Thanks for this- I have been trying to free myself from a phone addiction also. I bought the “Brick “ device which I do like. You can make those different profiles you were talking about and then You have to use the actual physical device to switch them. It’s been a couple of weeks and so far it’s feeling like a good compromise between dumb phone and smartphone.
You must live a very different life from me. My iphone only has talk and text, and that's how my friends and family get in touch with me. I use the camera but any apps I want to use are on my computer, not my phone. That's where I work, so that's where they belong. If I need to google something, my computer is available.
I’m glad that talk/text only works for you. I guess it depends on how your people like to get in touch with you, and perhaps a little on how well you train them to do it your way. But I really think offloading the apps that you can do on a computer is a really good idea.
Hey Tom, I've been using the free app Smile: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/smile-app-launcher/id6612008811 to dumb my iphone. I'd recommend it as no subscription model and appears to work in essentially the same way. You can have four lists and colour code them too, so you could have two lists for personal and two for business?
Loved reading this follow up and the tips. I took everything off of my phone that I can do on my desktop or iPad - so email, social media, finance apps, photo editing apps, and several others. I also use a smart watch so I am usually leaving my phone at home or in the car and just using that watch to make calls and texts during the day. I think I might try your dumb phone experiment for a bit or maybe even 1-2 days a week forever. Thanks!
Thanks, Jason. Deleting apps you don't need on your phone (that you can do on your laptop) is a great idea. Make it less likely to be sucked into the magic rectangle! An apple watch is also a good way to feel connected while limiting your ability to get sucked in. I had an AW until a few years ago, when I got a Coros watch for longer battery life and more running-specific features. I get texts/notifactions on it but I miss the ability to call and text — and control music in the home — with it.
It's great to read your follow-up thoughts on this - thank you for sharing and being honest about your findings.
I think for me it comes down to being as intentional as possible when I have it in my hand. Although I often find myself in Instagram forgetting why I opened the app in the first place, then closing it only to have to open it again because I actually did have something work related to do 🫠 (I'll be soon not having to access business IG accounts so I think that will be a BIG help)
I need to designate a location where my phone lives when I'm home and not have it by my side. But if it is by my side then I try to keep it face down. I removed 95% of notifications ages ago which was a big help.
@Beth Spencer does a weekly screentime checkin in her chat that is also a really helpful reset!
And lastly, did you know if you triple-press the lock button on an iphone it's a shortcut to turning your screen greyscale and back to colour?
I always forget why I came to certain apps, namely Instagram and Facebook. They've been enshittified — made bad on purpose — to make sure we get lost and forget what we came to do. They want us to get sucked in! I'll have to look into Beth's checkins — great idea.
I did not know about triple pressing the lock button. I tried it without success, but it appears you can set this up as a feature in Accessibility settings as a shortcut. Thanks for the tip! That will come in handy when I use Instagram (for legit purposes) and the Camera.
Thanks for this- I have been trying to free myself from a phone addiction also. I bought the “Brick “ device which I do like. You can make those different profiles you were talking about and then You have to use the actual physical device to switch them. It’s been a couple of weeks and so far it’s feeling like a good compromise between dumb phone and smartphone.
I'll have to give it a try! Thanks Jes.
You must live a very different life from me. My iphone only has talk and text, and that's how my friends and family get in touch with me. I use the camera but any apps I want to use are on my computer, not my phone. That's where I work, so that's where they belong. If I need to google something, my computer is available.
I’m glad that talk/text only works for you. I guess it depends on how your people like to get in touch with you, and perhaps a little on how well you train them to do it your way. But I really think offloading the apps that you can do on a computer is a really good idea.
Hey Tom, I've been using the free app Smile: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/smile-app-launcher/id6612008811 to dumb my iphone. I'd recommend it as no subscription model and appears to work in essentially the same way. You can have four lists and colour code them too, so you could have two lists for personal and two for business?
Thanks Dave, I’ll take a look at Smile. Sounds hopeful!
Loved reading this follow up and the tips. I took everything off of my phone that I can do on my desktop or iPad - so email, social media, finance apps, photo editing apps, and several others. I also use a smart watch so I am usually leaving my phone at home or in the car and just using that watch to make calls and texts during the day. I think I might try your dumb phone experiment for a bit or maybe even 1-2 days a week forever. Thanks!
Thanks, Jason. Deleting apps you don't need on your phone (that you can do on your laptop) is a great idea. Make it less likely to be sucked into the magic rectangle! An apple watch is also a good way to feel connected while limiting your ability to get sucked in. I had an AW until a few years ago, when I got a Coros watch for longer battery life and more running-specific features. I get texts/notifactions on it but I miss the ability to call and text — and control music in the home — with it.
It's great to read your follow-up thoughts on this - thank you for sharing and being honest about your findings.
I think for me it comes down to being as intentional as possible when I have it in my hand. Although I often find myself in Instagram forgetting why I opened the app in the first place, then closing it only to have to open it again because I actually did have something work related to do 🫠 (I'll be soon not having to access business IG accounts so I think that will be a BIG help)
I need to designate a location where my phone lives when I'm home and not have it by my side. But if it is by my side then I try to keep it face down. I removed 95% of notifications ages ago which was a big help.
@Beth Spencer does a weekly screentime checkin in her chat that is also a really helpful reset!
And lastly, did you know if you triple-press the lock button on an iphone it's a shortcut to turning your screen greyscale and back to colour?
I always forget why I came to certain apps, namely Instagram and Facebook. They've been enshittified — made bad on purpose — to make sure we get lost and forget what we came to do. They want us to get sucked in! I'll have to look into Beth's checkins — great idea.
I did not know about triple pressing the lock button. I tried it without success, but it appears you can set this up as a feature in Accessibility settings as a shortcut. Thanks for the tip! That will come in handy when I use Instagram (for legit purposes) and the Camera.
Enshittified! Great word! And so true.
great tips, tom, thank you. i just implemented #4, 5, 7 ❤️❤️❤️
Nice, thanks for reading, Katrina!