91–100 of 108 posts
I tried every kind of focus app and focus mode on iOS, and nothing stuck. After years of trying, this approach worked well for me: 1. Delete any app with any kind of algorithmic feed (YouTube, TikTok, etc) 2. Uninstall Safari That's right, I've been rocking a browserless phone for about a year now, and I'm never going back. AMA
One thing that has been working really well for me this year is the "internet Shabbat" rule: 24 hours of no TCP/IP every week. Friday night I pull the plug on the modem + turn off data on my phone, then enjoy all of Saturday in a disconnected mode. I can still be on the computer, just no internet. It's amazing how much things I get done... it literally feels like I have two days instead of one. If I put a item like "…
I used to do this every morning, for the first hour of the day. I started doing it to cope with severe unmedicated ADHD. I found the only way I could get any work done was to turn off my phone and unplug the router. (I downloaded offline docs, and if I got really stuck, made a note of what to Google later and just switched tasks.) I then found that I enjoyed getting stuff done so much, that I'd usually keep it off un…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I used to do this every morning, for the first hour of the day. I started doing it to cope with severe unmedicated ADHD. I found the only way I could get any work done was to turn off my phone and unplug the router. (I downloaded offline docs, and if I got really stuck, made a note of what to Google later and just switched tasks.) I then found that I enjoyed getting stuff done so much, that I'd usually keep it off un…
Very interesting. I was thinking of scaling this up by adding Sunday too, but offline mornings might be even better... I'll look into adding a schedule in the router. I think it might be helpful to program the rule to start in the desired bedtime in the evening to make the pixel devices unexciting and incentivize reading old school books (the most efficient technology for getting me to sleep). I've heard the advice d…
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Or just go hang out with friends, that's what I do. I get to hang out with people I like, people I like a little less, people I agree with, people I disagree with it. It makes me for a more humble and understanding person.
It was a joke.
Another tip is that even HN has some screen time features. If you go to your profile, you can play around with the "noprocrast", "maxvisit", and "minaway" options. When noprocrast is on, you may only view HN for maxvisit minutes at a time, and must stay away for minaway minutes before returning. (taken from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3677504 )
I find that it's hard to waste time on HN after your first salvo of the day since the day's frontpage topics are kinda set early on and they change pretty slowly. (Unless, of course, someone is wrong about one of Your Topics and needs your corrections throughout the day.) And I don't see the point of going past the frontpage unless you want to bicker with someone on yesterday's topics that nobody will ever see. So ju…
Here in GMT+2, there's the morning salvo - and then an afternoon salvo once the USA is properly caffeinated.
Which Android apps for limiting screen time does the HN crowd recommend? Is there one that doesn't sell your data or request network access? (Ideally of course the app would be open-source but I'm not getting my hopes up.) I've been wanting to try Digital Wellbeing but it looks like it's still not available for non-Google devices. Or at least it's shown as "not compatible" when accessing the Play Store from GrapheneO…
It's pretty manual (2-3 mins per week), but logging the new dates each week is a nice little "check-in" to stop me from drifting back towards more screen time.
I've never been a heavy user, but I noticed sometimes I drifted towards 1-2 hours per day and have since gotten down to an average of less than 15 minutes per day. I just use the phone for utility purpose now. I got scared straight seeing the UK average daily phone use statistics, including my own, and how much that adds up to over a year.
Digital Wellbeing was quite good but I noticed it counts things which aren't necessarily screen time. I kept having loads of time on the 'Clock' app for some reason, and spam calls I ignore seemed to also be counted even if I saw them on my watch.
As for the phone setup itself:
- no media apps (social, games, video, news)
- a web browser, but I try to just remember anything I'm interested in and look it up later on a PC
- absolute minimum notifications. phone, sms, email and messages (Signal/WhatsApp). I try to use only for emergencies or quick messages and meetups instead of having conversations over messages
- minimal launcher (Nova) with black and white icons
- no blocks, just screen time monitoring using StayFree. I don't want to use blocks as a crutch
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Or just go hang out with friends, that's what I do. I get to hang out with people I like, people I like a little less, people I agree with, people I disagree with it. It makes me for a more humble and understanding person.
It was a joke.
* I removed all apps that aren't tools/utilities to help me get things done. No entertainment (including RSS!). For example, I have Busycal, Things, and Bear installed along with a few other utilities. I also removed non-essential utilities. There is no need to pay my credit card from my phone. This also has the benefit of reducing tracking.
* Disabled JS for Safari. I would find myself surfing the web and wasting time. Even if I initially started with good intentions. Turns out, a lot of my web usage was "I wonder about this, let's search it". "That was a cool movie, let's see what other people think online". It is an absolute pain to dig 37 menus deep to enable JS again, which forces me to live without it.
* Time limits never worked for me. I'd always ask for five more minutes. Just one more hit Tim Apple, I promise. Last time. They may work for you though.
* Either disabled notifications or set them to appear in daily reviews. Now I get those daily reviews and realize it's filled with stuff that doesn't matter. Every time I pick up my phone I risk falling into a black hole. The less I'm notified to pick up it, the less time I lose. Only alerts from my partner and similar get through immediately.
* Get an alarm clock or use a smartwatch. Seriously. You know those people who wake up and reach over for cigs before they're even out of bed? Don't do that with your phone.
* I lean heavily into my smart watch. For me, trying to create friction on my phone was only mildly successful. A smart watch has a ton of organic friction that feels natural. Instead of giving your Ferarri a flat tire to slow it down, just ride a bicycle. Synthetic friction vs organic friction. I'm bad with analogies. Leaving my phone behind is something I do sometimes but not as much as I should.
* These days the only social media account I have is HN. It's not ideal but everything is a WIP.
There really should be some concerted effort by the government to study these behaviors and what can be done. We dramatically dropped cigarette use with a lot of work and I believe we can do the same with phones.
I still waste time on my laptop but it's not a quick dopamine hit. I spend more time on side-projects though now that I'm forcing myself to be in front of a real machine. Reducing all screen-time is something I still need to work on.
I tried every kind of focus app and focus mode on iOS, and nothing stuck. After years of trying, this approach worked well for me: 1. Delete any app with any kind of algorithmic feed (YouTube, TikTok, etc) 2. Uninstall Safari That's right, I've been rocking a browserless phone for about a year now, and I'm never going back. AMA
How did you uninstall safari? Have you run into any issues without having it available on your phone?