I used to find myself being on my phone for over 6+ hours a day, scrolling on TikTok and Instagram for over half of that time. Here are some tips and tricks I found useful to turn my smartphone into a tool that increases productivity, rather than letting it becoming a bigger distraction, while getting my daily dose of reels and memes.
- Screen Time as a Widget
- Keep your screen time easily visible at all times so the awareness of how much time you are actually spending on your phone goes up.
2. Remove distracting apps from home screen (but keep them installed)
- I found that removing apps like Instagram and TikTok from my home screen made me less inclined to open them when I check my phone.
- I still keep them installed on my phone, as I do still send the occasional reel to friends or just keep up with general online trends / whatever pages I follow.
3. Keep phone away from nightstand
- Using a phone before bed suppresses melatonin production, which affects quality of sleep.
- Using a phone right as you wake up can increase stress and anxiety levels.
- Also helps in building a bedtime routine, instead of answering messages first thing in the morning.
4. Set Do Not Disturb routines
- iOS has a feature that lets you set times that Do Not Disturb will automatically turn on during certain times of the day/week. Useful when at work or school, or overnight to prevent notifications from popping up and distracting sleep.
- You can even set certain apps to appear on your home screen when in these routines, which can help in removing the urge to randomly check social media apps when trying to get work done
5. Download apps to offload your brain
- Take advantage of built in apps such as Notes, Reminders, Calendar, etc.
- Download an app like Notion to keep track of everything from job applications to what movies you want to watch next. You can easily find online templates for free.
- My friend showed me an app to track and visualize all the flights I take or have upcoming (more for a cool visualization, but still helps a lot to keep track of travel which can cause stress for a lot of people).
6. Using my calendar app religiously (definitely not perfect at this)
- Put in placeholders for most things that go on in my day, instead of just meetings. I block out time to gym, general work sessions, and even to write articles on Medium…
