Screen time

My iPhone gives me a screen time report every week, meaning the number of hours that I stared intently at the thing. Last week it was up 68% from the previous.  I guess I got caught up in the political insanity, and one news story led to the next.  As you-know-who would say, So Very Very Sad!!!

Anyway, I'm trying to be more mindful, especially in the early hours when screens are particularity harsh on old eyes.  Of course, this is my favorite blogging time, but honesty, a laptop in bed at 5 am? Before you even notice, an hour has passed without looking up.

A Sunday opinion article in the NYT said "Steve Jobs Never Wanted Us to Use Our iphones Like This." He saw them as a handy tool to tuck in your pocket to make real calls to real friends, listen to music and send an occasional  text message. He wasn't that big on apps or games.  Easy to forget that the idea of a smart phone as our beloved and essential companion is a recent thing.  Now we actually panic if they're not constantly within reach. 

OK, this the final Monday morning of "Viadoom" traffic, which turned more into "Viabust." The commute hasn't been much worse than usual the past two weeks. The  90,000 cars that used the Viaduct on a typical day just disappeared, and no one can explain it. A few thousand extra people rode bicycles or took public transportation, but that can't account for it.  The theory is that anyone who could just stayed home or got out of Dodge.

Farewell and good riddance to January. The groundhog peeks out on Saturday. We're ending the month unseasonably dry and relatively warm.  Stay away, polar vortex.