Quick Help: 10 Concrete Steps to Healthier Tech Habits

The Challenge

Digital tools promise to make our lives easier but often end up controlling us instead. The average person checked their phone 144 times a day in 2023. Addictive app features, endless scrolling, constant notifications, and demands from work, family and friends to immediately respond to texts and emails hijack our attention and sap our productivity.

While completely unplugging isn't realistic, these 10 practical tips can help you regain control of your relationship with technology so you don’t get dragged down the digital drain (keep an eye out for the two or three that might be most useful to you):

1. Break reward loops. Disable apps with features designed to keep you hooked, including social media “like” counts and games with daily login bonuses. Turn off red notification dots that make you feel you’re missing something important.
2. Build your emotional toolkit. Identify your emotional state before reaching for your phone to use it as a mood regulator (for instance, to “numb out”). Practice choosing a different response for different emotions: Take a walk to ease anxiety, journal to vent frustration, craft to alleviate boredom.
3. Contain your curiosity spirals. Keep a list of things you want to look up later to avoid disappearing down digital rabbit holes that interfere with completing necessary tasks. Schedule weekly “curiosity time” to explore these interests.
4. Create content consumption endpoints. Establish content viewing time limits to avoid mindless social media scrolling—like “three articles” or “until this coffee is finished.”
5. Use grayscale mode strategically. Set displays to black and white during specific hours to reduce the dopamine hit from colorful notifications and apps, and resist devices’ psychological pull.
6. Create physical distance barriers. Store your phone in a different room from where you sleep and work to reduce constant device-checking. Consider locking it in a container with a timed release to eliminate the temptation to “just check quickly.”
7. Implement “micro-friction.” Disable face and fingerprint recognition, remove auto-fill account passwords, and log out of apps after each use to add small but significant obstacles to mindless phone use. Rearrange apps weekly to prevent muscle memory from taking over.
8. Replace digital transitions with physical rituals. Create specific non-digital activities to do between tasks instead of defaulting to your phone: do five stretches, squeeze a stress ball, or create a “landing pad” routine when you arrive home (before checking your device, take three deep breaths or make a cup of tea).
9. Create professional response tiers. Create different notification settings for varied professional contacts to stay responsive without being tethered to your devices all day. Set immediate alerts for your boss and key stakeholders, batch notifications for colleagues, and muted notifications for general work communications.
10. Set personal communication windows. Designate specific times you’ll check and respond to texts, calls, and emails from family members and friends who expect you to be constantly available—for instance, between 6 and 7 p.m. on weekdays, and weekend mornings. Share this information and emphasize how it will help you be more present and responsive during your dedicated windows.

Where to Begin

Which of these digital control strategies feels most doable for you? Start with just one small change this week—whether it’s turning on grayscale mode during evening hours or creating a simple emotional toolkit list. Or come up with your own custom variation. Remember, the goal isn’t to eliminate digital tools from your life, but to be aware and regain control over how and when you use them.

Resources

• Image: Nothing Ahead
• Calm: How to set family boundaries (and why they’re so important)
• Clear Grow Shine: 10 Reasons You Should Turn Off Notifications
• Daily Mail: Trying to cut back on your screen time? Turn off facial recognition and set your smartphone to black and white, scientists say
• Devise and Conquer: Avoid internet rabbit holes: No Unprotected Googling
• Harvard Summer School: Need a Break from Social Media? Here’s Why You Should — and How to Do It
• Freedom: Seeking Solace in Screens: Understanding and Controlling Emotional Dependency On Our Devices
• NSW Education: Try these 5 stretches to recharge your mind and body
• PC Mag: Americans Check Their Phones an Alarming Number of Times Per Day
• Rocketseed: Setting Boundaries With Business Email Signatures
• Sleep Foundation: Technology in the Bedroom
• The New York Times: Do Not Disturb: How I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
• The New York Times: Everything You Need to Break Up With Your Phone, From Free Tricks to Phone Safes
• Unlocking Joy: A Step-by-Step Plan to Limit Social Media Use
• Wired: Try Grayscale Mode to Curb Your Phone Addiction

To learn more about building healthy relationships with technology, check out Shortform’s guides to Deep Work, A World Without Email, and Digital Minimalism by digital expert and best-selling author Cal Newport.