How to reduce your screen time on your phone

Trusting willpower in the struggle with screen time is a lost battle — those apps are designed to hold your attention and they do the job well. The approach that works is this: making the phone just a little bit of a hassle to use. Even a small amount of friction breaks the "I opened it without noticing" loop.

You don't have to do all of the steps below at once; even two or three of them make a clear difference. The aim is not to give up the phone but to turn it back into a tool that is used when you want to.

1. Measure first Settings → Screen Time (iPhone) or Digital Wellbeing (Android). For most people, seeing the real number is a wake-up call in itself.
2. Prune the notifications Turn off notifications for everything except messaging and calls. A social media notification isn't there for you, it is there for the app's return rate.
3. Make the screen colorless Turn on grayscale (in the accessibility settings). A colorless feed is surprisingly boring — once the brain gets no reward, it gives up.
4. Take the time-consuming apps off the home screen You don't have to delete them; bury the icon deep enough that it can only be opened through search. Those three seconds of hassle in between break the automatic opening.
5. Set an app limit Give the social apps a daily limit in the screen time settings. Hitting the limit is a reminder too: 'you have looked enough today.'
6. Don't let it into the bedroom Let it charge overnight in another room; buy an alarm clock. The half hour before sleep and the first half hour after waking up are the most valuable time there is to win back.
7. Fill the gap When the phone takes up less time, put something into the time that is left: a book, a walk — or come and join our chat; talking to people beats a feed 🙂

⚠ This guide is general information. Yudum cannot be held responsible for the outcome of following it; for official procedures always rely on the institution's own statement. Steps and fees change over time.

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