Fifteen Minutes
City life has a whirlpool-like rhythm that dictates our priorities and draws us in. We place our work at the centre and weave the rest of our lives around it. In fact, if we were to stop ten random people in the street, perhaps at least eight of them would admit that they are merely going through the motions of a job they cannot identify with and to which they cannot attach any real meaning. Jobs we often carry out carelessly, just to make ends meet… This, too, is the root cause of a deep-seated unease in our lives.
Secondly, for most of us, there is the time spent travelling. In a metropolis like Istanbul, if our home and workplace are not reasonably close, we regard traffic as an unavoidable part of our daily routine. If, at best, we spend nine hours a day at work, two hours commuting, and feel compelled to set aside a reasonable amount of time for sleep, that leaves us with no more than five or six hours to spare. We put off reading what we’d like to read, doing what we’d like to do, and seeing everyone and everything else we’d like to see until holidays that never seem to arrive. It’s a shame, but we’ve wasted at least 240 days a year in this way.
Yet, amidst these limited and precious hours, we never neglect to stare at a screen. At work, on the way, at home, in a café, whilst waiting somewhere, whilst chatting with a neighbour… Although the advent of smartphones dates back only 15 years, we’ve embraced digitalisation with every fibre of our being. Being online has now taken on a place in our lives as essential as eating and drinking.
According to the Digital 2022 Global Overview Report[1], published regularly in partnership with We Are Social and Hootsuite, 70 million of our 85 million registered population are online. As a nation, we spend an average of three hours a day on social media. Despite having the world’s fourth-slowest internet connection, Turkey ranks as the sixth most active country in the world when it comes to social media use. As of the start of 2022, Turkey remains the country with the highest level of Instagram usage globally. What can we say? We’ve simply grown to love keeping a record of our lives on Insta. We’re also the 7th country in the world for video game play. We’re the sixth-biggest online shoppers. We love buying cryptocurrency. We’re the country that buys the most cryptocurrency in the world – hurrah! We’re also right up there when it comes to using online streaming services like Netflix. What can we say? We’re a nation with a high level of digital adaptation, that’s for sure.
Even if we can’t have the lives we dream of, we experience the irresistible lightness of watching the lives we think we have, or of taking on a different identity in that virtual space. This, in a way, is a means of escaping reality or shaking off the weight of daily routines. On the other hand, we’re constantly reminded—as a nagging voice in the back of our minds tugs at us—that the hours we devote to the screen aren’t being spent on useful or meaningful pursuits, but are simply time wasted. We cannot help but feel a pang of conscience at the thought that we might be squandering a significant portion of the balance in our ‘time bank’—a balance whose exact amount we do not even know.
For those who equate digital adaptation with modernity, these statistics may seem encouraging, but the news is actually bad. If we set aside the sense of emptiness that comes from squandering most of our time, we may well be the country most affected by digital deformation. The decline in our attention spans, the fact that we’re cementing our position as the country with the world’s most pitiful book-reading rates, and our ranking as second-to-last in the world for learning new things[2] – when read alongside all this data, the problem becomes all the more apparent. Whilst we take comfort in the hypnotic effect our babies experience when we put a mobile in their hands, and in the fact that we’ve fed them by shoving food into their mouths, on the other hand, our children—whose mental nourishment we have neglected by failing to teach them to ask questions, to question, to read and to learn—are entering the system as fresh recruits.
So how are we going to break this vicious circle? The conclusion of this article should not be tied to romantic yet unrealistic inspirations—such as opening a guesthouse in an Aegean town to savour life, or tending your vineyard and vegetable patch to immerse yourself in nature—which few people will ever be able to realise. Nor should it suggest the simplest of solutions, such as a screen detox, a systematic slowdown or mindfulness exercises. On the contrary, might there be a way to improve the quality of life right where we are, within our current circumstances? Is there no way to have less time wasted and to start doing something more meaningful?
Instead of trying to radically change our lives, let’s allow small but steady steps to bring about transformation. Starting with just 15 minutes a day. Yes, let’s start with just 15 minutes and make a difference in our lives.
Not being able to set aside just 15 minutes from the average three hours we spend on social media each day is no excuse. We may not change the world with 15 minutes a day, but we can add something different, educational, healing and even soul-nourishing to our world.
We could start by reading something. We could pick up a book and read for just 15 minutes a day. So what if it takes five months to finish the book? Who cares? As long as we don’t give up.
Members of the ‘I understand English but I just can’t speak it’ club always have course plans they keep putting off until next spring. Instead of courses with an uncertain future, those rusty skills can be polished away with just 15 minutes today. We could even start learning a new language.
We could try to learn to play an instrument. Even if we only manage to play a few melodies in the end, drawing on the expertise of virtuosos who’ve dedicated their lives to it, how wonderful that would be.
We could do some handicrafts, such as sewing or embroidery. Even if we’ve never touched a crochet hook or knitting needles before, and even knowing full well that the jumper we start this winter won’t be finished by next winter… Never mind—let’s just carry on knitting…
If we have fifteen minutes to spare, we can do some physical exercises. In fact, I can personally do those exercises that the doctor I visited for my back problems went to great lengths to demonstrate—and, as if that weren’t enough, handed me the instructions on a piece of paper. If I’m consistent enough, perhaps even my poor posture will improve.
Or we could go for a walk. A brisk walk covers 1.5 kilometres in 15 minutes, which is nearly 2,000 steps. Although this falls short of the 10,000 steps experts recommend for health, if we keep it up regularly, it counts as exercise in its own right.
We could knock on the doors of our elderly neighbours, whose doors hardly anyone ever opens, and whom we rarely get round to visiting amidst the hustle and bustle of life because we ‘can’t find the time’. Or we could look for a creative way to do something for someone in need. After all, with so many studies already demonstrating the link between personal happiness and bringing benefit to others…
The possibilities are endless. There is certainly an option for each of us that will bring joy, healing and nourishment into our lives, within our own means. There’s no need to make a big deal of it. Just fifteen minutes a day. But under no circumstances should we give it up. The magic word here is consistency.
Emine Ebru Arslan
[1] https://wearesocial.com/uk/blog/2022/01/digital-2022-another-year-of-bumper-growth-2/
[2] https://news.gallup.com/interactives/248240/global-emotions.aspx
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