How to reduce your screen time
6 tips to cut back on your phone usage starting today
Jan 21, 2025
Why do we instinctively reach for our phones during moments of boredom or downtime?
It’s no accident.
Apps are designed to pull us back in, keeping our attention and delivering dopamine hits as we use them.
Yet simply knowing this doesn’t stop us from getting distracted.
In this blog post, we’ll share six tips to reduce your screen time, ranging from gentle tweaks to more rigorous changes:
Turn off notifications
Use minimal app icons
Remove apps from your home screen
Turn on grayscale filter
Delay opening apps
Delete unnecessary apps
1. Turn off notifications
Notifications are the gateway to distractions.
Most notifications are unimportant but create a false sense of urgency.
Rather than reviewing each app’s notifications individually, it’s simpler to adopt the mindset that all notifications should be off by default.
Turn everything off first, then enable notifications only for essential apps like messaging and calendar.
2. Use minimal app icons
Our brains recognize colorful and unique app icons so quickly that we can open social media apps almost unconsciously.
When we switched to minimal icons to create a cleaner, more aesthetic home screen, we unexpectedly found it helped reduce mindless app opening.
Since each app has the same backdrop and style, you must first consciously decide to open an app before searching for and opening it.
This mental speed bump between you and your distractions can help reduce mindless phone use.
3. Remove apps from home screen
Similar to our physical environment, what’s on our home screen becomes the cues that trigger our habits.
When social media apps are highly visible on your home screen, you’re more likely to open them.
We recommend moving distracting apps to the “back.”
iPhone users can remove apps from the home screen and store them in the App Library, while Android users can similarly keep apps in the App Drawer.
4. Turn on grayscale filter
Switching your phone to grayscale can instantly make scrolling through social media less distracting.
But you don’t have to keep it on all the time.
We know how powerful these tiny devices can be for creative work and entertainment.
What we recommend is having a simple way to toggle the grayscale filter on and off, like adding it to the control center on iPhones.
5. Delay opening apps
Consider using an app like One Sec to add a delay when opening apps.
The app introduces a brief pause each time you try to open social media or other selected apps.
It acts as a temporary screen barrier between you and distractions, helping you catch yourself and determine whether you’re being distracted or intentional.
6. Delete unnecessary apps
If a distracting app adds no real value, the simplest solution is often the best.
Delete it from your device entirely.
Then, use your newly freed time for healthier activities like reading books, calling friends, or listening to music.
