[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Mobile phone addiction help
___________________________________________________________________
Ask HN: Mobile phone addiction help
Hey HN I'm looking for advice and/or suggestions on how to
"lockdown/brick" my mobile (iPhone 8) phone to only be able to do a
select number of things. I currently suffer with OCD and anxiety,
and my addictions to my phone is making me lethargic and causing
regular migraines and eye strain issues. I do have a second "dumb
phone" (Nokia flip 2720) but due to having a "mobile only" bank
account I have to have access to my iPhone. I only really want to
be able to text (not WhatsApp) call, and have access to 3 banking
apps. I have tried everything, but when I'm feeling "good" or
sometimes when I'm feeling rubbish - I will always end up
downloading "scroller" apps - Twitter, Instagram, Shopping apps etc
- and I quickly waste days and days hooked to it, before prying
myself away from it again. Any advice would be hugely beneficial.
Thank you
Author : swen-rekcah
Score : 14 points
Date : 2021-05-02 18:50 UTC (4 hours ago)
| foofoo4u wrote:
| I put parental controls on my phone to block all but only the
| most vital apps. Only my wife knows the password to unlock. Maybe
| something similar will help you out.
| mlac wrote:
| Read "digital minimalism" and try a detox using the Screen Time
| tip mentioned in another comment.
|
| Make it black and white and as uninteresting as possible. Then
| find something else to do with your time that is actually solid
| recreation.
|
| I go in cycles on this and tend to flip from the extremes.
| Recently bought a 12 Pro Max solely for the camera so I would
| have the best possible iPhone camera to take photos of my family
| and a bigger screen to access work resources on the go. But it's
| leaking into other areas as well. So I'll just need to do spring
| cleaning and delete apps soon. I find email and all
| communications channels get cluttered if you don't cull them or
| put guardrails around them.
|
| I'd love to know any other tools people recommend for dealing
| with this.
| trilinearnz wrote:
| Can vouch for the monochromatic UI, a friend put me onto this.
| More details here: https://betterhumans.pub/how-to-make-your-
| iphone-black-and-w...
|
| Have also had good experience with deleting apps, which forces
| you to login to them via the browser, which is a much clunkier
| / less addictive UI.
| Daily20 wrote:
| You can use Screen Time to prevent yourself from installing new
| apps. First, delete all applications aside from your banking
| apps. Next, go to Settings - Screen Time - Content and Privacy
| Restrictions - iTunes & App Store Purchases. From here, you can
| disable installing apps, which hides the App Store on your phone.
| You can also disable Safari from Screen Time. If you find
| yourself turning off Screen Time, have somebody else set a four
| digit passcode for you. You'll be left with a phone that can only
| text and bank.
| stabilite wrote:
| 1. Settings --> Screen Time --> App Limits 2. Make your App
| Store/Apple ID password something needlessly complex and give
| someone else the paper with it on so they need to read it to you
| over the phone when you need it. 3. Send a screenshot of your app
| usage to a third party every week and if you exceed limits get
| them to donate some money you give them to a cause you hate in
| your name 4. Put your phone on grayscale
| jaredandrews wrote:
| Something I have started doing is decoupling functionality from
| my phone. For example, I bought a cheap 4GB mp3 player a couple
| months ago. I bought a standalone alarm clock too. Basically I
| have tried to reduce the number of things I use my phone for.
| This means I no longer even have my phone with me a lot of the
| time.
|
| The other change I have made is keeping my phone on silent by
| default and blocking notifications for almost everything.
| murm wrote:
| How essential the banking apps are in your everyday life? If you
| don't need them to be available all the time, maybe you could
| store your iPhone somewhere behind a time lock and schedule
| specific times when you deal with your banking needs?
| ALittleLight wrote:
| Get a new bank. If the bank is a part of a significant problem
| for your life you should just swap it out for a bank that will
| let you access your accounts through a browser as needed. Toss
| your smart phone and only use the dumb phone.
| thenaturalist wrote:
| This, 100%.
| andrefuchs wrote:
| At least for Android there a launcher that let's you filter apps.
| Here is one example:
| https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beforesoft...
| Maybe you can achieve something like that on iOS.
|
| Also cognitive behavioral therapy could help you with OCD and
| anxiety.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2021-05-02 23:02 UTC)