Embedded Files
I spend too way much time on my phone
I spend too way much time on my phone
Before, my screen time hovered around 4 hours a day. Quite frankly, I could be doing better things with my time, not to mention all the negative effects of screen time & social media—for me, it was a reduced attention span, increased anxiety, and using it as a way to dissociate instead of dealing with annoying thoughts.
I wanted a dumbphone, but they aren’t always viable
I wanted a dumbphone, but they aren’t always viable
I need a 2 factor authentication app for my job, and sometimes I need to google information or use maps to navigate. I also enjoy taking pictures on my phone of cool things that I see. Some dumbphones have these features, however they often involve workarounds. By keeping my current phone, I could ensure access to all the essential features I needed (2FA, internet, navigation, Venmo, good camera). Additionally, it is the cheapest and most sustainable option to use what you already have.
Solution: dumbing down my iPhone
Solution: dumbing down my iPhone
I was inspired by the light phone interface and recreated it with Apple shortcuts. By using the “Choose from menu” with option, I created a menu of all my apps, putting the most frequent ones up top and moving the less essential ones on the bottom. To run the shortcut/menu, I created an app icon and moved it to the taskbar on the bottom of the screen next to my phone and messages. Finally, I also created some shortcuts for my commonly-used apps on my home screen: weather, internet search, brain dumping ground, budget, and fitness tracker. I also deleted social media apps off my phone.
Shortcut setup
Shortcut running
Custom homescreen
Results: I reduced my screen time by 2 hours each day
Results: I reduced my screen time by 2 hours each day
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
I think this experiment is pretty successful based on a 4-week decreasing trend of screen time. I started out with a daily average of 3.5 hours each day and ended with a daily average of 1.5 hours. I think what made this successful was that it made my phone a bit more annoying to use but not impossible to use. Same for deleting social media apps—I could still access and use the mobile web versions, but they are not as optimized and seamless as the mobile app, so I would end up getting annoyed and stop scrolling.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse