🔌 Unplug
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Nov 14, 2024
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8 min read
70 days: that’s the time we lose every year checking our phones. And that’s only if we spend just 4 hours and 37 minutes a day. This is something you might have experienced already. Maybe you’ve even tried to fix it. And yet, each time: it’s a failure.
Well, you’re in luck because we know this topic inside out, and we even have some good solutions to help you finally disconnect and reclaim those 70 lost days.
So if you’re motivated, let us explain why it’s happening and, more importantly, share some effective, community-tested solutions. Ready? Let’s go!
What Are the Common Mistakes When Reducing Screen Time?
First of all, rest assured, if you thought you were the only person in the world who couldn’t stick to their screen time commitments, it’s way more common than you might imagine!
On our side, we’ve been developing our app Jomo for almost three years, and we’ve been interested in this topic for even longer. We’ve made mistakes, and we’ve seen others make them. That’s why today, we’re sharing this article to help you, drawing from our expertise and experience.
🎯 Unrealistic Goals
Yes, the first cause of failure we often see is setting goals that are too ambitious, even unrealistic. We understand that you want to drastically reduce your screen time because it feels like so much wasted time. But you can’t change in an instant.
Why is this a problem? Well, you’ve conditioned your brain to expect a certain amount of screen time each day, and suddenly, you’re taking it away. It’s like giving a child loads of candy and then taking it all away at once—they’re likely to throw quite the tantrum.
The frustration is instant and intense. So strong that resisting requires a real effort. You’re going through withdrawal! And we all know that unless you have almost superhuman willpower, you’re likely to give up.
📺 Poor Substitutes
When some people quit smoking, they tend to replace nicotine with chocolate. The result? Weight gain that can be just as harmful as smoking. Essentially, it’s replacing one harm with another.
It’s often the same with screen time. People try to replace hours of scrolling with other screen activities or, worse, with activities that are just too boring. The result? Your brain, like a spoiled child, finds it uninteresting and wants its favorite toy back.
💊 Treating Only the Symptom
Another reason for failure is addressing only the surface problem, never going deeper. I like to compare excessive phone use to allergies.
An allergy is an immune response to something the body can’t tolerate—let’s say dust mites. You keep sneezing—that’s the symptom, and dust mites are in your carpet—that’s the root cause. You take medication to stop sneezing, but you never throw out the carpet. The result? Your quality of life won’t improve until you get rid of that old carpet. It will keep making you miserable forever, no matter how much medication you take.
With screen time, it’s similar. We often focus on the total time spent on the phone without asking, Why do I need to use my phone so much? What am I doing? What emotions make me reach for it?
⛓️💥 Lack of Structure
I love comparisons—they make things easier to understand. Reducing screen time is like going on a diet. Without structure, without a plan: you’re likely to mess it up, and within three days, you’re back to square one. The result? Often, you end up consuming more than before!
To reduce screen time, you need a clear battle plan. Without a frame of “good usage,” time-bound goals, or healthy alternatives decided in advance: failure is inevitable.
📵 The “Cold Turkey” Approach
This is something we see everywhere. The famous “Cold Turkey” approach means quitting everything abruptly—all of it. It’s literal withdrawal.
For some, it might work, but in most cases, it doesn’t. Why? Because it’s extremely hard for your brain to go from everything to nothing. The frustration spike is so high that it requires immense willpower, self-control, and motivation to resist. And that’s not the case for everyone! So, in our opinion, it’s not the best idea…
These are the main pitfalls that will make you give up quickly. Too restrictive, too harsh, or too superficial, they prevent you from understanding the root problem and acting effectively. Yes, they might show positive results for a few days. But what about next month? We’re more interested in less restrictive, kinder solutions that are sustainable over the long term!
Key Mistakes & How to Avoid Them
🎯 Mistake #1: Setting Unrealistic Goals
The problem we identified is that it’s unrealistic to want to change all at once. You need to set simple, motivating goals right from the start—goals that you can quickly achieve.
The idea is to take it step by step and adjust your goals to keep them challenging. For example, if your goal is to reduce your daily TikTok usage, don’t jump straight to it but go gradually. Here’s our most effective method:
Take your average daily time spent on TikTok.
Convert this time into minutes. For example, 1 hour = 60 minutes.
Take these minutes and subtract 10%, i.e., 60 x 0.9. Here, we get 54 minutes.
This will be your daily time limit for the app.
Each week, adjust your limits, reducing them by 10% each time (2nd week = 80%, 3rd week = 70%, etc.).
📺 Mistake #2: Replacing Screen Time with Other Passive Activities
When we talk about activities, we can categorize them into two types. Passive activities, where we consume content without producing, and productive activities, where we create something tangible.
When we’re on our phone, most of the time, we’re in consumer mode (on TikTok, when scrolling, we’re not producing anything, right?). Our body has adapted to this, and making an effort… is not its favorite thing!
When reducing screen time, our body tries to find an equivalent—often something passive, like scrolling. This might be watching movies, series, or playing online games. But there’s nothing really productive there. Quickly, you’ll revert to bad habits.
Our suggestion is to make a list of activities you like or would like to do. Every time you feel like scrolling, think of one and try it out. Yes, at first, it’s hard to motivate yourself. But that’s normal. You need to push yourself, then you’ll start enjoying it.
If you have trouble finding inspiration, you can use Jomo, available for free on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. We’ve gathered 100 cool activities to try instead of wasting time on Instagram. If you block your apps, you’ll see a screen recommending activities to try. You’ll have plenty to keep you busy.
🤡 Mistake #3: Ignoring Emotional Triggers Behind Screen Usage
As we mentioned earlier, ignoring the root cause prevents success. The key is to find the root of the problem: What makes you use your phone? What feelings make you addicted? In what situations do you tend to misuse your phone?
For example, let’s say boredom. If you tend to scroll because you’re bored, don’t try to find another phone activity, like a game. Ask yourself: Why am I bored? Why do I fear boredom? What’s so bad about being bored?
Then, we create “pairs.” For example, for a harmful phone activity, assign an off-screen one. Watching TikTok → Doing crosswords, binge-watching on Netflix → Going for a walk, browsing X → Doing push-ups, etc.
Finally, change habits at a deeper level. For instance, if you tend to take your phone to the bathroom, leading to 30 minutes or even an hour of scrolling, leave it behind. Make it a phone-free zone. In the meantime, have magazines or puzzles to keep you entertained if you find the time too long. At night, instead of scrolling, place magazines by your bed. In public transport → bring a book, etc.
🖋️ Mistake #4: Not Tracking Progress or Having a Clear Plan
Wanting to change without a plan is like trying to beat the final boss in a game without any weapons, armor, and just a bit of hope. It’s not enough.
For you to succeed, you need a goal. Ideally, it should be achievable, realistic, time-bound, and measurable. For instance, if you currently have 8 hours of screen time per day and aim to reduce it to below 2 hours, don’t try to hit that goal within a week. Instead, try to get to 6h30/7h and maintain that for a full week. Then, in week 2, reduce by another 30 minutes (or 1 hour if you’re up for it). If you slip up, hold off on reducing further until you’re stable.
Set a specific date to reach your overall goal (for example, by December 15, 2024, you’ll be down to a maximum of 2 hours per day). Don’t be afraid to look at your progress curve. Most of the time, we focus on the goal but not enough on the journey. Even if your progress seems small (e.g., 6h vs. 8h), it’s already a huge change!
🛑 Mistake #5: Using a “Cold-Turkey” Approach
As we mentioned earlier, the “Cold Turkey” method might work, but it’s often followed by a severe relapse. You go without for X amount of time, then binge to make up for the withdrawal. And that’s not what we want—we want long-term solutions!
Much less frustrating and more sustainable, we suggest gradual reduction. You can refer to the method mentioned earlier in Mistake #1.
Which Tool to Use for Lasting Change?
On our side, we recommend the Jomo app, available for free on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Why this app and not another? Let us explain:
🤝 Supports Progress
Jomo is a companion, not an enemy. Designed to help over the long haul, the app includes a host of different features to aid in reducing screen time.
In the Profile section, you can see all your progress, track your usage in detail, and get an overview of your journey. A great way to gain perspective!
🧠 Allows Reflection on Usage
The Journaling feature is simple and quick to use, allowing you to create a real habit of reflection regarding your usage. Every day, take a moment to associate a feeling and an activity with an app. What’s the purpose? Well, it helps you understand your phone use in the first place and see if the activities you engage in make you happy or not.
Analyzing and understanding your usage is essential to lasting change. At Jomo, we quickly understood this, which is why we developed this feature.
🔒 Offers the Most Powerful and Comprehensive Blocking Tools
Jomo has the most comprehensive app blocker on iPhone and iPad. Whatever your need, there’s a rule for you! We have over 20 ready-to-use rules, but you can customize each one according to your preferences and habits. The goal: find your way to regulate usage and stick to your commitments over the long term!
🌱 Provides Tools to Aid Disconnection
As we mentioned earlier, disconnecting is good, but if you don’t know what to do with that time, it’s a problem. That’s why we came up with a way to help you disconnect peacefully.
You’ll find “Good Alternatives,” specific screens that appear on each of your blocked apps. Meanwhile, you can also suggest apps to use instead of others, leave personalized messages, or even recommend contacts to call, for example!
And there you have it, that’s the end of this article! We hope this helps in your quest to reduce screen time. If there’s one thing to remember, it’s that miracle methods or “hacks” don’t exist. If you can’t stick to them, it’s because they don’t work, not because you’re weak! Success comes with effort.
