I was a phone addict: These 7 tricks stopped me scrolling and curbed my screen time – fast

Since I was already using the Screen Time app on my iPhone to check daily and weekly averages, I figured I might as well use the tools it offers to reduce my screen time. One of the main features is App Limits. If you tap it, you can select Add Limit, choose an app, and decide how long you want to allow yourself to use that app.

Since I’m an iPhone user, my focus is on iOS in this guide, but Android offers similar tools. Go to Settings > Digital Wellbeing & parental controls. There, you can see a chart of daily usage, how many times apps were opened, and the number of notifications. You can also set app timers and usage goals.

Right away, I set aggressive limits on my biggest time sinks. I started with 15 minutes for social apps and Chrome because my goal was to get under an hour of total phone use a day. But if you’ve used app limits before, you know the problem. You can dismiss the warning with a single tap and keep going.

And yes, I did that. A lot.

Still, they help. Even though they’re easy to override, they force a small moment of awareness. Seeing a notification that says you’ve hit your daily limit does something psychologically. It reminds you you’ve already spent more time than you intended. Today, I still use timers on the apps I open most often, Chrome in particular.

But I needed something else that interrupts my habit more forcefully.

The next thing I tried was a screen time control app called ScreenZen. It’s free on iOS and Android.It interested me because, instead of blocking apps outright, it serves up a “speed bump” before you open apps. The idea is simple: phone use is automatic. You unlock your phone and tap an app before you even realize you’re doing it.

ScreenZen is designed to interrupt that reflex. When you mindlessly open an app, it forces a delay of up to 60 seconds. You’ll see a message asking whether opening the app is actually important right now. What’s especially useful is it also works with sites. If you try to go directly to YouTube in your browser, it can trigger the same delay.

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In some configurations, ScreenZen can require you to solve a quick math problem or word guess, review your to-do list, take steps around the room, or wait through a countdown. Technically, what it’s doing is inserting friction into your habit loop. Interrupt the loop and the behavior becomes less automatic, or at least that’s the hope.

I tried ScreenZen first with one particular app I had little self-control with: TikTok. While the pause did give my brain time to reconsider, in practice, I learned if I really want to scroll, I will scroll. With TikTok, I would often wait through the delay, especially at night before bed, which is when I really preferred to do my video scrolling.

That’s when I realized tools alone aren’t going to solve my problem.

There is a landmark trial happening right now examining whether social media companies like Meta intentionally design their platforms to be addictive and harmful to minors’ mental health.

It’s spurred a lot of discussion, and it’s made me think more about how these apps keep us engaged. Algorithms, infinite feeds, autoplay videos, and push notifications. Every part of the system is built to keep you looking at your screen. The more I think about it, the more annoyed I am that I’ve fallen into their trap, their loop.

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Instead of trying to manage my time inside these apps, I removed them.

Looking at my screen time data made the decision easier. Two apps stood out immediately: Facebook and Messenger. I rarely post on Facebook and mostly lurk, yet I was opening it constantly. Messenger was worse because group chat notifications were firing all day long. I deactivated my accounts and deleted both apps.

Then there’s TikTok. It’s easily my biggest time sink, so that one had to go.

I kept X for a while, but my usage started creeping up there too. Eventually, I deleted the app from my phone but kept the account. Now, if I want to check it, I log in through a browser. That extra step works a lot like ScreenZen, adding friction and making me less likely to use it. I did the same thing with some work apps, like Chartbeat.

Instagram and Snapchat were never major problems. According to my Screen Time app, I spend less than five minutes a day in each, so I kept them. Snapchat is where I save video memories of my daughter and share them with family. Instagram mostly satisfies the occasional curiosity spiral. We’ll see how long they last.

If I could recommend one tip most, it’s this one. Removing the apps I was most addicted to made the biggest difference. My phone is now in my hands a lot less because there’s nothing on it constantly pulling me back in.

With most app distractions gone, I began focusing on where and when I use my phone. For example, when I’m watching a movie with my family, I used to look up everything. Actor trivia. Filming locations. Reviews.

Now? I watch the movie. The phone stays in another room. I’m already looking at one screen. Is that not enough?

The same rule applies when people come over. I don’t want to check my phone during every lull in the conversation, so I keep it upstairs. At restaurants, I leave my phone off and keep it in my purse or in the glove compartment of my car. Instead of checking notifications, I look at my family and friends and enjoy the moment.

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I also do this when I’m doing something creative. Painting, journaling, or working on a project. If the phone is nearby, the temptation to check it is damn near constant. But if it’s out of sight, the temptation disappears.

After a few weeks of this, you might notice something interesting happen. I certainly did. You stop feeling like you need the phone nearby all the time. The constant pull starts to fade. The addiction wanes.

Another big change I made: my alarm clock.

For years I used my phone as my alarm. Don’t we all? That means every morning starts the same way. The alarm goes off, I grab my phone, and within seconds, I’m checking notifications. From there, it’s a short path to email, news, and feeds. Before I even get out of bed, I’ve fallen into the scroll.

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So I bought a physical alarm clock. Now my phone stays in a drawer overnight, and I don’t check it for the first hour after waking up. That single change broke one of the strongest habit loops that used to start my day.

Of course, boredom still happens. Phones are the easiest solution to boredom ever invented.

But what often happens is you pull your phone out, scroll for a few minutes, and suddenly an hour disappears. If you really want to use your phone during a moment of boredom, find a better default than scrolling.

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I read an ebook in the Kindle app or listen to an audiobook in Audible. Other times I play New York Times games. These types of activities still involve screens, but they’re a completely different type of engagement. Reading requires focus. Word games exercise your brain. Neither keeps you trapped in a constant algorithmic feed.

Most importantly, they have natural stopping points. You finish a chapter. You finish a puzzle. You stop.

The final change that helped me a lot was turning off notifications for almost every app on my phone, at least the ones I still have left, like email. Notifications primarily exist to get you using your phone and opening apps. You receive them for likes, messages, breaking news alerts, and even random reminders from apps.

Each one is an interruption, and over the course of a day, they continuously nudge you to pick up your phone. So, get rid of them. On an iPhone, go to Settings > Notifications, select an app, and toggle off Allow Notifications.

Also: How to stop iPhone apps from tracking you (and why you shouldn’t wait to do it)

I’ve only kept them for calls, texts, and ScreenZen. It’s tedious to turn them off them for every app, but it’s worth it. Once I disabled them, my phone stopped demanding my attention 24/7, and my notification fatigue subsided.

Android users can do the same by going to Settings > Notifications and adjusting permissions for apps.