I wish there way a way to get rid of all suggested posts on fb/insta. My screentime of seeing and talking to people i know is so low, its getting stuck in reels that fucks me. (i know the apps are literally designed this way so they can keep my attention etc but man it sucks. I want dumb apps not dumb phones)
I have a hack (for Android at least) for dumbing my phone. I put it on extreme battery saver mode. It blocks all apps and notifications except the ones I have asked it to leave on.
I do it whenever I go away camping, but I think I'd benefit from doing it more often. Maybe this article will motivate me to make it a weekly of even a daily thing
I think you sum it up so well here. The ideal doesn't always work for us for a number of reasons. I personally use the Brick and love it. I have experimented with different combos of settings for what I want available (and not available) during different activities or time periods. For instance, I have a reading setting because as soon as I sit down to read a book my brain pings and tells me to check what the spirit day theme is the next day so I block my email during that time. I have a weekend setting that makes it more dumb phone like but still have access to tools like maps. It really has helped me figure out what I want my phone to be in different contexts.
I've been using Freedom for a couple of years and I love it. I'm retired and mostly at home, so I don't use my phone as much as my laptop or iPad. My big time wasters are Facebook and news sites so I block those most days until 6pm. I block email until noon, so I don't get distracted by wonderful Substacks like TechnoSapiens until I've put in a productive morning. With all of the political turmoil going on now, I'll frequently cheat and take the blocks down sooner than my goal, but on the days I stick with it I am definitely calmer and more relaxed by evening.
Thank you for this honest assessment. I had some success about 5 years ago with deleting social media apps off my phone for a month or so, which broke my habit of checking them all the time. When I added them back onto my phone, I was able to actually use them just how I wanted to: responding to friends' messages or sharing family pics once or twice a year. More or less, this has been long-term successful.
One thing that drives me crazy about the built-in screen time data in iOS is that they don't let you ignore certain app usage. For example, they count podcast and audiobook apps as "screen time." What? I literally use those things so I don't have to stare at a screen while I'm doing something productive. I listened to most of Dostoyevsky while pregnant and cleaning house and setting up the baby's room. I finished Mark Twain's collected work while painting the ceiling at my old house. I caught up on all my podcasts recently while cleaning out the cellar in my current house. David Sedaris' books keep me cackling through monster gardening tasks. At no point am I "doing screen time" when I listen to stuff. So all of this is just to say that I wish they would make that data more useful, because keeping tabs on how much time I *actually* spend scrolling is a worthy pursuit.
This is a good point - it would be nice if there were other ways to slice up the "screen time" report. Reminds me of studies where screen time reports show that teens are using the YouTube app all night, but when you ask them what they're actually doing, they're just playing white noise to help them sleep!
If you have the patience to set it up, Freedom is actually an amazing blocking tool. Extremely worth the annual fee. I have a regular series of scheduled blocks that keep me out of stuff like instagram except in the evening, and I also have more heavy blocklists for times when that’s not enough. Freedom is the only service I’ve ever used that was genuinely impenetrable once the block is on.
I've been using the Brick to block social media and safari on my phone for most of the day to great effect. I have to physically tap my phone to the Brick to unlock it. I leave my maps, bank, weather, email, camera, podcast, music etc apps all working so I can use those as tools as needed. But not having safari working or instagram etc is a huge boost.
Thank you for this helpful rundown! I'm only a month into utilizing Downtime and it has been a game-changer. I, too, wanted to believe I could rely on my own self-discipline. Wrong. The biggest immediate improvement I've noticed is focus and attention span — totally humbling for a mom of 2 young kids.
This article gave me the idea of limiting my browser app instead of my whole internet. This way if I want to look something up I have a little pocket notebook I use as a catch all or my reminders app I put it there for later or another time. So this way only urgent research is prioritised and I can go about my day learning to deal with that suspense of not knowing with patience and clarity that I write it down to remember later
I wish there way a way to get rid of all suggested posts on fb/insta. My screentime of seeing and talking to people i know is so low, its getting stuck in reels that fucks me. (i know the apps are literally designed this way so they can keep my attention etc but man it sucks. I want dumb apps not dumb phones)
I agree! I wish users had more control over what shows up in the feed!
I have a hack (for Android at least) for dumbing my phone. I put it on extreme battery saver mode. It blocks all apps and notifications except the ones I have asked it to leave on.
I do it whenever I go away camping, but I think I'd benefit from doing it more often. Maybe this article will motivate me to make it a weekly of even a daily thing
Oh this is so smart!!
This is a great hack!
I think you sum it up so well here. The ideal doesn't always work for us for a number of reasons. I personally use the Brick and love it. I have experimented with different combos of settings for what I want available (and not available) during different activities or time periods. For instance, I have a reading setting because as soon as I sit down to read a book my brain pings and tells me to check what the spirit day theme is the next day so I block my email during that time. I have a weekend setting that makes it more dumb phone like but still have access to tools like maps. It really has helped me figure out what I want my phone to be in different contexts.
I have heard a lot about the Brick but haven't tested it out yet! Glad to hear it is working well for you!
I've been using Freedom for a couple of years and I love it. I'm retired and mostly at home, so I don't use my phone as much as my laptop or iPad. My big time wasters are Facebook and news sites so I block those most days until 6pm. I block email until noon, so I don't get distracted by wonderful Substacks like TechnoSapiens until I've put in a productive morning. With all of the political turmoil going on now, I'll frequently cheat and take the blocks down sooner than my goal, but on the days I stick with it I am definitely calmer and more relaxed by evening.
Ha! Those sneaky Substacks, always getting in the way! (...I'm right there with you!)
Thank you for this honest assessment. I had some success about 5 years ago with deleting social media apps off my phone for a month or so, which broke my habit of checking them all the time. When I added them back onto my phone, I was able to actually use them just how I wanted to: responding to friends' messages or sharing family pics once or twice a year. More or less, this has been long-term successful.
One thing that drives me crazy about the built-in screen time data in iOS is that they don't let you ignore certain app usage. For example, they count podcast and audiobook apps as "screen time." What? I literally use those things so I don't have to stare at a screen while I'm doing something productive. I listened to most of Dostoyevsky while pregnant and cleaning house and setting up the baby's room. I finished Mark Twain's collected work while painting the ceiling at my old house. I caught up on all my podcasts recently while cleaning out the cellar in my current house. David Sedaris' books keep me cackling through monster gardening tasks. At no point am I "doing screen time" when I listen to stuff. So all of this is just to say that I wish they would make that data more useful, because keeping tabs on how much time I *actually* spend scrolling is a worthy pursuit.
This is a good point - it would be nice if there were other ways to slice up the "screen time" report. Reminds me of studies where screen time reports show that teens are using the YouTube app all night, but when you ask them what they're actually doing, they're just playing white noise to help them sleep!
If you have the patience to set it up, Freedom is actually an amazing blocking tool. Extremely worth the annual fee. I have a regular series of scheduled blocks that keep me out of stuff like instagram except in the evening, and I also have more heavy blocklists for times when that’s not enough. Freedom is the only service I’ve ever used that was genuinely impenetrable once the block is on.
I've also had a great experience with it so far!
I've been using the Brick to block social media and safari on my phone for most of the day to great effect. I have to physically tap my phone to the Brick to unlock it. I leave my maps, bank, weather, email, camera, podcast, music etc apps all working so I can use those as tools as needed. But not having safari working or instagram etc is a huge boost.
Need to test this out! Glad you've had a good experience with it!
I use the Brick too. I love it!
Ooh I've never actually used the Downtime settings, excited to try!
Yes!! Excited to hear how it goes!
Superb article, dear Dr. Jacqueline Nesi
Very helpful recommendations. If you do not mind, I will be using it in my articles!
here is my approach to it
https://dontdespairwegotit.substack.com/p/the-best-thing-i-did-for-myself-and
I just got rid of it all together! No more bills, no more distractions, no more radiation!
For my naturopathic practice I use RingCentral on my computer for phone calls, fax, etc.
+ emails.
Highly recommend to anybody!
All the best!
Thank you for this helpful rundown! I'm only a month into utilizing Downtime and it has been a game-changer. I, too, wanted to believe I could rely on my own self-discipline. Wrong. The biggest immediate improvement I've noticed is focus and attention span — totally humbling for a mom of 2 young kids.
I'm right there with you!
This article gave me the idea of limiting my browser app instead of my whole internet. This way if I want to look something up I have a little pocket notebook I use as a catch all or my reminders app I put it there for later or another time. So this way only urgent research is prioritised and I can go about my day learning to deal with that suspense of not knowing with patience and clarity that I write it down to remember later
I’ve never used screen time limits either.
Not out of rebellion.
Out of fear.
People think this is about productivity.
Or mental health.
But it’s really about fear.
Fear of losing the noise.
Fear of facing yourself.
Blocking the internet? Just a band-aid.
The real challenge is seeing how long you can go
without an excuse to avoid what you know you should be doing.
And if you’ve got kids… you better train for it.
Because they won’t inherit your phone.
They’ll inherit your absence.