7 steps. 30 minutes. Your life back. Here’s the plan.

1. Open your screen time data. Choose “See All App & Website Activity.”
2. Go to your usage from last week. If looking at the hours wasted is uncomfortable, great you’re in the right place. Also, remind yourself how much it’s going to rock when you log 25% as much time next week.
3. Go through your list of most used apps starting from the most used. In your notepad, write a list of every app you’re using for entertainment and distraction. The apps not on this list should be for actual life stuff only.
   • Apps that are only for communicating with others — like text message apps, phone apps, and work messaging apps — don’t go on this list. But apps that both distract and communicate — like all your socials — go on the list.
   • This list should also include apps which are useful in other ways but still distracting. Dr. YouTube has taught us all a lot about home repair, but Shorts do not belong on our phone.
   • This also for sure includes any and all games (yes, even chess).
4. This list is your list of problem apps. This is the list of things which will be gone from your phone 30 minutes from now.
5. While you’re here, make sure you have your weekly screen time report turned on so that you can feel good next week when you get a notification informing you that your screen time is down by more than 50%.

Many people whose problem apps are hurting their lives use those apps for good reasons. But these platforms are designed to be addictive — especially when they’re in your pocket 24/7. And often the reason someone keeps an app on their phone is in direct conflict with what having the app on their phone does to them. For instance, they keep Insta to stay in touch with friends, but then spend their evenings scrolling instead of…calling their friends. This step sets up a backup device. You still have access if you need it, but it’s not hijacking your brain constantly. Plus you won’t feel like you have to redownload the app to read a message.

1. Grab your laptop, computer or secondary device.
2. Go through your problem app list one by one. Make sure you have access to each app on this second device. Sometimes this means downloading them. Other times it just means opening them in your browser and trying to log on.
3. Update any passwords in your password keeper as you go. If you don’t already use a password keeper, start one and save as you go.

Now that you’re sure you get into all of your accounts, it’s time to get these apps off your phone.

1. Find and delete all problem apps from your phone, checking them off your list as you go.
2. Do not move them somewhere else or hide them.
3. Just get rid of them — you can use them on your second device anytime you want.

Now that problem apps are removed, we are going to touch up your home screen. Again, we want lots of change all at once so your habits automatically shift. Center important continued uses on your home screen. Make it look clean and organized. We’re reinforcing the new reality that this is a tool for building Life Good; not an instant zombification device. Here are some of the things most people want on their home screen.

• Communication apps: text messages, phone, email, slack or other work platforms — anything you use to stay in touch.
• Tools: Calendar, clock, calculator, maps, camera, notes, banking apps, healthcare apps, school apps, our turtle’s smart home — all the stuff that makes our phones essential to daily life.
• Audio/Listening Apps: Spotify, iTunes, Podcasts, Audible — whatever you use to listen to music or audio content while you’re going out there and building Life Good.

In addition to the tools you are already using you will want to have a replacement app to “check” on your home screen. Look, real talk, you habitually check your phone and use it whenever you feel slightly bored or uncomfortable. This habit is going to continue. You are not going to magically start remembering to bring a book or notebook with you wherever you go. You will want to have a thing to look at when you’re shitting. Don’t blame me, I don’t make the rules.

The point of this step is to plan ahead for this. Rather than having nothing to open, we want you to have something to open which is only really interesting for a few minutes at a time, or a few times a day. The goal isn’t to never check the phone, it’s to make sure that whatever we are checking is boring enough we don’t get sucked in.

Below are some ideas, pick at least one or two to start.

1. A boring social platform — Substack and LinkedIn are good at being boring currently. But be aware, if you find these starting to hook you they’ll need to go too.
2. A news app — Dealer’s choice here: The New York Times, CNN, Fox News. Whatever brand of sicko you are. A big corporation’s news app will keep you in the loop, but they’re not nearly as good at turning you into a zombie as the tech companies.
3. A bunch of email newsletters — This turns your email into the go-to thing you check. Substack is great for this. So are news outlets — both big and small usually have a newsletter that goes out daily. And many creators who post videos also have one. Sign up for a bunch if they’re weekly or a few if they’re daily.
4. A daily reader app — If you’re at all religiously or spiritually inclined then this is a great one. There are lots of apps which assign daily readings from various faith traditions. I’ve seen apps with daily readings out of the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the Buddhist Canons, and the Stoic classics. I’m sure there are lots more.
5. An e-reader — A synced e-reader app lets you pick away at a book you’re already reading while you’re between things and for avid readers can be a great replacement.

The penultimate step helps to solidify your change by radically altering the experience of using your phone. Less color = less dopamine. Sometimes people suggest this as a standalone intervention, but it is much more effective (and sticky) when it’s part of a broader reset — like the one you’re doing now.

1. Go to the “Color Filter” setting on your iPhone. You can just search for this setting or you can get there manually by going to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Color Filters.
2. Turn the toggle on.
3. Make sure Grayscale is selected and intensity is turned all the way up. The colored pencils should all appear fully grayscale.
4. If you need to turn grayscale off briefly, it’s easy to access from the search menu.

Now that you’ve made Phone Bad, you need to start doing something which is actually much harder: making Life Good. Removing distractions, crushing screen time and reclaiming your attention are step 0 in this process. But it takes time to build a flourishing life away from your phone. You no longer have a button on your phone which instantly makes you less bored, which means you need to find new solutions to your boredom.

The good news is that many of these solutions are dramatically more enriching and life affirming than pressing the “I’m bored” button. They involve spending time with your friends, learning new crafts, exploring your interests, engaging with your faith, cleaning your room, calling your mom. They also include some “bad” habits — watching TV, playing some video games, even browsing the problematic apps you just deleted off your phone. But at least these habits are no longer with you 24/7. They are now dramatically less likely to interrupt your life while you’re trying to do work, overcome a challenging problem, spend time with your family, or call your mom.

It’ll probably be a bumpy ride. But it’s worth it and you’ve totally got this.