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There’s a line between being plugged into the cultural moment and being chronically online—and if you’re anything like me, you dance back and forth across that line like all those folks salsaing with Bad Bunny in his Super Bowl halftime show. I think it’s in everyone’s best interest to take a hard look at the time they spend scrolling and streaming and wonder if that time might not be better spent elsewhere: studying, job-hunting, reading, or even cleaning. All those things that you know you should do, particularly once you emerge from the scroll-marathon haze and see how much time has passed. So let’s go over some ways that you can reduce your screentime and reallocate the minutes (hours) to something a little more productive.
Filter Your Notifications
Think about the last ten or fifteen notifications you’ve gotten from your phone. How many of them did you actually need? Speaking for myself, it was maybe two of them. Try going into your settings and turning off notifications for every app that isn’t strictly necessary—I promise that you do not need every single notification that your phone decides is “breaking news”. Every time your phone buzzes, your brain thinks that it’s something important, like a text or an email. But it’s more likely to be your photo app trying to show you a round-up of random pictures for the third time that week. And then you’re back on your phone. So hit the settings icon and make sure you’re only getting the notifications you actually need.
Put Your Apps in the Wrong Spot
You’ve probably heard this one before, but that’s because it works. It’s what I tend to do when I find myself too online, since I don’t find that deleting my preferred apps altogether really helps me. Instead, I take them off my home screen, meaning I have to open up my full app list, scroll all the way down, find the app, and then open it. It’s hard to autopilot, which is how I usually open the apps when they’re instantly available on my home screen. A break in the muscle memory of “open phone, tap on TikTok” is oftentimes enough time for me to ask myself, “Do I actually want to be on TikTok?” Sometimes yes, and sometimes no.
Use an App-Blocking App
I know this sounds a bit like hoping a Terminator will solve your Terminator problem, but stay with me. There are several apps out there that, for a time, will block some of your other apps, like social media or games. One example is ScreenZen, although there are lots of options out there that do functionally the same thing. They’re nice for when you pick up your phone out of habit, since they remind you to put it back down. Some services, like Brick, even offer a physical device that blocks your phone, allowing for further unplugging.
Find Your Phone a Home
This is something that some of the older folks in my life do, and while I’ve found that it’s not really for me, I certainly see the use in it: their phones live someplace for most of the time while they’re at home. Whether that’s the kitchen counter or a desk, it even stays there at night, to decrease night scrolling. It’s almost like having a landline at that point, although your phone is absolutely still available for a scroll sesh if you really want it. It’s just not in your hand or pocket all the time. But if this sounds unrealistic to you (it did to me, too), then consider finding a place and time to set your phone down away from you, even for an hour at a time—it can help you feel more engaged and present.
Phones aren’t inherently bad for you. They’re our primary way that we stay connected to our friends and family, they’re how we keep up to date on what’s going on in the world, and they’re also entertaining. But I think we all know that sometimes, our screentime can end up being higher than we want it to be. So try some of these tips, and see if they can help you unplug and reconnect with the analogue world.
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