I used to think that I didn’t spend much time on my phone, but then I saw the harsh reality. I wanted to solve this problem, so I did some research and found a tool that helped me decrease my phone use when it’s at its worst: late at night. The solution I found is surprisingly easy and requires no third-party apps.
Having Internet in your pocket is not what it seems
I learned something very important this year: just because you’re not on social media doesn’t mean you can’t be addicted to your phone. I’m just as guilty Doom-scrolling and falling down a rabbit hole as much as anyone. I get distracted reading mental thread either Metafilterand don’t even get me started on how much time I spend listening to/selecting music or watching sandwich videos.
I spend a lot of time on the Internet Archive, Neocities, and reading my favorite websites. Have too many RSS feeds on both news boat and freshRSS. In fact, I have six terminal windows open. right now in Termux on my phone and 37 tabs in Firefox.
My phone says I’m spending way more time than I probably should. Luckily for me (and you), my phone also has a feature that can help.
Digital Wellbeing Is Great for Reducing Screen Time
I used several different configurations to achieve my goal.
While Digital Wellbeing is not hidden in Android settings, it is often overlooked. I know this because I had no idea my phone had something like this until I opened the settings. Apparently, it has been a thing on Android for a long timebut it was never on my radar.
I guess I just thought I didn’t need it. I made a mistake.
When I first seriously thought about this, my initial thought was to set a timer to turn everything into grayscale. I like (and sometimes prefer) grayscale, so I knew that wouldn’t work. But Digital Wellbeing was exactly what I was looking for.
A version of these steps should work on any Android device that has Digital Wellbeing, but your device may be configured differently or have different settings than my Moto G.
On my phone, I went to Settings > Digital well-being and parental controls (some devices split these two things into separate sections). In the configuration you have four basic tools that can be classified as:
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Application Timers
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Bedtime mode
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Focus
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Screen time reminders
Search for these settings by name if you can’t find them easily.
If you navigate to Application TimersYou can select certain apps to be inaccessible during a particular time range. When the time you specify arrives, the apps turn gray and you can’t use them without overriding sleep mode.
It’s helped me a lot and I’m not tempted to skip my own settings to use those apps.
I also use Bedtime mode and Screen time reminders. While working on this draft, I received a pop-up notification saying that I had already spent 20 minutes in the app.
So I took a break.
My screen time has decreased by almost two hours.
Free time to rededicate yourself to other hobbies.
Since I started using Digital Wellbeing more frequently, not only has my phone use decreased by 2-4 hours per week from what it was before, but I’ve also had time to revisit other hobbies you used to enjoy.
I watched the entire first season of I think you should go. I wrote a new song for my album. And I built a Gunpla Models (plastic models of robots Gundam mobile suit) all in the first week after setting it up.
Now every week I have more time to work on lab projects at home, spend time with my wife, and do other things, largely because I’m limiting my screen time.
I’m glad I got off my phone for a while and will continue to use Digital Wellbeing on any everyday Android device in the future.
I also found a more fun and less automated method.
A mobile app helps me focus when I need it
While having an automated digital wellness setup has been helpful, there are times when I need access to specific apps. But I found a concentration app that actually helps me more than I thought.
I’m talking about internet personality/author/musician. Hank Green Focused friend. It’s a passive focus app where you set an amount of time you want to focus while an anthropomorphic bean knits things. If you stop concentrating or touch your phone, you stop knitting and lose progress.
It’s a great and lovely idea to play without touching your phone during meals, meetings or movies. It complements my Digital Wellbeing setup very well. It’s also charming, has a relaxing soundtrack, and is 100% free.
Getting away from the screen doesn’t have to be painful
Screen time and phone obsession have been issues for some time. Modern life just demands it sometimes. It’s 2026 and I never cease to marvel at the fact that I have a powerful computer in my pocket at all times and can do so many useful and cool things with it. But I’ve learned to step away from it for a while. And that’s a pretty good thing.
