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1 hour ago Report 👍

Welcome, welcome - always nice to see more people trying to lessen their time on screens! Admittedly my journey seems to have mostly come about because I realised just how much I hated punching a flat piece of glass every time I contacted someone, but I'll try to offer a few tips in case T9 keyboards and a distinct lack of a touchscreen aren't your thing:

• Leave your phone in one room, and don't take it out of that room unless you're going out. This should not be your bedroom, as that will just allow you to stay up scrolling until 3 in the morning - only keep it in your bedroom if you absolutely need it as an alarm. The reason why I say "unless you're going out" is so that you can remain safe in public spaces. This wouldn't be so much of an issue if you were a manThe best place for a phone storage room would be a more public place of your house or flat or whatever kind of abode you happen to live in, such as a dining room or the kitchen. That way, you won't be tempted to hide away in a cupboard and do whatever it is you like to do on your phone there in secret. It also ties into the last tip of this comment.
• Set times and durations for different activities, including phone usage. Planning specifics on what less phone usage will look like is a must if you want to actively work on it. If there are parental control options on your phone, use them. Set daily time limits on non-necessary apps e.g. social media or games. If there aren't, set some sort of timer elsewhere (but remember to actually exit the app in question when the timer goes off, as much as you might depend on built-in features to shorten your usage it will always require discipline). Try to set up specific times of day when you allow yourself to go on your phone, whether it's to chat with friends or scroll on social media e.g. from 10am-11am. The same goes for other activities - for example, you could set a minimum reading time each day for 2 hours, and have that be between 2pm-4pm. For activities like baking that might be more difficult, as they don't have set timespans, but since your focus is to limit phone usage, that shouldn't be too much of a bother.
• Place hurdles that add some friction between you and the apps you use. Different people will take different approaches, but some I've come across are minimalist app launchers and what I'm going to refer to as "breather apps". Minimalist app launchers are essentially pieces of software that only present a small, specified subset of apps to you. If you set these apps to only essential things like texts, calls, WhatsApp, and whatever else you may genuinely need, those are what are going to be shown, and to access other apps you will have to jump through a few hoops. I know Android phones' most extreme low power mode does exactly that, limiting you to 8 apps, not sure if iPhones have a similar functionality built-in, but if not then here's a forum thread with a few suggestions. "Breather apps" will open as you try to open some apps (I've never used any myself, but I imagine you'd need to create some sort of trigger list), and act as the "Are you sure?" of those apps. I've heard some will make you wait 15 seconds before continuing, but other tactics are probably implemented to essentially give you a second to think to yourself "hang on, do I really want to open this app now?" to help crack down on subconscious habits.
• Find other things to replace some functionalities of your phone. This step isn't exactly necessary, as it does involve investing some money into various things if you don't have them already, but I'd definitely recommend it if you're open to it. Part of the issue with smartphones is not only that some apps are addicting, but that it's become the de facto all-in-one device everyone uses for everything, so if you want to distance yourself from it, it's much better to find ways to do things you previously did on your phone with something else entirely. Your notes app could be replaced with any old notebook lying around the house; use a dedicated camera if you want to take pictures (your parents may have some lying around the house from 10-15 years ago, but if not then there's a wide variety of cameras you can find either online or in a shop); if you want to listen to music outside of your designated phone room, use a radio or some CD/cassette player, or even an MP3 player if you want something pocketable; if you have some kind of laptop or PC, or you guys still have a family computer, use that to search things up - or just have fun hypothesising about it, and maybe write it down in your notebook for you to look up later. Heck, my approach includes treating my actual smartphone like a tablet, using a Nokia for all my calls and texts, and accessing WhatsApp almost exclusively on my laptop, but if you don't want to go that hardcore you don't need to. This is your plan in the end, you decide how much or how little to do.

And last, but certainly not least:

• Be accountable. Regardless of how many of these tips you implement, like I said before, it will require discipline and practice. Old habits are difficult to break, so if you don't stay constant in your efforts and keep things manageable, you'll just slip back into staying on your phone longer than you want to be. This is the main reason why New Years' Resolutions never work, so don't try to treat it as such. The best way to make sure you actually get on with something is to have outside pressure, so make someone else know exactly what you plan to do, and check in with them frequently. Ideally, you should try to hold yourself accountable to somebody you meet and talk to very frequently. Could be a parent, a sibling, a friend. Heck, if they decide to cut down on phone usage with you, it'll be far more engaging, as you'll both be keeping an eye out on each other's progress. Once you have your set plan of action from tip 2, tell your chosen person something along the lines of "hey, I want to use my phone less and do more offline things, I'm going to keep my phone in [insert room] and only use it for X hours a day, between X time and Y time, unless if I need a phone when I go out, please keep checking in on me every so often". My own family uses this exact method, albeit with working on a virtue each person has chosen for themselves - every week on a Tuesday morning, we go through each family member, who then says what their virtue (e.g. orderliness, tidying your bedroom) is and how they feel it's going, and others can then include their own input, and it's actually worked quite well so far, so I'd highly suggest doing something similar. If you really can't find anyone else, then you'll just have to remain accountable to yourself, which will be more difficult. One thing you might want to try is to put up a sheet of paper somewhere clearly visible to you (again, preferably in a more public area of your living-place - perhaps the same room as your phone?) and add a tally mark each time you reach for your phone outside of your chosen time slot on that particular day. Obviously don't include things like emergency calls, but as the tally marks stack up, it'll provide some incentive to actually follow through with what you intend to do. You do have to be careful to not wind up in the "I can't do this, I'm too weak" slump, that'll make your progress worsen and you won't be enjoying your analogue summer efforts, so if you find the tally marks are well over 5, try setting small goals. Let's say one day you get 16 marks. You can try to get it down to 12 over the next few days. Then, once you're consistently getting 12 and under, try lowering it to something like 8. Continue until you're happy.

Apologies for this absolute monster of a wordwall, but I hope this helps in some regard. Good luck, and I hope you enjoy your summer.

2 hours ago Report 👍

try screenzen. blocks your apps after a few opens, very customizable