How I Fixed My Phone Addiction

Summary

This video script addresses the alarming reality of excessive screen time, illustrating the potential loss of over 9 years of life to phone usage. The speaker shares personal experiences and offers practical tips to curb phone addiction, including muting notifications, uninstalling time-consuming apps, and using alternative devices. The goal is to reclaim valuable time and improve real-life interactions, with a focus on reducing screen time to less than half of the average 4 hours per day.

Takeaways

• 🕰️ Spending 4+ hours a day on your phone can accumulate to over 9 years of your life by the age of 70.
• 👨‍👧 Parenting can be negatively impacted by excessive phone use, leading to missed moments with children.
• 🔕 Turning your phone to silent mode can reduce interruptions and distractions throughout the day.
• 📵 Disabling notifications for non-essential apps can help minimize the urge to check your phone constantly.
• 🗑️ Deleting and uninstalling apps that consume a lot of time can be a bold but effective step in reducing screen time.
• 🏠 Keeping your home screen clean with only essential apps can prevent mindless scrolling and reduce distractions.
• 📵 Turning off 'Tap to Wake' and 'Raise to Wake' features can prevent the phone from waking up and drawing attention.
• 🎨 Enabling grayscale mode on your phone can make it less appealing to use, thus reducing the time spent on it.
• 📞 Using alternative devices like smartwatches or AR glasses can help in managing notifications and reducing phone usage.
• 🔒 Disabling voicemail can be a way to avoid unnecessary distractions and encourage more immediate forms of communication.
• ⏱️ Setting app limits can help you manage the time spent on specific apps and prevent overuse.

Q & A

What is the main concern discussed in the video script?

The main concern discussed in the video script is the excessive amount of time people spend on their phones, which can lead to a significant loss of productive life and negatively impact personal relationships.

How much time does the average person spend on their phone daily, according to the script?

According to the script, the average person spends four hours per day on their phone.

What is the cumulative effect of spending 4 hours a day on the phone over a lifetime?

The cumulative effect of spending 4 hours a day on the phone from the age of 15 to 70 is like wasting over 9 years of one's life.

What is the first step suggested in the video to reduce screen time?

The first step suggested in the video to reduce screen time is to switch the phone to silent mode to minimize interruptions and distractions.

Why is it recommended to turn off notifications for most apps?

Turning off notifications for most apps is recommended to prevent distractions and reduce the urge to check the phone constantly for non-essential updates.

What is the significance of uninstalling apps that consume too much time?

Uninstalling time-consuming apps, especially social media apps, is significant as these apps are designed to capture attention and keep users engaged for as long as possible.

What is the impact of removing apps from the home screen and organizing them?

Removing apps from the home screen and organizing them can reduce the temptation to open them and get distracted, promoting the use of only essential apps.

Why is turning off 'Tapped to Wake' and 'Raised to Wake' features beneficial?

Turning off 'Tapped to Wake' and 'Raised to Wake' features is beneficial as it prevents the phone from automatically waking up and drawing the user's attention to potential distractions.

What is the effect of using grayscale mode on the phone's screen?

Using grayscale mode on the phone's screen makes the phone less visually appealing and reduces the desire to use it, as it removes the colorful distractions that apps use to capture attention.

How can using other devices like smartwatches or AR glasses help in reducing phone usage?

Using other devices like smartwatches or AR glasses can help in reducing phone usage by providing alternatives for checking notifications, sending messages, and taking photos without needing to reach for the phone.

What is the result of the video creator's personal experiment with reducing screen time?

The video creator managed to reduce their screen time from over 4 hours per day to about half of that, and in some cases, under 1 hour per day, by implementing various strategies discussed in the script.

What is the role of the sponsor, Keeper, in the video script?

Keeper is the sponsor of the video and offers a password manager that helps users securely store and manage their passwords, which is a useful tool but not directly related to reducing screen time.

Outlines

00:00

📱 Reducing Screen Time for a Healthier Life

The speaker begins by highlighting the alarming amount of time people spend on their phones, equating it to wasting over 9 years of life from age 15 to 70. They express concern about the impact of phone addiction on parent-child interactions and share their personal resolution to reduce screen time. The video aims to provide practical tips to cut down on screen time, inspired by Max Row's video, and will demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods using the presenter's own experience with their s24 ultra phone.

05:00

🔕 Strategies for Cutting Down on Phone Distractions

The speaker outlines several strategies to reduce screen time, starting with putting the phone on silent mode to minimize interruptions. They suggest customizing audio settings on Android to allow calls but mute other notifications. The next step is turning off notifications for all non-essential apps to avoid distractions. The speaker also recommends uninstalling time-consuming apps like social media platforms and decluttering the phone's home screen. Additionally, they discuss the benefits of using features like 'tapped to wake' and 'raised to wake' sparingly to avoid mindless phone checks.

10:02

🎨 Utilizing Grayscale and Other Devices to Combat Phone Addiction

The speaker shares their experience with using grayscale mode on their phone to make it less appealing for use, which significantly reduces the time spent on the device. They also mention the potential of using other devices like smartwatches and AR glasses to handle notifications and tasks without reaching for the phone. Another personal strategy they discuss is disabling voicemail to avoid the distraction of checking messages. Lastly, they talk about using app limits as a failsafe to control the time spent on specific apps, reflecting on their own progress in reducing screen time with a combination of these methods.

🏋️‍♂️ Balancing Fitness Tracking with Screen Time Reduction

The speaker concludes by sharing their personal experience with implementing the discussed strategies. They managed to cut their daily screen time in half, with some days showing under an hour of usage. However, they acknowledge a challenge in tracking workouts at the gym, which involves the phone. Despite this, they consider their overall reduction in screen time a success. The speaker encourages viewers to share their tips for reducing phone addiction and to reflect on the impact of the suggested strategies.

Keywords

💡Screen Time

Screen time refers to the amount of time an individual spends looking at a digital device's screen, such as a smartphone, tablet, or computer. In the video's context, it is the focus of the discussion, as the speaker reflects on the significant amount of time people spend on their phones and offers solutions to reduce this time. The video mentions 'four plus hours of screen time per day' as an average, emphasizing the extent of phone usage.

💡Phone Addiction

Phone addiction is a term used to describe an unhealthy dependence on or excessive use of smartphones. The script discusses the impact of this addiction on daily life and parent-child interactions, illustrating how it can lead to missing out on important moments and experiences, such as watching a child play video games or engaging in creative activities together.

💡Notifications

Notifications are alerts sent to a user's device to inform them of updates, messages, or other events. The video suggests turning off notifications as a method to reduce screen time, highlighting the constant interruptions and distractions they cause. The speaker mentions 'switch off your notifications for pretty much every app' as a step to minimize unnecessary distractions.

💡Uninstall

To uninstall means to remove an application or software from a device. The script recommends uninstalling apps that consume a lot of time, such as social media platforms, to combat phone addiction. The speaker uses the phrase 'totally remove delete and uninstall any app' to emphasize the drastic measure one can take to free up time.

💡Home Screen

The home screen is the main screen of a smartphone that displays app icons and widgets. The video suggests decluttering the home screen by keeping only essential apps visible, which can help reduce the temptation to use non-essential apps. The script mentions 'clean out your homepage, remove everything from there aside from the essential apps' as a strategy for managing screen time.

💡Tapped to Wake

Tapped to Wake is a feature that allows a phone's screen to turn on when the device is tapped. The video suggests turning off this feature to prevent mindless phone use, such as checking the time or notifications out of habit. The speaker's experience with 'tapped to wake' and 'raised to wake' illustrates how these features can contribute to excessive screen time.

💡Grayscale

Grayscale refers to a mode that displays colors in various shades of gray rather than in full color. The video recommends enabling grayscale on the phone to make it less visually appealing and thus reduce the desire to use it. The speaker describes the effect of 'turning on grayscale' as making the phone 'absolutely boring to use,' which is a testament to its effectiveness in curbing screen time.

💡Smartwatch

A smartwatch is a wearable device that functions as a timepiece and provides various functionalities, including notifications and health tracking. The script suggests using a smartwatch as an alternative to a smartphone for certain tasks, such as reading messages or seeing who is calling, to reduce the frequency of reaching for the phone. The speaker mentions the potential of a smartwatch to 'prevent from even reaching into your pocket and pulling your phone out in the first place.'

💡Meta Ray-Bands

Meta Ray-Bands are a type of augmented reality glasses mentioned in the script, which can perform various functions such as reading messages aloud and allowing hands-free communication. The video positions these glasses as a tool to reduce phone usage by enabling users to interact with technology without constantly checking their phones. The speaker describes the glasses as 'one of my favorite tech products of this year' and explains how they have helped in reducing reliance on the phone.

💡App Limits

App Limits are settings that allow users to set time restrictions on the usage of specific apps, locking the user out after the limit is reached. The video recommends using app limits as a way to control and reduce the time spent on certain apps. The script mentions setting 'app limits' and describes the built-in settings on Samsung phones that allow for this functionality.

💡Voicemail

Voicemail is a phone system feature that allows people to leave oral messages for others when they cannot be reached. The video suggests turning off voicemail as a method to reduce phone distractions and the tendency to check the phone unnecessarily. The speaker shares a personal anecdote about how most of the voicemails they received were either spam or not urgent, justifying the decision to disable the feature.

Highlights

Battery technology has improved significantly, but screen time has become a major part of our daily lives.

The average person spends 4 hours per day on their phone, accumulating to 60 days a year.

From age 15 to 70, the total screen time could equate to wasting over 9 years of one's life.

Phone addiction affects parent-child interactions, causing parents to miss out on important moments.

The speaker has made a conscious effort to reduce screen time and shares their experience.

Maxwell Row's video inspired the speaker to try his recommendations for reducing screen time.

Switching the phone to silent mode can help reduce distractions during the day.

On Android, users can granularly set audio settings to allow calls but mute other notifications.

Turning off notifications for non-essential apps can prevent constant interruptions.

Uninstalling time-consuming apps like social media can be a bold step to reduce screen time.

Cleaning out the home screen and removing non-essential apps can help avoid unnecessary distractions.

Disabling 'tap to wake' and 'raised to wake' features can prevent mindless phone interactions.

Using grayscale mode on the phone can dramatically reduce the desire to use it by making it less visually appealing.

Wearing a smartwatch can help reduce the need to pull out the phone for messages or calls.

Meta Rand glasses offer hands-free phone usage, which can decrease screen time.

Switching off voicemail can be a personal strategy to avoid unnecessary phone interactions.

Setting app limits can help control the amount of time spent on specific apps.

The speaker managed to reduce their daily screen time to under 2.5 hours, and sometimes under 1 hour.

Implementing a combination of strategies can effectively reduce phone addiction and improve quality time with others.

Transcripts

[Music]

Battery Technology is getting better and

better and better but when you realize

that getting four plus hours of screen

on time per day is literally as much as

60 days every year staring at your phone

screen and that's just 4 hours which is

just the average that many people spend

on their phone every single

day from the age of 15 years old through

to being 70 years old that is like

wasting over 9 years of your life

attached to your phone and every so

often whilst I'm mindlessly scrolling my

feeds I see a video that really hits

hard as a parent showing the difference

that this literal phone addiction makes

to how we interact with our kids from

not really watching my son play his

favorite video games to beating 98 other

players to get a win and just being

there whilst my daughter colors and

writes her incredible love notes that

she loves to leave around the house for

us which I never want her to stop by the

way instead of being right there with

her helping her and being creative

together now for the past week I've made

a notable effort to do what I've always

told myself I should do and that's to

reduce my screen time to as little as

possible and so in this video I want to

share with you exactly what you can do

to reduce your screen time I want to

give you over a decade of your life back

and then I want to share how well I

actually managed doing these things

myself for the past week I want to give

a shout out to Max well row here as his

video actually sparked this idea for me

to try his recommendations to see how

far I could actually go and pretty much

all of these you can do on both iPhone

and Android phones but for the purpose

of this video I'll be using my phone the

s24 ultra

[Music]

here now easy one to begin with switch

your phone to silent mode you just don't

need your phone beeping and blinking and

interrupting you during your day so

flick or press the m switch swipe down

on Android and mute your device and if

you really want or need to this is

something you can only do on Android

right now you can granular set your

audio settings so your phone will still

ring if someone calls you but everything

else is

muted the next step is to switch off

your notifications for pretty much every

app now I actually did this for a few

apps already but it's not until I

started looking through the list that I

realized how little I had actually done

now in some cases I realized I was

actually getting double notifications

from when someone had messaged me on

Whatsapp and then it would notify me a

second time on another social messaging

app that I was using so switch off

everything you don't need to be

distracted by breaking news you

definitely don't need to be interrupted

by any social media apps duelingo can

wait I was even getting notifications

from the weather app and Google photos

so switch all of these off and if you

really don't want to miss something like

maybe you do want to know that someone

has sent you a message you can just

leave leave on the badge notifications

so you know there's something for you

when you pick up your phone and manually

check to see what's there now the next

step is a bit of a bold step but it can

really make a dramatic difference to

your phone habits and that is to totally

remove delete and uninstall any app that

you already know takes up too much of

your time now I would say here that this

is especially important for social media

apps like Tik Tok Instagram even YouTube

because they are designed to try

everything they can to grab your

attention the second you open that app

curating this personalized list of

videos that are designed to keep you in

and using and scrolling in that app as

literally long as humanly possible now

I'm sure we've all had this same issue

but I have a huge problem with posting

my content on various platforms the

number of times I go to post you know

one of my videos and then an hour later

I finally come to my senses and wonder

where the last hour had gone when I

should have been doing something else

but instead i' just being you know

scrolling on Tik Tok and it's the same

with Instagram Facebook YouTube it

really is a problem now if you really

have to you can get to them from a

desktop computer where they are far less

likely to take up you know an hour of

your time each time and then taking this

a step further clean out your homepage

remove everything from there aside from

the essential apps now that might be

your phone your calendar music messaging

and a web browser perhaps but you do you

here like pick the apps that you

actually want to use every day not ones

that are constantly nagging for your

attention

just move all the other apps onto other

Pages or remove them if you can hide

them away so you can't quickly and

easily scroll to them and again get

distracted by them now the next one made

a big difference for me on my s24 ultra

and that is turning off tapped to wake

and raised to wake now the number of

times I would I guess just out of habit

be sat there and maybe at a table

talking to my friends and just tap my

phone screen where my mind was just like

oh let's check what the time is even

though I'm wearing a watch silly thing

when really it was an opportunity for my

you know subconscious brain to see that

I had notifications again that needed my

attention to then inexplicably pick up

my phone and interact with it when I had

no real intention of doing so now

raising toake was also the same I'd be

on my way out I would pick up my phone

the screen would then wake up and yet

again I'd be sucked into checking my

social media or reply to messages or

emails so just preventing your phone

from automatically waking up and just

letting you glance at those distracting

notifications

is a quick and very easy win right

here okay so this next one is probably

the biggest one for me here right now

it's a really simple change and has by

far had the biggest impact but also has

a bit of a weird side effect that's not

really very nice but first I want to

thank the sponsor of this video keeper

now keeper offers an incredibly useful

and hypers secure password manager being

able to store organize and manage all of

those long and complicated passwords

that you are never meant to remember for

the first place because they are

complicated for a reason with keeper you

can access store and share your

passwords pass Keys even MFA codes

across iOS Android Mac PC making it

super useful and easy to use unique

passwords on each and every different

device you subscribe to one for Netflix

for Google for your bank and then if you

get caught up in some breach like when

23 and me lost 7 million yes 7 million

people's data all you have to do is

change one password and not worry about

the hundreds of other accounts that you

otherwise would have to log into one by

one and change now I am a huge fan of

people using a proper like fully

featured password manager and I reached

out to keeper asking if they would

sponsor this video and they graciously

agreed to so there'll be a discounted

link for you down below in the video

description where you can pick up either

keeper personal or keeper family at the

cheapest price ever so one of the most

disgustingly effective ways to reduce

screen time is this now you'll see what

I mean once you try it yourself on

Android and on my24 Ultra head over to

settings accessibility Vision

enhancements color correction and then

set it to gray scale and then flip it on

and instantly your phone like no matter

whether you've done any of the other

things in this video your phone becomes

absolutely boring to use it's really

really surprising how well this works

now turning on grayscale removes pretty

much every platform's ability to grab

your attention there's no flashing red

notification bubbles duelingo angry face

face can't guilt you into just just one

more french lesson and even when you're

inside an app everything being like the

same kind of gray color just completely

changes the whole experience of just

mindlessly scrolling that it just

becomes boring and this is where it is

really really great but also really

really difficult to stick to because

your phone becomes boring the

self-discipline required to keep it on

grayscale is huge I think it probably

proves to you just how addicted you are

to your phones we love that don't me in

here when we pick them up and see a long

list of notifications from all the the

things that that need us that need our

attention but this is by far one of the

fastest ways to reduce your screen time

just by doing this one step on its own

now the next ones I've got for you might

be a little bit out there but hit me out

here now one of the issues I've noticed

with myself is that it's less about the

information I get from my phone but it's

more about the physical action of taking

a phone out of my pocket to read or

reply or even take a photo so using

other devices I feel can really play a

big part in fixing your phone addiction

from wearing a smartwatch which I would

otherwise say is a very bad idea you

know bringing all your notifications

with you everywhere you go on your wrist

but it can also be a positive as long as

you all have all those you know nagging

notification switched off then a

smartwatch can be great because it just

prevents you from even reaching into

your pocket and pulling your phone out

in the first place a quick glance to

read a message or see who is calling you

before you reach for your phone can be

great if done responsibly and likewise

one of my favorite tech products of this

year actually is actually the meta Rand

glasses now these things alone have

given me the ability to use my phone way

less reading messages out to me letting

me send messages being able to take

photos without reaching for my phone and

sometimes like interrupting which is

kind of quite a spare of the moment

event particularly with kids who don't

stand still and I've said it a few times

already but being able to walk or drive

and receive messages from someone and be

able to reply to them and even send them

a photo without once reaching for your

phone I just I just think is a huge win

now another one I found to be personally

really good for me has been completely

switching voicemail off on my phone now

if they know you well enough they'll

likely be able to get hold of you

another way an email a text message or

if it's really that urgent they'll just

call you another time again later now

most of the voicemails I had before were

either spam or just stuff I didn't need

to waste my time picking my phone up

playing it back and then again

inevitably going down like another

Rabbit Hole of Just Apps distracting me

and

as a bit of a fail safe across

everything you can always set app limits

now the s24 ultra and s24 series and all

Samsung phones really have some built-in

settings that lets you set timers on an

app which then lock you out from an app

if you go over that time unless you

forcibly go and change the timing design

each time you go over so after

implementing all of these for the past

week how well did I Fair actually fairly

well I managed to reduce my screen time

down from 4 plus hours per day to half

of that and in some cas places under 1

hour per day but I do have a bit of a

problem with my own stats because for

the first hour maybe hour and a half

every single day I go to the gym and for

almost that full hour and a half I have

my phone open on the gym app I use to

log my workout so I can you know track

my weights and all that kind of stuff

and then in between sets I do find

myself just listening to music podcast

checking emails and messages it's kind

of my time to catch up on the morning

now that's something I haven't really

figured out a way around unless I go to

you know track my workouts on paper

which I don't really want to do because

then you lose all the analytics of my

progression but the good news is that

this actually means that my reduced

daily average of 2 and 1/2 hours of

screen time per day is actually more

like 1 hour and I would say that is

pretty damn good but let's be realistic

here you're probably not going to switch

off everything and set your phone to

grain scale because honestly it just

feels awful to stare at a phone that's

in black and white it's just a really

odd feeling now I would say that for me

switching off notifications uninstalling

Tik Tok disabling tapped awake and

raised awake using other connected

devices like my watch like my Ray bands

and actually just setting screen timers

for something like dualingo which I can

then really get competitive about

sometimes when I'm so close to like

placing first each week it just drives

me in to play more all of these things

combined will help me to actually put my

phone down and spend more quality time

with those people around me and so I

hope one or some of these steps also

helped you I'd love to know any tips you

have for reducing phone addiction and if

any of those steps have helped you down

in the comments down below and I will

see you in the next video cheers bye-bye