One of the things I started to work on a bit last year was to reduce the number of notifications I get on my phone to checking the phone all the time.
The phone is something I use a lot for listening to music (Spotify), making payments and Twitter. I also use it to get around with Uber or Ola.
I use WhatsApp and Telegram. But also use Signal for checking my text messages. I use Todoist for dumping all the tasks into it.
I use Pocket and Kindle to read. My book reading is still very strongly paper based.
Last month I spent over 10 hours at an airport as part of a layover between flights. To kill sometime I spent organising my apps into folders and reducing the number of screens I had on my phone.
This is my first screen or rather home screen.
This is the second screen with all the apps setup in folders.
Two taps instead of one
I stopped opening some apps I often open as a default because of muscle memory.
Grouping all the apps also meant I need two taps instead of one to open an app. Which means one more mindful step.
I have removed the Facebook app from my phone.
This experiment is working out and I am going to have more tweaks to cut down even more of my time spent on the phone screen.
I want to at some stage get to the ultimate stage of not having Slack on my phone.
Have you tried the Digital Wellbeing feature of Android? It shows you daily screen time usage (overall as well as app level) + allows you set timers for specific apps (1h for Instagram for example) – which when crossed will not allow you to access the app anymore. I have found it to be helpful in helping me reduce my screen time.
I have not tried it.
Honestly, more than tracking – I am trying to make sure I am not near the phone as much.
A thing I do is when I go out for walks, I do not carry my phone. Stuff like that.
Are you using this feature? And how is that helping you? I am quite interested in knowing.
I have gone off Twitter and Instagram and use Whatsapp barely during weekends. I also turn off notifications after dinner time. It has cut off a lot of unnecessary noise and negativity. If there is any need to connect with me, people can always pick up the phone and call.