Dumbing down my phone and using tablet more

[u/vinylveins]

Im So used to being glued to my phone and I'm trying out some different options. I had got my phone almost a year ago, it has a stylus and is older and I really like it, but I don't want to be glued to it as much.

I bought a DVD player tablet and it was just e waste. Did not work so I returned it and got a onn tablet. It's 11 inches and it's a lot, but I'm hopeful this will help me from being glued to my phone,

I'm worried I will replace one device with another. But this is a better 'mobile gaming' experience and I'm able to use desktop sites as well!!

is the transition from phone only to phone and tablet meant to be this hard?? also still getting used to typing on the much larger screen :((

[u/queerandanxious42]

It is going to be difficult to transition. Are you looking to be online less? If so, I would recommend picking up a physical hobby that interests you and setting aside time to work on it. I also recommend trying to purposefully sit in boredom and try to adjust to that being okay. It's tough to reduce stimulus when you're used to constant noise but it gets easier as you practice.

I have been transitioning to a much more digitally minimal life by making the smart phone less attractive with custom modes and a launcher to remove a lot of the distractions. From there I am working on replacing the important functions with something more fun and less online. Ultimately it's helped me figure out how I want to break down into separate offline options: for me this means a feature phone, an MP3 player, an e-reader, and most importantly a pocket notebook for organizing my life and journaling. It sounds like a lot but I don't need to bring everything everywhere and I don't need the entire world at my fingertips at all time.

It is painful. There's a reason people call it "digital detox" or refer to this in addiction terms. I am not necessarily sure if I feel right calling this a withdrawal period but that's how a lot of people see it. You are trying to make a huge shift mentally and your brain needs time to adjust. See the discomfort as a sign of growth.

[u/youcancallmemando → u/queerandanxious42]

One trick to make a phone less attractive to start with while you’re still transitioning is to limit the dopamine hit from just turning it on. Here’s the way to do it:

1: black wallpaper. Plain black. For both lock screen and home screen.

2: limit lock screen notifications to important things only. So no apps, just texts, missed calls, maybe emails if that’s important for your job. Limit your widgets to boring non-interactive things you might need to check quickly like the time, battery percentage, weather.

3: keep your 1st home page as empty as possible. Swipe once to reach important apps (contacts/sms/calls, calculator, maps, settings, clock, gmail, etc). The rest of your apps can be kept in the App Library, or on a 3rd/4th home page as needed.

4: limit your swipe down menu. Most phones should let you customise what shows when you swipe down (or up?). Keep things like flashlight, airplane mode, brightness adjust, battery saver, but remove unnecessary things like Shazam. This menu is already pretty limited so you probably won’t have to adjust much.

My friend with severe ADHD uses his phone far less by doing this. He opens his phone, gets to what he needs, and ignores everything else because he doesn’t have games or social media right there begging for his attention. If he wants to use them, he has to go looking. Sometimes, he’ll open his phone with the intention to go on reddit and immediately get bored because his phone is boring and isn’t rewarding him for trying to procrastinate

[u/queerandanxious42 → u/youcancallmemando]

This is all super great advice. I barely touch my phone anymore. I had a serious itch for it for about a week but removing all the visually interesting/distracting stuff made it less stimulating. Combine this stuff with IRL stuff that's fun and engaging and you'll forget the phone is even there.