We spend hours a day looking at our phones, yet many of us feel too busy to work on what matters. I wanted to change my own phone habits.
Mastering the basics of life takes time and requires discipline. Compulsive phone use can drain the time and attention I need for both, while keeping me chasing quick rewards.
Once I noticed how often I reached for my phone, I began changing the conditions that made it easy.
Your phone's screen-time report is a good place to start.
These five changes helped me reduce my screen time to about an hour a day:
- I turned off all notifications
- I deleted all social media apps
- I don't read email on my phone
- I'm not always available
- I leave my phone in another room
Try them for a month and see what changes.
I turned off all notifications
Every notification disturbs your concentration. I turned them off. If something truly needs an immediate answer, people can call me.
Companies that make apps want you to enable notifications because if they can notify you, then you are likely to spend more time with their app and they can profit from your attention.
When I'm reading, I want to read. When I'm cooking, I want to cook. When I'm working out, I want to work out.
Ask yourself which notifications you really need. For me this is my banking app only.
I deleted all social media apps
No one ever regretted not having enough Instagram followers at the end of their life. Yet most people are living their life as if that’s the only thing that matters.
Social media apps are developed to make you addicted, feeling insecure and inadequate. You keep scrolling while time passes rapidly.
Yet nothing important ever happens on social media. It only makes you feel worse and gives you FOMO.
Deleting all those apps from your phone already solves half of the problem. Just don't login anymore and see how much time you save.
Pick your networks wisely. If a network adds little to your life, consider leaving it.
I don't read email on my phone
If it was urgent, it wouldn't have been an email.
Why read email while spending time with friends, having dinner or exercising?
I deleted the Gmail app from my phone a few years ago and tend to read my email only twice a day, replying all mails directly and adding new tasks to my public todo list.
I'm not always available
Instant messaging is a nice way to stay in touch with friends, yet it's a time killer at the same time.
Messages can become endless. The faster I respond, the more time they demand.
By not being available all day, and only reading messages twice or thrice a day, people don’t get used to quick replies.
It is a way of setting expectations.
If you are replying immediately all the time, they expect you to do so all the time, and you keep texting all the time.
I leave my phone in another room
71% of people sleep either holding their smartphone, having it in bed with them, or having it on their nightstand, and 40% of people check their smartphone while on the toilet.
A little friction makes it harder to pick up the phone without thinking.
I do this by leaving my phone in another room all day. Walking to another room just to check it makes me notice the impulse. That small pause has helped reduce my screen time.