Do It Yourself

The only thing that has worked well for me long term is to be resolute in my desire to be on my phone less, and then make my phone as boring as possible. No social media, no games, no notifications, a one minute limit on the browser and mostly trusting that if I really need to know something I can look it up later. Ideally I would also remove email and just have the good things — maps, music, podcasts, text, phone, camera — but that doesn’t seem practical. Anything that makes you pick up your phone and toodle the day away, delete it ruthlessly. You don’t need it.

I also make it black and white, and then add accessibility shortcuts when I need to see a picture or follow a map.

There will be seasons. Sometimes I get sick and download Polytopia to rot. Right now I spend a lot of time breast feeding in a chair and my baby keeps playing with books and magazines, so I’m hanging on Rec League and watching YouTube in the middle of the night. But the deep desire to not be on your phone, the forgiveness for the seasons when you lapse for reasons good and less good, and as boring a phone as possible is the path. You don’t need to buy something new to quit your phone!

Like that ex I hung on to for way too long, I just had to realize that my phone is not worth my time.