I have been following Manuel Moreale’s Experimental June plan to reduce consumption. The latest update was on June 29. That motivated me to finally start with a plan to reduce my screen time. The May 16 episode of Search Engine: How to stop being so phone addicted (without self-discipline or meditation) was another catalyst.

I started on June 29 and as broken as Screen Time is, it’s still a good enough reporting tool. So far, I’ve succeeded in reducing my daily screen time from 3 to 4 hours to under 2 hours consistently!

My rules:

  1. Keep the phone in the bedroom when at home, use it only close to the charger
  2. In the office, keep my phone in the drawer so that I’m not tempted to pick it up
  3. Listening to podcasts/books while running/driving is ok
  4. The main enemy is subconscious usage where I just take the phone out because there’s nothing else to do and start scrolling

I’ll slowly replace this time with writing, reading books or drawing. For now, I’m happy with small steps. So far, I’ve found myself using larger screens deliberately, and focusing a bit more than I usually do with my phone around.