All my previous attempts to use my phone less failed. In the past, I took a cold-turkey, all-or-nothing approach, feverishly deleting all the time-consuming apps from my phone before adding them again a few days later.
The only one I ever managed to keep deleted was Twitter.
RIP, Twitter.
This time, I decided to take a more measured approach. I thought of everything I like to use my phone for and what apps enabled that activity. The only applications I used purely for mindless entertainment were TikTok and 2048 Bricks, so I deleted those. TikTok I never used much, but you wouldn’t believe how often I pulled out my phone to play the Tetris/2048 hybrid.
I also looked at my phone habits and discovered I’d often pick up my phone for a particular purpose (like to write down a note or check a notification) and then find myself scrolling to oblivion before I realized what was happening. How could I prevent myself from picking up my phone in the first place?
For notifications, I have an Apple Watch. Instead of the notes app, I now use a paper notepad. To entice myself to use the notepad, I bought a lovely leather notebook cover for the little cachet notebooks you can get from Moleskin and other brands. I already had a few of the notebooks. I use a lovely pen from Rifle Paper Co. decorated with flowers, butterflies, and bugs, which clips nicely over the leather.
The one downside to a notepad instead of an app on my phone is I can’t press a button on my watch and make my notepad start beeping if I lose it. On the upside, it never needs to be charged.
One thing I knew I needed to figure out before putting limits on my phone was alternative entertainment. If I’m in my living room and my kids are playing nicely together, I need to be doing something. I wanted that something to no longer be staring at my phone. There are books, of course, but sometimes I’m not in the mood to read a book. Knitting is excellent, but not something I can quickly stop in the middle of to help a child locate a Lego brick. I needed something that required a bit less attention.
I started with magazines: shorter stories and more pictures than books. I already had a Wired subscription, and I added a subscription to The Atlantic. I also downloaded the Atlantic app as something more meaningful to do on my phone. I put it right on the Home Screen along with Kindle so I’d see it and click on it before looking at pictures of yarn on Instagram.
The Atlantic has a crossword at the end of every issue, which I enjoy. I didn’t want a book of crosswords, so I bought a Sudoku book. I now do Sudoku with breakfast almost every morning. I also bought Murdle and some other logic puzzle books.
My mom visited a while back and saw my Sudoku book and said, “I use this great app for Sudoku!” I had to explain that the purpose of the Suduko book was to avoid apps.
I use limits on my applications—mainly the social media ones. Surprisingly, I kept Facebook and Instagram. As I mentioned, I use those apps to connect with others. People who aren’t on Facebook love to brag about how they’re not on Facebook. Facebook is probably the social media app I’d delete last. It’s where I see what my friends and family, people I rarely see in person, are up to. There’s a craft community I’ve been a part of since the early 2000s that now mainly exists on Facebook. That community is a big part of my life, and that’s where I talk to most of those people. I like reading the posts in our group, laughing at my cousin’s memes, and seeing photos of friends’ kids who live out of state.
When I use Facebook and Instagram intentionally, I can prevent the subconscious scrolling behavior from kicking in. I’ll think, “I’m going on Instagram to watch my friends’ stories,” and I’ll do that and maybe comment on a few. Or I’ll think, “I want to read the latest posts on Facebook in my craft group.” Once, I was on Facebook, and my daily 30-minute social media time limit ran out. Still, I was looking up the time of a local event I wanted to attend. I clicked the button for more time. I usually don’t click the button.
I try not to keep my phone in my pocket. I have a reminder (which appears on my watch) called “no pocket” that goes off every morning at 10am. If my phone’s not there, I can’t reach for it. This sucks when the kids do something silly or an animal is being cute, and I can’t instantly take a photo, but most of the time, it’s worth it.
In summary, here are my steps to reduce phone usage:
Remove apps that are only used for mindless entertainment.
Replace apps that can be replaced, such as using a paper notebook instead of Notes and a smartwatch for notifications.
Find and plan other methods of entertainment that don’t involve a phone.
Put apps that inspire more meaningful engagement front and center on the home screen.
Make phone usage more purposeful by thinking about a goal before picking up the phone.
Add limits on apps that would be tempting to use for mindless entertainment.
Keep the phone out of your pocket.
I’m not perfect; I’ve had days where the comforting lull of the endless scroll was what my brain wanted. Sometimes I give in. In those moments, I choose to spend my time there instead of letting the little device take my time away.
Great tips as always. I can’t recommend a nice notebook and pen enough. You’re spot on about the people who aren’t on Facebook. I’m one of them. I went so far to write a Substack post about it. You caught me.