Mobile phones have become an essential part of our daily lives. They have revolutionized the way we communicate, work, and entertain ourselves. They have become so integral to our lives that it’s hard to imagine a day without them.
Zeena Zalamea, a Dubai-based freelance broadcast journalist and a mom, shared with The Filipino Times how she managed to break free from the chains of her mobile phone addiction during her holiday trip to the Philippines.
According to her, spending a week in her favorite island resulted to the cure of her mobile phone addiction.
“It was a complete mindset shift, and it was all because of the change of scenery. I went on a two-week family holiday in the Philippines, and we spent the first week in Boracay. It had been four years since I last visited my home country, and eleven since I’d been to the island,” Zalamea said.
“The moment my feet touched the powdery sand and the spectacular Bora sunset came into view, something switched off in me. My shoulders relaxed, I stopped trawling my brain for mental to-do lists, and all I wanted to do was be in the moment,” she added.
Suddenly, everything could wait — she was free from the chains of mobile phone addiction. She had no interest in checking her messages or Googling things. She rarely took pictures and definitely didn’t resort to YouTube to keep her children entertained.
For Zalamea, that was a rare moment as she always uses her mobile phone for her work and personal life.
“I want to say that I’ll be fine without my mobile phone, but the truth is, I’d feel pretty lost without it. I’m able to do my work because of it – I use it for research, to post on social media, to connect with colleagues and so much more,” she said.
She even admitted something that many of us won’t — she spends an unhealthy amount of time scrolling on Tiktok when she’s alone and idle.
Asking Zalamea how often she uses her phone in a day, she said: “It’s pretty sad that I use my mobile phone all day every day, from the minute I wake up to just before I sleep at night.”
She always keeps her phone on her side table, however, during the few times that she actually put her phone away at night, she missed some important calls and messages.
“I admit that being obsessed with one’s phone should never be normalized, despite the fact that almost everyone is a slave to their devices!” she said.
As she continues to recount her precious time in her happy place, it came with a realization that she didn’t even know she had a phone addiction until the end of her holiday, when she started using her phone more frequently again.
“Just that realization frightened me and made me want to change my phone habits. Now I always find myself trying to chase that ‘holiday high’ and that includes ignoring my phone as much as I can, but it’s not been easy!” Zalamea said.
Moving forward, that self-awareness pushed her to make a conscious effort to manage her phone use — she sees to it that there will be no phones when she’s home from work until the kids go to bed.
“I loved their eagerness to share stories with me, because I was clearly all ears! I also noticed that my kids have reduced their screen time, because their mom isn’t spending her time staring at a screen herself. That is a wonderful feeling for a mother, being able to model the behavior you want them to have,” she explained.
Being a career “wo-mom”, she makes sure to have a work-life balance. For her, it’s all about having an honest conversation with herself and deciding what to prioritize.
“When I did that, it was so easy to make decisions based on what’s important to me. One thing I did to achieve work-life balance was go freelance. I can schedule entire days for me and my children, work on projects in my own time, and explore other things I’m interested in pursuing. It really is more fulfilling, and when they grow up, my kids will thank me for taking the leap,” Zalamea said.
Juggling work and motherhood is never an easy task. However, she sees to it that she finds a “pause” in her busy schedules.
“For us time-poor working mommas, it’s quite a mission to find a few minutes or a quiet corner where we can just breathe and pause for a while. Having said that, every mom’s idea of a pause is different,” she said.
“Find your ideal ‘pause’ moment and do it as often as you can: in between school pickups, during your lunch break, or when the kids are asleep. You need that to recharge you, so that you can keep being the awesome mother, wife, professional and human that you are,” she continued.
To all the hard-working moms out there and to everyone who struggles to live in the moment, Zalamea leaves you with this: “When that pesky mom guilt takes up real estate in your brain, remember this — you are doing nothing wrong, and everything right by always trying to make it work. And if no one has told you this yet, let me be the first to do so: You’re doing a great job, and I am proud of you.”
Zalamea’s story is a reminder that getting caught up in the endless stream of notifications and social media updates can risk us missing out on more important things. Like her, we should give priority to what really matters — focusing on the things that bring us joy, fulfillment, and a sense of purpose.
