Does anyone have any additional tips or tricks? I’ve switched off my notifications.
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My favourite is to set it grayscale. You can set in accessibility the feature that sets triple click for it.
It is called “colour filters”, and can be set at General -> Accessibility -> Accessibility Shortcut
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That’s a great tip, thanks Piotr!
I’ve set my phone to grayscale now.
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I use it too, very useful in the evening!
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I also deleted my social media apps from my phone. I tried to hide them first in a “don’t go there” folder, but it didn’t work for me as I mostly use search function to open applications, so with one click I deleted them and I’m free from the temptation to scroll through them 
It’s easier than it seems.
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I recently discovered: https://betterhumans.coach.me/how-to-set-up-your-iphone-for-productivity-focus-and-your-own-longevity-bb27a68cc3d8
It’s an extensive manual on how to configure your iPhone. Impressive how much work the author put into it!
Also it made me realise that it’s totally in our hands to configure it this way. Default option that most of the people will use is set to be very engaging and screaming for our attention.
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This is perfect, thanks!
I really appreciate your replies, that link is especially helpful.
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Although this is not a guide on how to set up your phone specifically, we would say that one of the main ways you can use your phone less is to turn off notifications as you’ve done. Being constantly distracted by social networks is problematic.
Then, reorganizing your phone apps so that everything is tidier, we usually advise separating apps into categories, putting the apps we want to use most, further away. That way it takes more effort to find the app you want to ‘mindlessly scroll’ through. Changing apps around regularly also prevents ‘muscle memory’ from kicking in, where you just subconsciously know where things are.
Using mindfulness to enjoy a meal, instead of focusing on ‘how this meal will look on Instagram’ is another good idea. It involves zero distractions, no phones whilst you’re eating, just focusing on the food.
Changing your phone’s settings to black and white and removing apps such as Facebook from your phone are also easy ways of using your phone less. Buying an alarm clock instead of keeping your phone in the bedroom is something we’ve done too. It means that we’re exposed to less blue light and distractions before sleep and we’re not browsing our phones when we wake up.
Texting rather than calling people so that response times are a little slower can sometimes help phone addiction, taking the time to reply in a concise way more similar to ‘letter writing’.
Delay checking your phone, when you get a message, ignore it. Wait, even if it could be important. Wait minutes, rather than seconds, stay calm. This will help you realize that your phone and the message will still be there even if you don’t check it straight away. Life is not like Snapchat, things don’t just disappear.
Go into nature, take a walk, leave your phone behind. Do anything outside of your office or home, without your phone. No digital distractions, no interruptions.
Don’t look at your phone whilst talking to others. When you look at your phone instead of being sociable, this is called ‘phubbing’, usually, we do this on the Metro.
Check emails/messages only at certain times of the day if possible. It’s usually best to do this at the end of the day and to focus on work at the start of the day so as not to be disturbed.
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I used to write a list on a paper when going to a grocery shop and as of today I very rarely take my phone while going to shopping. Same applies when I’m going to do some activities such as gym or walk in a park. It helps!
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First step would be switch off all the notifications, incl. email and its auto-download of new messages every X minutes. This worked for me like a charm. No need to go further. My plan is to uninstall apps that I did not use from past 6 months twice a year.
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I need to start writing more things down on paper. I have some notebooks and cute planners but I never use them!
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I found this in The Guardian: “In a paper […] in the journal Psychological Science, two US researchers, Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer, claim that note-taking with a pen, rather than a laptop, gives students a better grasp of the subject.” Even though this is specifically about students, I believe the same applies to everyone. Writing things down helps me remember things too.
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