One thing that has been working really well for me this year is the "internet Shabbat" rule: 24 hours of no TCP/IP every week. Friday night I pull the plug on the modem + turn off data on my phone, then enjoy all of Saturday in a disconnected mode. I can still be on the computer, just no internet.

It's amazing how much things I get done... it literally feels like I have two days instead of one. If I put a item like "outdoor exercise for 30 mins" in my TODO list, then I actually do it! Close friends and family can still reach me by phone/text, but all the chat groups and other messaging app distractions are silent.

I can still end up zoning out watching a movie in the evening, but it's more intentional: I had to pick the movie in advance and download it so I can view it offline.

The contrast with Sunday when I turn the internet back on is very notable. Suddenly the next day is disorganized and end up wasting hours on youtube recommendations, and following rabit holes, and hacker news of course.

My conclusion is that it's not the apps or the internet, it's the feeds (when information is being pushed down to you) that are the problem. It's just too convenient and we end up staying in it.

Highly recommended.

It's not like TikTok has a 100% chance of hypnotizing you into a zombie that can only spend its waking hours thinking about dancing people and positive vibes. Only a very high chance, depending on how anxious/bored you are, amplified by the hard work of psychology PhDs.

It's so difficult to imagine the mindset of a person who can approach TikTok from a healthy perspective and not need to rely on what used to be called "parental controls" in the past to artificially prevent them from doomscrolling all day. They would just never need to consume advice like this. Surely those people must exist? Who are they?

But when you're slapped with something like C-PTSD from an early age, you aren't afforded the ability to address anxiety effectively. You have to turn to something to soothe your anxiety all the time or it will drive you insane.

If you were to try to go the complete or semi-aesetic route, you have to consider what lies on the other side of doomscrolling when there's just too much anxiety to function correctly: endless hellfire.

I have a hard time believing doomscrolling or needing to restrict screentime at every corner are effective ways to address a completely unrelated inbuilt source of boundless anxiety.

Another tip is that even HN has some screen time features. If you go to your profile, you can play around with the "noprocrast", "maxvisit", and "minaway" options.

When noprocrast is on, you may only view HN for maxvisit minutes at a time, and must stay away for minaway minutes before returning. (taken from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3677504)

Title talks about screentime, but article only focuses on mobile phones and doom scrolling. I was surprised to see the recommendation of max 2h screen time per day for an adult at the bottom. The link leads to a page not mentioning this though.

I spend already ~5h staring at screens for work. At home my biggest screen time is watching videos on TV. I don't think I ever doom-scrolled on my phone. I do read lots of news articles on it though. Article seems to not be addressing people like me.

After a Psilocybin trip I found that anxiety was driving a vast majority of my desire for screen time. Post trip for the next few days my mind was perfectly calm - no thoughts were forcefully intruding, constantly causing distraction and frustration leading to seeking screen time.

During that time I could go to work, consume tasks, complete them without stress or distraction and feel a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. Same when I went home and did chores around the house. That is a feeling that has been elusive most of my life. The big thing that stood out to me those few days: little to no desire for screen time.

If you think you have anxiety then do yourself a favor and seek professional help. Otherwise these life hacks are useless as they are ignoring the root cause of your desire for screen time.

I’ve scrolled through the article and another tip would be: Have an alternative.

You can’t just go from screentime to no screentime if you have nothing to do off the screen, plan some activities.

At least on iOS, I've found ScreenZen (https://www.screenzen.co) to be pretty ideal. I'll definitely try SpeedBump if they add me to the beta, though.

Like SpeedBump, ScreenZen also has a "wait before using addictive apps" function (though, it doesn't have the "wait a bit longer to get 15mins vs. 2mins" - that would be really nice).

ScreenZen also keeps track of "streaks" of days not going over your overall limit in addictive apps. Unfortunately, that limit is counted by number of sessions, not the actual overall app screen time (by default, if you set your limit to 1 hour, it gives you 6 sessions of 10 minutes per app). It would be nice to combine this with SpeedBump's different-time-limit feature: if I want to quickly check a post or show a friend something on Instagram, I could use only 2mins out of my overall hour limit, instead of 10mins.

My cell phone lives in my sock drawer with the only exception being when I take it out for GPS. Otherwise, I have fully replaced my mobile computing with my Daylight Computer tablet. I feel like I have a much healthier relationship with this thing than I had with my cell phone. The lack of color and the lack of notifications has made my usage feel way more intentional. Before, I wanted to kick my habit of scrolling social media before I got out of bed in the morning, but I didn't actively work on that. One day, I simply realized I had kicked the habit without even trying!

Not having a phone on me at all times to cope with boring or awkward moments has really been eye opening, and I believe very healthy for me. Especially as someone who has had a phone on me for my teenage years and throughout most of my adult life thus far.

Earlier this year, I decided to set up a couple of software based systems to reduce my screentime. They have been largely been successful. I have reduced my average daily phone screen time from 5-6 hrs to 2-3 hrs, around 1.5 hrs of which is 'wasteful' (reddit, HN, instagram) and the remaining 1.5 hrs is actual communication time (email, calls, chat). On my computer, my screen time is nearly all productive time by my standards. Some of the things I did are:

For my phone:

- Deleted all apps for social media, all browsing has to be via browser.

- Used SocialFocus (https://socialfocus.app/) to remove feeds and recommendations from all apps, any post access happens via shares or search

- Also turned on a timer for social media (45 minutes each for reddit/insta).

- Turned social media black/white instead of color.

- Used dumbify launcher (https://dumbifyapp.com/) to turn my menu bar into a text based one instead of icons.

For my computer:

- Used Cold Turkey (https://getcoldturkey.com/) to set up blocks for various websites, subreddits etc.

- Locked up my Cold Turkey block with a long random text string, which increases friction if I want to unlock and as a result reduces my inclination to do so.

- Use News Feed Eradicator (https://github.com/jordwest/news-feed-eradicator/) to remove feeds from websites which have some utility for me (e.g. LinkedIn) but can be a time sink.

Honestly, these steps have worked quite well for me thus far. I have managed to get back into reading (both fiction, non-fiction as well as academic textbooks), freed up time to spend with family and friends, and also gotten into watching TV shows - something I had not really done in the last 2-3 years due to being hooked on short form media

> Completely quitting social media is getting less and less realistic. Platforms like Instagram or TikTok can be essential to connect with friends

I doubt it. Trying to not to use all of popular social for some time (for 30 days) was inspiring to me, so I don't have any idea why those apps so important.

Which Android apps for limiting screen time does the HN crowd recommend? Is there one that doesn't sell your data or request network access? (Ideally of course the app would be open-source but I'm not getting my hopes up.)

I've been wanting to try Digital Wellbeing but it looks like it's still not available for non-Google devices. Or at least it's shown as "not compatible" when accessing the Play Store from GrapheneOS.

- Yes it is possible to live without using social media (except hacker news of course) on a daily basis. TikTok is the easiest to do without. Instagram and Snapchat can be deleted. Use the web app for those rare moments you need to check hours for a business that doesn’t have a website (sadly this happens)

- iOS Focus Modes is underrated in this article. When I arrive at work all my apps except teams and outlook disappear, my phone turns into a work dashboard. After work my phone shows my journal and the clock app. I never get notifications at work, they queue up until I leave. My watch is synchronized and does similar, showing exactly what I need and nothing else for different stages of my day. Focus Modes has sadly not been copied by Android so I can’t consider stitching until there’s a good answer (a well supported HealthKit alternative being the other deal breaker).

- iOS screen time is busted af, it is known. Might as well be a random number generator. I recommend avoiding. Apple workers reading this: pls fix

My guide to cut down screen time - have kids, play with them every day after work.

I have gone in a slightly different direction, where I use my device to sell goods and services, and aquire parts,components, and specific information to facilitate my selling, and the maintanence and upgradeing of my own personal things. Also I use my screen time to seek out real world events and activities. This has led me to have expectations, as to what I get, as a real reward, and, also forces me to follow through with comitments made on line, in the real.world, therfor the whole thing, becomes self regualating.

You probably see it enough already in your ads, but this has been the most effective app blocker for me: https://getbrick.app

My solution was to only allow free-software and no browsers/"content" apps on my phone after a fresh install. It somehow worked wonders.

I also made an app to fix my scrolling issue — it’s called EvoCat.

The idea came from wanting to combine the best parts of all the focus apps I used: scheduled block sessions like Opal, mindful breathing interruptions like One Sec, and some light gamification to make it feel less like punishment.

EvoCat is a small animated character (a cat-phone hybrid) that evolves as you stay focused. The longer you avoid distractions, the stronger it becomes — and the harder it gets to cancel your focus sessions. It turns screen time control into something a bit more playful, but still effective.

I currently have a beta available on iOS and I’m happy to share a TestFlight link if anyone wants to try it out. You can also check it out here: https://evocat.app

Would love feedback from fellow builders and focus-app nerds :)

I created a two-factor authentication app that only provides login codes for social media sites during certain hours of a day.

If I want access to a site, I have to plan it carefully to log in within that window. Then if I find I'm misusing it it's easy to kick myself off.

Great article! I’ve noticed that most screen time discussions focus heavily on mobile usage, which makes sense given the data, but I think we underestimate how much desktop screen time also affects our health.

As someone who’s been building LookAway[0] (a mindful break reminder app for Mac), I’ve seen firsthand how easy it is to slip into hours of continuous screen time at a desk resulting in things like eye strain, posture issues, and even productivity dips.

Would love to see more awareness and tools around managing desktop screen habits!

[0]: https://lookaway.app

Look, why should it be the individual consumer or their parents who regulate screen time when it’s not our fault?

Computers have become an unprecedented scourge and curse to our attention, our moods and our very souls, but radio, telephone, and TV led up to this.

It is time that the architects of consumer communications technology took responsibility for the utter grind and drain they’re causing us in every waking hour--literally--because these days, my smartphone knows exactly when I begin to stir in the morning and dumps a fresh deluge of pings before I can make it to the bathroom...

I started doodling on pen and paper again, like on the back of those yahtzee papers. Killed my screen time like nothing else, it's so much fun just drawing random nonsense!

These apps are interesting. Another good one is "Block" (with a green icon).

But, does anyone know of any alternatives for degoogled phones? E.g. from F-Droid?

"No more doomscrolling. Your attention span needs you." — i’ve been using TRMNL (https://usetrmnl.com/) to fight screen time habits. simple eink display which you can connect to 100s of apps to showcase information, so you can actually uninstall certain apps from your phone.

Since everyone is rattling off their own solutions.

* I removed all apps that aren't tools/utilities to help me get things done. No entertainment (including RSS!). For example, I have Busycal, Things, and Bear installed along with a few other utilities. I also removed non-essential utilities. There is no need to pay my credit card from my phone. This also has the benefit of reducing tracking.

* Disabled JS for Safari. I would find myself surfing the web and wasting time. Even if I initially started with good intentions. Turns out, a lot of my web usage was "I wonder about this, let's search it". "That was a cool movie, let's see what other people think online". It is an absolute pain to dig 37 menus deep to enable JS again, which forces me to live without it.

* Time limits never worked for me. I'd always ask for five more minutes. Just one more hit Tim Apple, I promise. Last time. They may work for you though.

* Either disabled notifications or set them to appear in daily reviews. Now I get those daily reviews and realize it's filled with stuff that doesn't matter. Every time I pick up my phone I risk falling into a black hole. The less I'm notified to pick up it, the less time I lose. Only alerts from my partner and similar get through immediately.

* Get an alarm clock or use a smartwatch. Seriously. You know those people who wake up and reach over for cigs before they're even out of bed? Don't do that with your phone.

* I lean heavily into my smart watch. For me, trying to create friction on my phone was only mildly successful. A smart watch has a ton of organic friction that feels natural. Instead of giving your Ferarri a flat tire to slow it down, just ride a bicycle. Synthetic friction vs organic friction. I'm bad with analogies. Leaving my phone behind is something I do sometimes but not as much as I should.

* These days the only social media account I have is HN. It's not ideal but everything is a WIP.

There really should be some concerted effort by the government to study these behaviors and what can be done. We dramatically dropped cigarette use with a lot of work and I believe we can do the same with phones.

I still waste time on my laptop but it's not a quick dopamine hit. I spend more time on side-projects though now that I'm forcing myself to be in front of a real machine. Reducing all screen-time is something I still need to work on.

Something minor that I found to greatly impact my screen usage was to remove all the icons from my phone so that I am forced to search for the app. That minor bit of friction was able to reduce my habitual usage by 70~80%

I've been doing a lot of mindfulness meditation lately, and also learning about self soothing, emotional processing etc.

I found that now that I can access blissful and peaceful states at will, and deal with difficult emotions without getting overwhelmed, my "need" for compulsive behaviors has dropped massively. There's no longer so much pain to medicate.

It's like you say, we use this stuff because we don't know a better way.

As for social media, there's also the systemic issue of atomization in modern society. People spend so much time alone now, so that's another great pain to cope with.

I wonder why that is. How did we get here?

I found that a 2 minute forced pause is enough to kick me out of the hypnose. I need an app for this.

I don’t use TikTok at all. AMA.

I recommend this one for Android: https://github.com/markusfisch/ScreenTime

It doesn't limit apps, it just displays your screen time in a permanent notification and allows you to view and export past statistics.

I've found that to be very effective. From a systems perspective, it amounts to adding a new feedback loop, similar to this leverage point described by Donella Meadows[1]:

There was this subdivision of identical houses, the story goes, except that for some reason the electric meter in some of the houses was installed in the basement and in others it was installed in the front hall, where the residents could see it constantly, going round faster or slower as they used more or less electricity. With no other change, with identical prices, electricity consumption was 30 percent lower in the houses where the meter was in the front hall.

We systems-heads love that story because it’s an example of a high leverage point in the information structure of the system. It’s not a parameter adjustment, not a strengthening or weakening of an existing loop. It’s a NEW LOOP, delivering feedback to a place where it wasn’t going before.

[1] Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System - https://donellameadows.org/archives/leverage-points-places-t...

I set up a basic SQL table where I record the time spent on my phone (and other devices) based on the screen time data from StayFree (Android), and a little private webpage with a line chart and average statistics.

It's pretty manual (2-3 mins per week), but logging the new dates each week is a nice little "check-in" to stop me from drifting back towards more screen time.

I've never been a heavy user, but I noticed sometimes I drifted towards 1-2 hours per day and have since gotten down to an average of less than 15 minutes per day. I just use the phone for utility purpose now. I got scared straight seeing the UK average daily phone use statistics, including my own, and how much that adds up to over a year.

Digital Wellbeing was quite good but I noticed it counts things which aren't necessarily screen time. I kept having loads of time on the 'Clock' app for some reason, and spam calls I ignore seemed to also be counted even if I saw them on my watch.

As for the phone setup itself:

- no media apps (social, games, video, news)

- a web browser, but I try to just remember anything I'm interested in and look it up later on a PC

- absolute minimum notifications. phone, sms, email and messages (Signal/WhatsApp). I try to use only for emergencies or quick messages and meetups instead of having conversations over messages

- minimal launcher (Nova) with black and white icons

- no blocks, just screen time monitoring using StayFree. I don't want to use blocks as a crutch

I like this one: https://www.forestapp.cc/

Then I whitelist google maps, camera, and my messaging app. Everything else is inaccessible. I paid for it.

I use TimeLimit. It's open source, available on F-Droid or Google Play, etc.

https://timelimit.io/