Even mid-conversation sometimes… phone.

And that creates a kind of behavioural contagion.

If everyone around you is glued to a screen, you’re far more likely to do the same.
But if you’re in a space where people are reading, talking, being present… you tend to rise to that standard too.

So here’s a small experiment I’m playing with:

Be the person who makes “phone down” normal.

Not through speeches.
Through example.

Book out.
Eyes up.
Conversation first.

Because we may not control much…

…but we influence more than we think.

Question: what is your phone replacing each — and is it a fair trade?

Watch the video that inspired this post (but not on your phone).