Reducing Screen Time by 86%

“How long is left on this?” I asked, referring to the TV show my wife was currently watching, in which I didn’t have much interest.

Sophie thumbed the upper most quadrant on the remote control’s directional doughnut, triggering the screen to display a progress bar overlay, culminating in the text “-8:17”

“About eight minutes, why?” She replied.

Previously this exchange would have happened differently. And by that I mean previously this exchange wouldn’t have happened at all. I wouldn’t have even asked how long was left, I’d have just reached for my phone, hitting up the usual suspects — Reddit, Ebay, Hacker News. If I was feeling particularly self loathing that day I may have also stopped in on Linkedin for a good thought leading.

Today was different though. My phone was way over the other side of the room. On a shelf. With an uncharacteristically high battery percentage for this time of day. And on that shelf it would stay.

“I was just wondering if I had time for a quick game of Mario Kart” I explained, before concluding that I did in fact have time. I slid the Switch from its dock under the TV, and fired up a 150cc Grand Prix on some of the new tracks we’d recently purchased. I came second on the first two races — I was a little out of practice at this speed, due to mostly playing at 50cc with my kids — but I managed to grab victory on the last two races, and took first in the Grand Prix over all.

I hadn’t just walked in on Sophie watching TV though, I’d already spent the last half an hour or so on my laptop trying to fix the SD card my youngest child’s digital camera had somehow managed to corrupt. Alas my efforts were in vain, that card was so fucked I couldn’t fsck it. It’s a shame as she’d taken some pretty good photos, as well as hundreds of the toilet for some reason, but the point is I tried. This was something that had been on my “to fix” pile for too long, not having my phone in easy reach was all it took for me to finally get round to it.

There is an obvious flaw in those two examples — I didn’t actually reduce screen time, I swapped one screen for another. The Switch and laptop still have screens. Reducing screen time isn’t necessarily my end game though. It’s more about eliminating the subconscious reflex to grab my phone as soon as I feel the slightest twang of boredom. I want to do something productive, and yes I consider playing video games productive. Instead of mindlessly staring at my phone’s screen when my mind was idle, I actively found some things to do.

Drastically reducing the time I spend on my phone is something that happened very gradually all at once. It’s been on my mind for years.

The catalyst for my recent breakthrough happened about a three weeks ago. My wife and I were walking around a nearby city, and two separate people nearly walked into us, because they were locked in fierce staring contests with their phones. They didn’t even notice the near collision, and just carried on living their lives. Of course people would almost walk in to each other in the pre-phone days as well, but at least they would have noticed and apologised for their inattentiveness. And then I would have apologised for existing, because I’m English and that’s just what we do.

This new world scares me, I’m scared for my kids. I know I sound old, and maybe I am, but this can’t be healthy. I don’t want my kids to grow up and become more zombies walking around oblivious to the world around them. And that has to start at home. If they don’t see us mindlessly mesmerised by the handheld slab of misery, maybe they’ll be less likely to end up that way.

I’ve tried before to reduce my phone use time. Back in 2020 I complied a list of dumb phones that might be able to replace the smart phone I had at the time, but never pulled the trigger. I cut most social media out of my life, hence the lack of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok etc on that earlier list of doomscroll destinations. I deleted the Reddit app, forcing myself to brave the toxic swamp of a mobile website if I wanna get my fill of memes, cat pictures, and meme cat pictures. I tried setting screen time limits for certain apps, but they’re just too easy to bypass.

Then one morning I hit upon a radical new technique. I’d leave my phone on the bedside table. How often do I really need my phone throughout the day anyway? I wouldn’t miss any calls or messages as they’d still come through to my watch.

The crazy part was it worked. Simply not having my phone in my pocket was all it took for me to stop habitually consuming the cerebral equivalent of a Big Mac. I turned my own laziness against me, I’m not gonna climb a whole fucking flight of stairs just to filter through all the AI garbage on Hacker News for the occasional nugget of interest.

I still feel that impulse to reach for my pocket in moments of boredom. When my fingers finding a vacant pocket it’s enough of a pattern interrupt for my conscious brain to kick in, remembering why my phone isn’t there. And so I find something more productive to do instead. As time has gone on I feel that impulse less frequently. And when I do want to reach for my phone, I remember it won’t be there much quicker, usually before my hand has even started moving.

I feel like a weight has been lifted from me. Literally. I’d forgotten what it was like to not constantly have something in my pocket. After just a couple of days without my phone on me at all times I found myself hating the feel of it in my pocket on the rare occasions it was there. The physical weight of it, and also the mental weight of knowing it’s there, ready to ensure I never feel bored again.

I want to feel bored. Bored is good. Bored is when you actively find something interesting to do. Be it trying to fix something, playing a video game, or even writing a few hundred words about reducing screen time.

I’m honestly kind of embarrassed — all the ways in which I’ve tried to reduce the time I spend on my phone, and it never occurred to me to simply not have it on me. It doesn’t even need to be at the other end of the house, just the other side of the room is enough to keep my lazy ass from doom scrolling.

According to my phone my screen time for today is 24 minutes, down 86% on the average from before I stopped keeping my phone on me at all times. Although I doubt I’ll keep the usage time quite that low, as I do like to use my phone for things like YouTube and podcasts as background noise while I do other activities, which I haven’t done recently. Although I’m not actually sure how screen time is calculated, ie: does listening to a podcast with the screen locked count? I suppose I’ll find out soon.

Battery life is an additional bonus. Before my phone would usually be sub-30% by the end of the day, often in power save mode, and sometimes would have already needed a mid-day charge. Now it’s finishing with the day with more than 80%. I don’t actually need to charge the damn thing every night any more.

This is particularly good for me. I’m currently rocking an iPhone 13 mini, and I’m dreading the day it dies and I can’t have a phone this small any more. Hopefully this change will help keep the battery going for longer. And that will allow Apple enough time to come to their fucking senses and make another small phone. There are literally dozens of us begging to pay not very much money for one.

— Matt