Stop Your Smartphone Being the Overlord of Your Existence

How to achieve #PhoneFreedom

Photo by Tyler Lastovich on Unsplash

I won’t put you through the same, disapproving spiel. We all know what’s up. Smartphones have revolutionized our lives — but there’s a dark side.

I’ll skip to the good news: With a change of mindset and two simple hacks, you can outsmart your smartphone and achieve #PhoneFreedom. And no, you don’t have to delete Facebook.

Interested? Let’s do this.

#PhoneFreedom: The mindset

Lean in — the boffins don’t want you to know this… Your phone is nothing more than a tremendous tool.

But no tool in human history has been so heinously addictive. Humans aren’t known to tap away with a hammer and chisel while stopped at traffic lights. Cavemen didn’t frolic about with spears, poking and prodding out of sheer impulse. (Or maybe they did — I honestly can’t verify this.) So how do we humble our smartphones?

Fortunately, your smartphone is a customizable tool — you can tailor your phone to make it (the lump of metal) work for you (the Human Being). Clean-phone zealots will instruct you to ruthlessly erase every last social media and entertainment app from your device. Personally, I like to keep up with the latest memes (and occasionally, my friends’ lives). #PhoneFreedom doesn’t need to be all or nothing — make it work for you.

Disclaimer

These instructions are iPhone-specific, but easily adapted to other phones. And if these #FreedomHacks seem unthinkably radical at first, I encourage you to take the plunge — the water’s fine (and your phone is probably waterproof).

#FreedomHack: Use Search

Our first hack promises instant digital minimalism. Here’s the end result:

Home Screen

The digital equivalent of a crystal-clear lake.

A single home screen page, with a small handful of the apps you use on a daily basis. Don’t panic — every other app is discretely housed in the aptly named Apps folder. This folder is not organised in any way, because — here is the linchpin — you’ll use the Search function to launch your apps.

Simply swipe down from your home screen and type in the first letter or two of the app you need to launch:

Search

The search function can also find contacts and dictionary definitions, or jump straight into specific notes and files.

Widgets

You’ll also want to stack a few go-to apps in your widgets screen for quick, functional access, without cluttering your home screen. To customize your widgets: Swipe right from the home screen > Scroll to the bottom of the widgets screen > Select Edit.

The politically correct term for widget is actually ‘little app.’

#HackResults

• Save time: Stop trawling through four pages and 14 meticulously organised folders to find the right app, and stop re-shuffling every time you download a new app;
• Focus your intention: You’re more likely to launch an app because it serves a functional purpose to you at that moment, rather than habitually launching an addictive app simply because it’s there;
• Declutter: A minimalist interface is like a breath of fresh, mountain air every time you unlock your phone.

#HackTips

• Turn off Siri Suggestions: Settings > Siri & Search > Toggle off: Suggestions in Search / Look Up / Lock Screen;
• Move multiple apps at once when you dump all those apps into the Apps folder;
• If you’re nervous, take screenshots of your current app arrangements — you can always revert after a trial period.

#FreedomHack: Eliminate Notifications

Untamed, notifications are the blinking lights and chimes of a pocket-sized slot machine. Find out which apps have permission to interrupt your day:

Settings > Screen Time > See All Activity > Notifications.

I received 133 messages last week alone. Yep, turns out I’m pretty popular.

When you identify a problem app, disable its notifications: Settings > Notifications > Select app > Toggle off: Allow Notifications.

Keep notifications only for essential communication channels and apps with functional purpose. All other notifications needlessly distract you from your work, leisure, and relationships.

Eliminate badges

It’s time to destroy the nagging, bright red ‘unread notification’ bubbles known as badges. These insidious bastards provide nothing more than an unearned sense of perpetual urgency.

No human deserves to be constantly reminded of 900 unread emails, and civilization won’t collapse if you don’t check your junk LinkedIn notifications this very second. Life without badges is Hakuna Matata (“No worries for the rest of your days”).

Settings > Notifications > Select every single app > Toggle off: Badges.

#HackResults

• Reduce cognitive overload: Our brains have limited working memory — useless notifications contribute to information overload, causing undue stress;
• Reduce distraction: Be present with the people around you, the task you’re engaging in, or simply give your brain some rest;
• Regulate your brain chemistry: Fewer ‘pings’ diminishes the dopamine-fueled reward pathways that cause us to habitually check our phones out of boredom.

#HackTips

• Where practicable, opt for notifications to Deliver Quietly: Settings > Notifications > Select app > Toggle off: Sounds & Banners;
• Turn off Vibrate while on Silent to stop your phone buzzing in your pocket or on your desk: Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Toggle off: Vibrate on Silent.

Passing the torch

Godspeed, dear friends. If you’ve taken the plunge, you’re well on your way to #PhoneFreedom. Remember — no one is demanding virtuous perfection. But, speaking from my own experience, it’s worth pointing yourself in the right direction and seeing what happens.

Bonus #FreedomHacks

• Turn off Raise to Wake: Only use your phone when you need to use your phone. If your phone lights up every time you so much as brush against it, you’ll be like the dog from Up — (“Squirrel!”);
• Tailor your social media feeds: Be in control of your experience on social media by unfollowing what you don’t care about, and favouriting what you do care about;
• Regulate social media use: Experiment with not using social media apps before midday;
• Use productive apps: Seek out apps that promote learning and productivity, rather than distraction (e.g. Medium, Flora, Podcasts, Books, Evernote, Headspace, Google Keep);
• Use the Screen Time widget to review your phone usage stats.

Further reading

• For a deep-dive, I highly recommend this piece from Better Humans — it got me started on my own #PhoneFreedom journey;
• Credit to Megan Holstein for introducing me to the Search function hack.