Turning my smartphone into a boring productivity tool

I recently broke my old iPhone and already knew I wanted the smaller new one that's about to come out so I got the cheapest ATT brand (yes, they actually make their own branded phones, no they are worse than you would think) Android, the phone is a pain to use. Texting is hard, opening spotify is a chore, unlocking isn't instant, and it's made me way more mindful and apprehensive about unlucking my phone. It just being bad, has made me a better more present person and I'm honestly now going to wait to go back to a "real" phone so the habits I'm learning stick

IIRC there's also one where you can allow favourite contacts through.

This is a good list of things to try. But data from the first week isn't very telling. I'd be more interested in how its going a month from now.

I do a number of things the OP does to try to curb "wasted" time. I would add the following:

I have no social media on my phone and the only game is: https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/

Really hard to get addicted to but enjoyable enough if I actually want to spend a few minutes playing a game.

I use this on my desktop: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/intention/ Anytime I notice a website that I habitually load (mindless) I add it to the list. Then I get a pop up asking me how much time I want to spend and showing how much I've already spent. Surprisingly effective.

I would also challenge the assumption that screen time is automatically "wasted". A lot of the time I spent on the phone yesterday was reading wikipedia or a book. This time was enriching. I also spent a lot of time refreshing politico. That was not enriching. Oh well.

I'm trying to recognize when I'm feeling the need to waste time and choose a healthier activity. Stepping away from the computer to stretch, take the dogs out, etc. Usually if I'm procrastinating there is a physical or emotional need that I should be addressing. Mindlessly reading HN (or whatever) is just a distraction from what my body is trying to tell me.

> I have no social media on my phone and the only game is: https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/ > > Really hard to get addicted to but enjoyable enough if I actually want to spend a few minutes playing a game.

Every morning I empty my bowels while playing Filling. Or the occasional Range or Light Up.

I didn't have to put much effort into not using my phone much; it happened organically. I think there were several reasons:

- When I moved to the Iphone X, I stopped using it so much, because it is just annoyingly large. It is awkward to use, so it doesn't come out.

- I do not use anything from the "social media" surveillance outfits, so have never had that clawing at me.

- And after setting up somewhat paranoid monitoring on my home network, I became aware of just how gossipy some apps I naively trusted are, and deleted them. (If you share data with anything not needed for function, or with any of the surveillance shops, I will not use your app.) That cut almost all the time-wasters.

At home, which is where I am now almost all the time thanks to the plague, it lives on a table, like phones used to. When it begs for attention, feeding it becomes something I do when I get up to stretch or get coffee instead of being a reflex.