How do I reduce my screen time?

Phone use is engineered to be effortless, and competing with that through willpower is a losing position. What does work is adding small amounts of friction to the things you want less of and removing friction from the things you want more of.

Step by step

1. Look at your actual screen time report before changing anything.Both platforms have one. The specific apps are usually a surprise, and it stops you solving the wrong problem.
2. Decide what you actually want to reduce.'Less screen time' isn't actionable. 'Less scrolling in bed' or 'less news at work' is.
3. Delete the worst offenders from the phone and use them on a computer instead.The friction of opening a laptop is small but sufficient. This is the single most effective change most people can make.
4. Turn off all notifications except from actual people.Most notifications exist to pull you back in. Messages from humans are a different category.
5. Keep the phone out of the bedroom overnight.It removes both the last thing at night and the first thing in the morning, which is where a lot of the time goes.
6. Put something else within reach where you usually reach for the phone.A book by the bed, a notebook on the desk. Replacing the behaviour is more reliable than suppressing it.
7. Use greyscale or app timers if you want a further nudge.Greyscale makes phones noticeably less compelling. Timers work if you don't habitually dismiss them.
8. Keep one deliberately phone-free period each day.Meals, the first hour, the last hour. A defined boundary is easier to keep than a general intention.

Tips

• Charge the phone in another room and use a separate alarm clock. It's a small purchase that removes a large behaviour.
• The home screen matters — remove everything except tools you use deliberately, and put anything attention-seeking a search away.
• Notice what you're avoiding when you pick the phone up. Phone use is often a response to boredom, anxiety or a stuck task, and addressing that works better than restricting the phone.
• Don't aim for zero. An unrealistic target fails and takes the whole attempt with it.

Common mistakes

• Relying on willpower — You're competing with professional design teams. Change the environment instead.
• Setting app limits and dismissing them — A limit you routinely override trains you to ignore limits.
• Sleeping with the phone by the bed — It's the single biggest structural contributor for most people.
• Removing the behaviour without replacing it — The underlying need — distraction, rest, connection — is still there and will find another outlet.

Questions people ask