Free guides, tools and printables on using your phone less. Every claim links to its source, and where the evidence is thin we say so.

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Exact settings paths, in order, for iOS and Android.

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Four questions, three answers, and the reason each one matched.

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Sourced answers, and the popular claims that don't hold up.

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Quick wins

The five-minute list

Nothing here is tracked or saved. These are checkboxes for your own head, not a form.

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Things we actually tried

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Experiment · May 2026

I Tracked My Screen Time for 30 Days: Here's What I Learned

A 30-day screen time experiment, logged daily. The totals were embarrassing, and the pattern underneath them was worse than the totals.

Experiment · May 2026

What Happens to Your Brain After a Week Without Social Media

I deleted every social media app for seven days. The withdrawal was real, but so was the clarity that came after.

Experiment · Apr 2026

I Replaced My Smartphone with a Dumb Phone for Two Weeks

Trading my iPhone for a basic phone with no apps, no browser, and no camera. What I missed, what I didn't, and whether I'd do it again.

Experiment · May 2026

I Deleted Instagram and Nothing Bad Happened

The FOMO was a lie. What 60 days without Instagram actually cost, which was close to nothing, and what it returned.

Experiment · May 2026

Digital Detox Retreats: I Spent $2,000 to Not Use My Phone for a Weekend

A digital detox retreat costing $2,100 for three days without a phone. About 80% of it can be replicated at home for nothing. Here is the 20% that cannot, and whether it was worth the money.

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How dependent on your phone are you, really?

A short, honest self-assessment about when and why you reach for your phone. No email required, nothing stored. It runs entirely in your browser.

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Pick a phone detox challenge

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7 daysBeginner

7-Day Phone Detox

Based on Catherine Price's method from 'How to Break Up with Your Phone.' Each day adds one small change rather than asking you to stop everything at once, which is the whole premise of the method.

30 daysIntermediate

Inspired by Cal Newport's 30-day 'digital declutter' from Digital Minimalism. The most-cited study of habit formation followed 96 people for 12 weeks and found automaticity took a median of 66 days, ranging from 18 to 254, and only about half the participants' data fitted the model at all. Treat four weeks as a reasonable commitment rather than the point at which anything becomes automatic. Each week builds on the last: awareness, subtraction, replacement, and optimization.

14 daysIntermediate

Social Media Cleanse

A structured two-week break from social media. A 2022 randomised trial from the University of Bath (Lambert et al., Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking) found that a one-week break from social media significantly improved well-being, depression, and anxiety scores across 154 participants. Two weeks gives your brain enough time to fully move past the initial withdrawal (which peaks around days 2-3) and discover what fills the space.

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