alt Hacker NewsThis doesn't work for me in spite of over 10 years of trying. I am currently eating lunch and wasting time on HN on my phone, but my ebook reader full of edifying material is sitting there ignored on the table, right in front of me. I need some way of leaving the phone at home completely, but in my country so much basic everyday stuff relies on a phone (and strong bank authentication through a phone).
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dewey • today at 3:19 PM
For me it’s about building a routine. I go to a coffee shop every morning with my kindle and phone. Phone in my pocket on do not disturb and just read for an hour.
It’s not that hard to disconnect if you really want to.
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I've found having draconian phone blocking rules helps. I use Jomo
https://jomo.so
but I'm sure there are other competing products.
Roughly, you can classify apps in your phone to things that
1. are fundamentally fine (various bank/payment apps, messaging app, map apps), and
2. are known time wasters (social media)
you then just block the time wasters. you can configure it so that to edit the settings of the app, you have to enter some 150 character randomized code. it is very annoying to do.
this is the point though. there are other ways you can add friction to using your phone. setting its display to be black and white makes it much less enjoyable to use, for example. if you add in enough friction (and stick with it over an initial "hump"), you'll findi yourself reaching for other options.