Smartphones and modern social media apps are extremely addictive. I won't go on a tangent about how they're designed for our attention, you probably already know all of this.
On the quest to escape from this and turn my smartphone back into the thing it's supposed to be - a tool - I've tried various approaches, each with varying degrees of success.
What didn't work
Uninstalling apps and software-side screen time limits. Both of these are extremely easy to circumvent with just a few clicks, and it didn't feel like enough friction. One day I'd uninstall Instagram, the next day it's back and ready to go, with credentials nicely autofilled from my password manager.
Another thing which didn't show much success was using a grayscale filter. It made the phone less boring, but very often I'd need to disable it to view images in color.
What sort of worked
Using a different launcher and turning the user interface into something more boring. I am using the paid version of Before Launcher and only keep essential apps (maps, messenger, camera) on my home screen, while everything else is neatly tucked away out of sight.
Another great feature of Before Launcher is the notification filter, which allow you to receive notifications without a sound/vibration and the notification icon showing up in your top bar. They just sit there on a separate page, waiting to be read whenever you have time.
What really worked
Introducing physical friction was the key to recuding my screen time drastically. The first rudimentary version of this was putting my phone in a drawer far away from my desk. It would allow me to focus on my work without having the urge to check my phone every few minutes.
This approach worked great at home when everything was calm and predictable, but it did have some drawbacks. Primarily, my phone still has a role as a communication device, and sometimes I'm expecting an important call, message or email which I don't want to miss.
Moreover, when I'm outside I don't always have a drawer or other place where my phone is physically away from me, but still reachable enough in case of an emergency.
Physical friction pro max
Knowing that physical friction works well for me, when I randomly stumbled across the Brick one day, I was intrigued. It's a physical app blocker, which allows blocking/unblocking apps by tapping an NFC tag in a small, square case.
It's quite expensive for what it is, but I justify it as mostly paying for the very well-designed app. As long as it won't have a subscription, I'm fine with this one-time investment for a tool that improves my focus and quality of life.
My flow with the Brick is very simple: at 23:30 my phone goes into "Sleep Mode", blocking all distracting apps so I can go to sleep instead of scrolling in bed for an hour. Then, at 9:00 it switches into "Focus Mode", potentially leaving me with a bit of time to catch up with socials in the morning, but blocking them again once I'm out of the house.
I have been using this setup for a while and so far it's been working quite well. I have to see how it will hold up long-term, but this approach seems promising.