I posit that smartphones are just fine and it’s us the people who are the problem that we can’t detach even when we clearly see that overusing the device is bad for us. Of course they are a platform for the most modern psychology to manipulate us but I view that as a good thing; the humanity collectively gradually builds resistance against manipulation. It’s slow and mostly does not work but it’s slowly getting there.
My digital detox started years ago and has been mostly successful; only ElixirForum, the orange website and one meme website remain. And I have learned to aggressively cut time on phone after waking up. At 30 minutes maximum I get up from bed because I’ve danced this dance: after being on the phone for 60-90 minutes you physically start feeling weaker, your motivation to even go to the toiled drops to unimaginably low levels and it’s very likely that you have ruined half your day at least, or 2-3 days ahead at worst.
I have only one trick up my sleeve to avoid too much distractions: “Is the thing I’m about to consume advance any of my top 5-10 goals?”. Once I started seriously asking myself this question and answering it sincerely without BS-ing myself, and started acting on the answers, 90% of my smartphone addiction problems disappeared in a manner of 4-5 weeks and have not returned.
FOMO is a powerful drug. Stay away from it. What this dorky looking chick thought about an obscure book is not important, and never was. If you really can’t close YouTube, go watch an episode of “How it’s made?”.
