Digital Well Being

Digital Well Being

• Remove all notifications from non-message & calendar apps. Disable all notifications except for the calendar and clock. Disable notifications.
• Move all non-essential apps off of the front page (perhaps even off of a "page" entirely).
• Condition everyone around you that you might not reply messages in time
• Get another device without ANY distraction what so ever. Having a dedicated device for our priority and minimizing adding more stuff to it.
• Delete every recreational app on your phone. Also delete anything that gamifies passive consumption.
• Do not open your web browser unless you have a specific search query in mind.
• Treat your phone as if it had no online connectivity. When you open the phone, use it to organize your notes and structure your thinking. Begin thinking of it as an extension of your brain instead of a bottomless anti-boredom device. As a thought experiment, imagine you had a smart phone without internet access
• Put some ebooks on your phone and read those. Stop mentally associating the phone with the infinite novelty generated by algorithmic social feeds.
• Get rid of all the apps where you consume content, except for maybe an eBook reading app. Fill your devices only with apps that allow you to create content. Don't even worry about sharing the content. Just get apps that let you create. Photography, video, code, drawing, writing, music, whatever.
• Finding alternatives to screens is probably a good start. You don't need to toss your phone, just put it farther away from you. Have books/magazines/newspapers with easy access as an alternative. Legos/brain teasers/puzzles/rubix cubes, etc are also great.
• Get rid of the social media apps. You don't need them. You're lying to yourself if you think that you do. Nobody is going to miss your Instagram or Facebook posts. TikTok is a stupid waste of time.
• Instead, fill your home screen with apps with positive goals.
• The answer is simple: Stop using smartphone except for explicit reasons. If I want to dick around with tech - I'll use my desktop/laptop.