To waste too much time in social media apps? Tips and tricks to contain the smartphone use

London (AP) – If you have a smartphone, you will probably spend too much time with it – checked Instagram, look at silly Tikok videos, messages on WhatsApp or doomscrolling on X.

It can be difficult to curb the excessive use of smartphones and social media that are addicted to design. Reducing your screen time is often more than just a question of willpower, especially for younger people whose brains and impulse control are still developing.

If you are a telephone addict that wants to reduce the hours a day you look at your device, you will find some techniques that you can try to free more Irl time:

A simple first step is to eliminate all apps for which you have wasted time.

Last year I deleted Facebook, Instagram and Twitter from my phone because I wanted to use it less. Every now and then I have to go to the App Store and reinstall you because I have to take something like a photo that I took on my phone. (Sometimes I transfer the photo to my laptop and then post it on the Internet from there, but it is usually too much trouble.)

The risk of this approach is that you do not delete it again if you reinstall the app.

Both iPhones and Android devices have on -board controls to regulate the screen time. They can also be used by the parents to regulate the use of children.

The screen time control of Apple can be found in the settings menu of the iPhone. Users can determine general downtime, which concludes all telephone activities during a specified period. If you want a telephone -free evening, you can set it, for example at 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

With the controls, users can also insert a flat -rate restriction for certain categories of apps such as social, games or entertainment or zero in a certain app by restricting the time that can be issued. Too distracted by Instagram? Then set it up so that you can only use it for 20 minutes a day.

The disadvantage is that the boundaries are not difficult to walk around. It is more of an impetus than a red line that you cannot cross. If you try to open an app with a limit, you will receive a screen menu with another minute, a memory after 15 minutes or ignore it completely.

Android users can contact their digital well -being settings that contain widgets to remind users of how much screen time they had. There is also the possibility to create separate work and personal profiles so that you can hide your social media apps and their notifications when you are in the office.

There are other small tricks that make your phone less distracted. I use the focus mode on my iPhone to silence notifications. For example, when I am somewhere in a meeting, I stall it until I leave this place. Android also has a focus mode to pause the distraction of apps.

Change your phone display in grayscale from the color so that it doesn't look so exciting. Adjust the color filter on iPhones in your settings. For Android, switch on the sleeping time mode or optimize the adjustment of the color correction.

Android telephones cannot also look at their telephones while walking by activating the heads -up function in digital well -being.

If the built -in controls are not sufficient, there are many third -party apps, such as Jomo, Opal, Forest, Roots and Lockmout, which are designed in such a way that the screen time is shortened.

Many of these apps have both free and premium versions with more functions and urge you to register for a subscription by minimizing the option now on the payment screen. I tested a few on my iPhone for this story.

To try opal, I reinstalled Facebook so that I could block it. Whenever I typed the Facebook icon, intervened opal to give me various inspiring messages such as “gaining wisdom, losing Facebook”, how often I tried to open it. To avoid the block, I had to open opal and wait for six seconds before I was able to request up to 15 minutes to watch Facebook.

Jomo, with whom I restricted the Reddit app of my phone, worked in a similar way: Tap the unlock button, which led me to the Jomo -app, where I had to wait 20 seconds before I could tap the button to unlock Reddit for up to 10 minutes.

The Onesec -app follows a different approach by reminding users to take a break first. The installation, in which automation is set up on the iPhone links, can be confusing. When I installed it for my Bluesky app at some point, it gave me an invitation to make an abbreviation that had wiped out my screen with a calming purple-blue screen, and remembered taking a deep breath before I could decide to open the app in the practice it was too easy to just skip the entry request.

With Android's ONLY-LOCKMEOUT you can freeze from certain apps based on criteria such as your location, how often you have opened an app or how long you have used it.

The obvious way to defeat these apps is simply to delete them. Some recommend the users to follow the correct uninstalling process, otherwise apps could remain blocked.

Digital blockers may not be for everyone. Some startups that find that people prefer a tangible barrier offer hardware solutions that introduce physical friction between them and an app.

Unluq is a yellow day you have to keep on your phone to access blocked apps. Brick and Blok are two different products that work in the same direction – they are square plastic pieces that you have to type or scan with your phone to unlock an app.

The manufacturers of these devices say that software solutions are too easy to avoid, but a physical object that they can bring or leave behind somewhere if they go somewhere is a more effective way to get rid of distractions.

What about fully split the phone away? There are different telephone lock and cases, some of which have been designed so that the parents can lock the phones of their teenagers when they are to sleep. Yondr, the portable telephone bag uses at concerts or in schools, also sells a telephone box for home.

Maybe there are deeper reasons for your smartphone compulsion. Perhaps it is a symptom for underlying problems such as anxiety, stress, loneliness, depression or low self -esteem. If you believe that this is the case, it could be worthwhile to examine therapy that is still available.

A hospital in London deals with “technology dependency” with a plan that deals with “symptoms in personal time” with other people and examines their relationship with technology.

Another clinic is that treatment with social media addiction also includes work on the technology management skills of a patient, e.g. B. the determination of limits for the use of devices, the search for alternative activities to fill the emptiness of reduced online interaction and learn how to get more involved with the physical world. “

Why not exchange your smartphone for a more basic trade? It is an extreme option, but there is a flourishing subculture of mobile phones with only fundamental features that are concerned about retro enthusiasts and people, including parents, about screening. They range from cheap old schools from stationary cell phones from faded brands such as Nokia to stylish but more expensive devices from boutique manufacturers such as dot.

The compromise is, of course, that you also have to do without essential apps such as Google Maps or your bank.

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