Phone Fasting

Like a lot of people, I use my phone too much. The moment I get even slightly bored, waiting for something to load at work or standing in a queue, it appears in my hand as if by magic and I start scrolling. My screen time hovers around 1.5–2 hours a day, which isn't terrible, but it's not nothing either.

I've been reading The DOSE Effect by TJ Power, and one idea stuck with me. When dopamine spikes sharply from something like scrolling, the brain compensates by bringing levels back down again. The result can be that you feel a bit flat afterwards, and the scrolling didn’t really make you happier.

His fix is phone fasting: giving your brain intentional breaks so dopamine can replenish.

The obvious place to start is the morning. I used to reach for my phone before I'd even got out of bed. Now it stays outside the bedroom overnight, and I now brush my teeth and get dressed before I touch it.

In the evenings I put it just out of arm's reach during dinner and TV. That small amount of friction is enough to stop the reflex.

While I work my phone is out of sight most of the time. Phones have an invisible pull, and when mine is in a different room I can focus much better.

A few other tweaks that helped:

• Turn off as many notifications as you can.
• Bury your social media apps in a folder on a second screen (or uninstall them).
• Install NoScroll and set a cap on your short-form scrolling. I set mine to three minutes, there's a small one-off fee to remove ads.

I’ve noticed I feel noticeably calmer when my phone isn’t in sight. Try it for a few days and see how you feel.