Up next in 10
How to set up Focus Modes: https://www.cultofmac.com/793787/how-to-use-focus-modes-in-ios-16/
Article version of this video: https://www.cultofmac.com/777340/make-iphone-less-addictive/
NetNewsWire: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/netnewswire-rss-reader/id1480640210
Mastodon: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mastodon-for-iphone-and-ipad/id1571998974
Smartphone addiction is a real problem — it can literally change the makeup of your brain. You carry the internet with you, and it’s constantly blasting firehose of content, everywhere you go. If you feel the impulse to unlock your #iPhone at every empty moment, or scroll through an app when you feel like you should be getting to bed, here are my tips for making your phone a bit more boring.
Chapters:
0:00 No. 1: Cut bottomless apps
2:21 No. 2: App Limits
3:04 No. 3: Downtime
3:56 No. 4: Remove apps
4:13 No. 5: Notification bait
4:47 No. 6: Turn off notifications
5:09 No. 7: Notification count
5:31 No. 8: Grayscale
5:55 No. 9: Turn off Face ID
6:17 No. 10: Track progress
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Smartphone addiction is a real problem for a lot of people these days, but not me
0:05
I'm a computer nerd so I'm addicted to my Mac. It has all the same downsides, except I can lie to myself and say that I'm being productive
0:15
So today I'm going to give you 10 actionable tips to break your addiction to your smartphone
0:21
Number one, remove all of these algorithmically driven, bottomless content apps. This is the hardest one to implement because it changes the apps you use and the people you follow
0:31
but it will have the most meaningful impact on your life. Apps like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and these days even Twitter
0:40
they keep you engaged because they never run out of stuff for you to see. So if you have a problem with Twitter, switch to Mastodon
0:46
It's an open source, community driven alternative, and odds are if you're watching Cult of Mac, you probably have pretty nerdy taste
0:53
and a lot of the people you follow might already be on Mastodon. The official Mastodon app makes it incredibly easy to get started
1:00
and if you ever used apps like Tweetbot, Aviary, Mona, all of them have been rewritten for Mastodon
1:06
Now if you're still using Twitter, I get it, you probably have a few friends who haven't moved over yet
1:11
but you can still make that experience nicer while you're at it. From anybody's profile, tap the three dots menu and tap turn off retweets
1:19
That way you'll only see tweets from the people you care about and not all the other junk that can fill it up
1:23
And while you're at it, switch from the home tab to the following tab
1:27
Next, if you have a problem with YouTube, you can get all of the videos from the people you care about as an RSS feed
1:33
instead of going down the rabbit hole of the YouTube homepage. First, you'll want to download an app like NetNewswire, which is completely free and I highly recommend
1:42
Then, from any YouTube channel, you'll tap the share button and you'll tap NetNewswire
1:48
Then you'll have all of the videos from all of the people you want to see in a simple chronological feed
1:53
and none of the algorithmically recommended content that'll suck you into that rabbit hole for hours and hours and hours
1:59
And you know what? If you still want local news in your community that you used to get on Facebook
2:03
add a local newspaper to NetNewswire. You just created it for your YouTube subscriptions
2:08
If you want to get technology news and follow your other hobbies that you used to get on Reddit
2:13
add blogs that write about that same stuff to NetNewswire. From people who know what they're talking about, not random strangers on the subreddit
2:21
Number two, say you can't completely cut out one of those apps, well, you can still set limits on how much time you can spend on it in screen time
2:28
Go to settings, screen time, app limits, and tap add limit. With one tap, you can add a whole category of apps like all social media
2:37
but you can also add specific apps by checking through the list. If you want to set a daily time limit and then tap customize days
2:44
you can have this work every day, just on weekdays or some other custom schedule you want
2:49
Then tap add and you're all good to go. Now you can add another set of app limits for even stricter rules if you want even greater restrictions
2:58
And this feature is really smart. If you reach your limit on the Facebook app, you can't just go to facebook.com
3:04
Number three, maybe this isn't enough and you want to limit access to your whole phone
3:09
Go to settings, screen time, downtime, and turn on a schedule. Just like before, you can set whether you want it every day or weekdays, whatever
3:17
and you can set a time to start and end. Now there might still be a few apps that you do need to access all the time
3:24
like Slack or Maps or Messages, so you can go back to screen time, always allowed
3:30
add apps by tapping the green plus, or remove apps by tapping the red minus
3:34
And there might be specific people who you always need to contact
3:38
so go to allowed communication, specific contacts, and add anybody who you might need to call or message in a pinch
3:45
If this sounds familiar, it's very similar to how you set up focus modes
3:49
and you can have a bunch of focus modes for every kind of situation. You can read all about that in the video description or by clicking this card here
3:56
Number four is really simple, out of sight, out of mind. Go back to your home screen and remove all of the apps that might be tempting to you
4:04
Just tap and hold to enter jiggle mode, tap the minus symbol, and tap remove from home screen
4:10
Or really, delete app if you want. Number five, right when you start to get a hang of things
4:16
these apps are going to try and draw you back in with notification bait
4:20
You'll start getting notifications, not because people liked or commented on your post
4:25
just trying to draw you back in, like, hey, somebody posted this
4:29
Hey, see what your friends are up to. Hey, please come back. Please
4:34
You can almost always turn these off, you just need to know where to look. Here are instructions for a bunch of apps
4:40
If you need written instructions, there's a link in the video description
4:44
I'll give you a moment to take a screenshot. Number six, some apps don't give you that setting
4:50
so you can hit back and turn off all of their notifications. Just settings, notifications, pick a specific app
4:57
and you can just turn them all off if you want. I at least recommend turning off lock screen and notification center
5:02
so your phone doesn't draw you in when you're otherwise not using it. You can just check it on your own time of your own volition
5:08
Number seven, you can hide all notifications from the lock screen. Instead of it filling up with banners, you'll just see a simple count on the bottom
5:17
Go to settings, lock screen, and switch it from list or stack over to count
5:22
If you're worried about important stuff slipping through the cracks, turn on scheduled summary
5:26
and this will give you a nice presentation of everything important on a time of your own choosing
5:31
Number eight, say all of these things don't work and you still find yourself looking at your phone too much
5:36
Well, you can make your phone less interesting to look at. Go to settings, accessibility, display and text size, color filters, and turn on grayscale
5:45
It's a really simple trick, but it works. To make sure you don't lose on any important functionality
5:50
go back to display and text size, and turn on differentiate without color
5:55
Number nine, turn off face ID or touch ID to make your phone harder to get into
6:01
If you have to enter your passcode every time, it'll take more friction
6:05
and it'll have to be a more intentional action to use your phone
6:09
Go to settings, face ID and passcode, enter in your passcode, and then turn off iPhone unlock right at the top
6:17
Finally, number 10, you can see how well you're actually improving. Go to settings, screen time, see all activity
6:24
and you can see a breakdown by the different categories of apps you use, and you can swipe through your history to see whether you're improving or getting worse over time
6:32
You can also see which apps are the worst offenders at sending you the most notifications
6:36
and other statistics like how many times you pick up your phone throughout the day
6:40
So those are all 10 of my tips. Links to everything I talked about are in the video description
6:44
along with an article on how to use focus modes. I'm Dikra van Jones with Cult of Mac
6:51
Microsoft Mechanics www.microsoft.com www.microsoft.com
#Consumer Electronics
#Mobile & Wireless
#Mobile Apps & Add-Ons