Want to reduce your screen time? This stupidly simple trick helped me so much

Which brings me to screen time. Mine stood at around an average of two and a half hours per day, but I noticed that I felt significantly better and happier when it was lower. Turning my notifications off completely felt too drastic—I like sometimes glancing through them en masse and making mental notes of who I need to reply to—and the “brutally effective” trick of using greyscale mode (which turns everything on your screen grey) just felt incredibly depressing. I tried putting my phone away or turning it face down, but then I found myself wondering if I would miss something important as a result. Cue retrieving it yet again.

But now, I’ve found the (stupidly simple) thing that works for me to reduce my screen time: turning my screen brightness way down when I’m not using my phone. Hear me out. It sounds silly, but it allows me to still keep my phone next to me—a weird emotional security blanket—when I’m at work, say, but now the notifications which come through no longer light up my screen. When they did, I’d find myself unconsciously turning towards them every single time, but now, I just don’t see them. Then, when I’m actually taking a break, I can intentionally look at my phone, turn the brightness up slightly and trawl through what I need to.

In doing this to reduce my screen time, have I ever accidentally missed a phone call? Sure, but I’m a millennial who rarely speaks to anyone on the phone, and basically all of the missed calls were spam calls from phone or energy companies. Have I sometimes missed messages? Sure, but then I’ve seen them, like, an hour later. Usually, those things aren’t the end of the world. I also have to acknowledge a level of privilege here—I do not, for instance, have children or parents I’m caring for who might need to reach me for emergencies, or have a job where I’m constantly fielding phone calls that I actually can’t miss. Those things may come in the future, but for now, I am actually able to put my phone away. If you also happen to be in a position where you can, it’s worth trying.

Now, my screen time normally stands at an average of an hour and a half per day, a level which, for the moment, feels about right. I also pick up my phone with more intention, rather than just out of curiosity. Sometimes this trick leads to pretty hilarious encounters: recently, a colleague saw me staring into what looked like a blank phone screen and asked if I was okay. (I now sometimes forget to turn the brightness up if looking at something quickly.) But still, I’m grateful that those constant head tilts from laptop to phone screen, more often than not only to see some random forwarded message or pointless update, are (mostly) a thing of the past. And my mind feels quieter for it, too.