Look Up

January 2026.

It's a new year.

And usually the time when we start to think about what we would like to change this year or what we would like to achieve in the months that lay before us. And, it is usually in January when I, like most Fitness Trainers, start preaching on goal setting, and the best methods to put in place to give you the best chance to achieve those goals.

It's an important topic, and one I will address in the coming weeks. But first, there is something more pressing on my mind, and it's an important discussion I feel that needs to be had. And now.

Because I believe it affects us all.

And I'll be honest, it may not be comfortable. It involves talking about addictions, relationships, responsibilities, neglect, comfort zones and life itself. And the hard part, if you and I are going to get anything from this discussion, we need to be brutally honest with ourselves.

Are you still with me? Still reading?

Good. Let's get into it.

It was April 2005. Almost 21 years ago. And I had just started ANT Fitness.

A client asked me, "what I thought was the biggest health threat facing the world?"

I had no hesitation in answering, "the fast food giants".

Fast forward 21+ years, ask me the same question, with more and more fast food restaurants/drive thrus opening up, and I'd now give a different answer.

Yep, you read that right. Read it again.

Even though there are now more options for fast food, and it is more readily available than ever before, I believe it is no longer our biggest health issue.

Any guesses, what I believe has taken it's place?

I'll give you a clue, there is a high chance you are reading this blog on it.

Yep. The chances are you are looking down at a screen, and there in your hand (most likely) is the biggest threat to our lives, in so many ways.

Recent studies, have shown that Australian adults are spending over 6 hours a day on screens. 6 hours a day! That is a quarter of our day, even without sleep being included in the 24 hours. Yes, yes, I hear you. Screens are also used for work, it's not all mindless scrolling. But out of that 6 hour figure, around 2 hours are spent on social media.

So? 2 hours doesn't sound that bad. Does it?

But look at it this way - if we are spending 2 hours on social media each day, that equates to 14 hours a week, or 28 hours a fortnight. That means, we are losing over a full day of our lives every 2 weeks. 1 full day gone. Now for a population where you often hear the complaint, "There's not enough time in the day" or "I need an extra day each week to get everything done", the answer to that is right under our nose, literally right on the screen in front of us.

If we are losing over a day to scrolling every fortnight, it means we are losing over 26 days of our lives each year to social media. That's nearly 4 weeks. Every year.

Please pause here for a minute, and let that last stat sink in. Every year, we are losing 4 weeks to looking down and scrolling on a screen.

How much of life are we missing out on by failing to look up?

We have become a human race that walks around with our heads down, looking at a screen.

It is tragic.

A few months ago on a short break, Monique and myself, were catching a ferry service from Hamilton Island to Daydream Island.

As the boat moved its way across pristine waters, tropical islands bordering us on either side, blue skies overhead, I was shocked to look around to see almost everyone looking down at their phones. We were literally moving through paradise, and as we sat in awe at the beautiful surroundings, commenting on the stunning colour of the water, all the rugged hills on the nearby islands, both of our eyes searching for dolphins or sea turtles, people around us were missing out on it. Simply by not looking up.

And it's not an isolated occasion. I'm sure you've witnessed it yourself. Catching a train, and you take a look around the carriage, and all the heads are down. All caught up in their own little digital world.

Let's go back to those 4 weeks we are losing every year, and let's use me as an example.

I'm 48 this year, and like yourself, your families, your neighbours, and your friends, I too battle the call or temptation of the screen - to pick it up to see if someone had messaged, emailed, posted, liked, commented or to see what I've missed out on in the last 2 minutes.

Anyway, I digress a bit. I'm turning 48 and if I live to let's say 80, that means that over the remaining 32 years of my life, I risk throwing away 128 weeks of my life to scrolling on social media. 128 weeks is almost 2.5 years - lost to looking at a screen. And just for social media! Remember the 2 hours we are focusing on here is just social media. It's triple that (6 hours) for all screens. So in effect you could triple those hours I'm losing to staring at screens - streaming services, reading, online shopping, amongst others.

Think of what you could do with that time. The people you could spend it with. The places you could see. The events you could attend. The experiences you could live. Even the money you could make.

Now maybe you are reading this, and thinking, "very interesting Andrew, but that's not me. I don't spend that much time looking down at screens".

Ok.,,maybe. But how long do you spend? Do you actually know? Have you ever kept a log of your screen time? Or more specifically your social media time? Have you ever looked it up on the platform(s) you use. Have you gone into the menu in your profile and looked up how much time you've spent scrolling each day over the last week? Are you game?

Pause here if you like and do it. I'll wait.

So what did you find out? As you expected? Or are you now sitting down trying to work out when you found the time to spend all that time scrolling. Maybe you think they've made a mistake. They (probably) haven't. Social media is designed to keep us hooked. To keep us flicking and scrolling. It's like going into a supermarket - no windows, no idea of time, just thousands of different items to look at as we push our trollies up and down the aisles. When it comes to social media, our fingers are the trollies, and the danger is, unlike shopping in person between Coles, Woolworths and Aldi, where you have to physically move between each supermarket, when we are online, with a couple of touches of the screen, we can jump between our platforms - Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and all the others.

Time can evaporate before us and we have no idea because we are hypnotised by the posts, videos entertaining us for a few precious seconds.

Because, one thing our addiction to screens has done, is has shortened our attention spans.

In a study by Red Search in 2025, they report that due to the brain being constantly stimulated by our devices, we tend to start seeking instant gratification (looking for likes), and cheap endorphin hits. This can lead to it becoming harder for focused attention, and therefore having a possible negative impact on our learning, work and personal life.

Some studies report that our attention spans have dropped from 2.5 minutes in 2004 to 47 seconds now. That should have alarm bells sounding.

Exercise Number 2: How many times have you felt the urge to move onto something else whilst reading this blog? If you are like the average Australian, it should be 2-3 times by now. Did you move on and maybe comeback after the rounds of Tiktok, Facebook and Instagram?

Were our minds created to run at this speed? To have so much stimuli in our faces 24/7?

I don't think so.

We use to turn on the tv to catch the news at 6pm, or the radio on the hour for news updates. These days it's in our hands. It buzzes as some newsworthy moment unravels on the other side of the globe. Earthquake - we know moments after it happened. War? Updates constantly. Political scandal? Straight away. We are always "turned on" as long as the device is in our hands. And our minds and bodies can not cope this way long term.

Our sleep gets interrupted by pings and dings as the phone can often be found nearby. Did you know, according to Red Search's study into mobile phone usage in 2025, that 75% of Australians check their phone as soon as they wake up. No coffee, no toilet, no open the blind to see what the day is offering - 3 out of 4 Australians reach for their phone first thing.

It's worse going to bed, with 80% of us checking our devices before calling it a day. This is despite constant advice about avoiding screen time leading into bedtime for better quality sleep.

These issues I've raised are just touching the surface.

We haven't got into the affect on relationships; raising children; health issues such as mental health, poor dietary habits, and eye strain. How what we view on the screens can affect how we see ourselves or what we believe.

The issues run deep, and it is why I believe that screens are our biggest threat to our health moving into the future.

So what is my suggestion to combat this major health issue?

It starts with a simple cue - Look Up.

I don't have all the answers to how we can beat the tech giants who are paying people to learn and implement programming to keep us hooked, flicking and scrolling all day, every day. But if we start by looking up more, it's a beginning.

When you are out with someone at a cafe or pub, put the phone away or leave it in the car, look up, and interact with the person face to face. Talk of your day, your dreams, hopes and problems. Do this at home too. Sit with your spouse, your children, your parents without the device nearby. Put it in another room. Engage with each other.

When you are walking down the street. Don't have the phone in your hand. Put in your bag or pocket, look up, and make eye contact with the people coming towards you. Give a smile. Say hi.

You don't know the impact it could have on their day. But surely it will be a better impact than them seeing someone pass with their head down looking at a screen. And what if the person coming towards you is on screen (highly likely) - still say hi. They will probably have to look up to see who has randomly spoken to them, and who knows, they might feel so warm and fuzzy inside from a random of kindness they might feel inclined to do the same.

Look Up when you are outside anywhere. Notice nature. Notice tall buildings. Notice blue sky. Notice storm clouds. Let yourself wonder about creation or man made objects - "how many bolts are in the Harbour Bridge?"

Look Up and watch your kids or spouse or parent play sport. Cheer for them. Don't miss that match winning (or losing) moment because you were on a screen. And your friends on Facebook don't need to know about it straight away. Better still, call them afterwards, (yes call, not text) and arrange a coffee date, and tell them in person. They can't give a mindless heart or thumbs up (yes, sorry to break it to you but those likes - some people don't even read what they're liking - I know this from experience) when you're telling them in person - they have to listen to you brag (nicely) about you child/spouse/parents heroics. It might even start a conversation and a trip down memory lane of yours or their sporting moments.

Look up and notice that there is a whole world operating outside our own little bubble. And yes, it is a scary place, and yes, we may think that it is in a lot of trouble, but if each of us popped our own bubble, and once again, looked out for our neighbour or the stranger, just perhaps, we could together bring hope, peace, and happiness, and help it spread it across the globe.

Look up and dream. Instead of losing yourself in 15 second stories or 60 second reels about someone's run through the Canadian Rockies, or a post about someone's running shoes, set your own goals, plan your own experiences. Don't live your life through watching someone else's, because when it come to the socials, you really don't know what is true and what is fake!

So should you ditch the screen or the socials? That's up to you. But I do believe there is place for both technology and social media in our lives. It can be good for inspiring, teaching (if factual), keeping in contact, and filling gaps of loneliness or isolation. But it is how we let it control our lives is the issue. We need to be the ones who determine when and how long we go on it for, and that going forward in my opinion, is our biggest challenge because we are fighting the addiction that it has created.

What are my plans for ANT Fitness when it comes to online use? I post often, and that includes reels to engage people. How can I sit here and write a blog about how we need to relook at our social media time, when I perhaps contribute to it?

That is something I'm going to look at moving forward, but as I said there is a time and a place for it. But one thing I will implement straight away is my blogs being available in the good old hardcopy paper format. That way, for people who are mindful of their screen time, or want to avoid the temptation of visiting other sites or platforms whilst going online to read my blogs, they can. Also, some people prefer not to read from a screen, and so from now on my blogs will be available on the counter in the ANT Nest or on the website.

ANT Fitness is also going to use "Look Up" as a theme this year - I'm going to look at ways how I can remind and encourage people to take the time to "Look Up" not just from the screens, but in their day to day lives, so together, we can aim to make a positive change and difference in the world.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end. It was a longer blog this time, but an important one.

Ok, let's both get up, get outside, and look up!

Andrew