The habit of checking

We check things all day.

We check the time, our messages, the weather, the news, our email and whatever else happens to be within reach. Most of the time, there is a reason for checking. We want to know something, remember something or find out whether anything has changed. Yet, sometimes we check without really knowing what we are looking for.

We might pick up our phone while waiting for the kettle to boil, glance at it while sitting in a queue or look at the screen between two things we are doing. There may be no particular message we are expecting and nothing we need to find out.

We simply check.

A small habit

Checking can be such a small action that we barely notice it.

We reach for the phone, look at the screen and put it down again. A few minutes later, we might do exactly the same thing. Perhaps we are curious. Perhaps we are hoping something has happened. Perhaps we are looking for a little stimulation in an otherwise quiet moment. Sometimes we may be following a habit that has become familiar enough to happen before we have thought about it.

That’s the bit I’m curious about, that little moment before we check.

What are we looking for?

Sometimes we know exactly what we want to see.

We are waiting for a message, checking an appointment or looking something up. Other times, there isn't really anything specific. We check because we wonder whether there is something to see.

That can create a curious relationship with our attention. Instead of waiting for something to call us, we begin looking to see whether something has arrived. We might not even realise that we are looking for a reason to look.

The moment before

There can be a small space between the urge to check and actually checking. It might only last a second, but noticing it can tell us something.

I have the urge to look.

Perhaps there is something we genuinely want to know. Perhaps there isn't. We might check anyway, or we might notice the urge and let the moment continue without doing anything about it. There is no need to turn this into another rule about how often we should look at our phones.

What interests me is simply becoming familiar with the habit itself.

Becoming familiar with our attention

Our attention is naturally curious. It notices change, looks for information and responds to things that might be interesting or important. Checking can become one of the ways that curiosity expresses itself.

Caring for our attention isn't about stopping ourselves from checking. It might be about noticing when checking has become automatic.

We check. We look. We find something, or we don't. Then our attention drifts back to whatever was in front of us. Sometimes that is exactly what we want. Sometimes we might notice that we didn't really need to look at all.

Either way, noticing gives us a little more familiarity with our own attention.

I wonder what you might notice the next time you reach to check something.