Cutting back

removing the temptation

I was sat flicking through my phone the other day, jumping from Twitter to Threads to Bluesky to Instagram (all three accounts), IG stories, Substack Notes and back again.

What was I doing? Sucked into the infinite scroll of the socials, watching (or more accurately not noticing) where the time was disappearing.

I had to stop.

I had recently read Marlee Grace’s post I quit Instagram and found it inspiring. I had three accounts - one regular one (photos of my cats, interesting stuff I’ve noticed), one for Dave Tries Whisky, and one about running. Which I’m not really doing as much, and to be honest I’m struggling with.

Nuked the running insta. Not quite ready to go full cold turkey on the entire IG experience just yet.

Then earlier today I wondered what would happen if I took the apps off my phone. Harder to fall into the trap of notifications and mindless scrolling, I thought.

So I started removing the apps. Then I kept going. I used to have folders on the screen for exercise stuff (Strava, Komoot, Garmin Connect), travel stuff (Google Maps, Apple Maps, OS Maps, The Trainline, various parking apps). The socials (Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, Threads, Bluesky, Discord, Slack). Then there was Whatsapp, Messenger, Spark (for emails), Duolingo, Kindle and some others.

Gone.

Well, technically gone from the home screen, not deleted from the phone.

And today my phone screen looks like the photo above. A clock and calendar. Phone, iMessage, Notes and the camera.

And very specifically, no Safari.

I still pick up my phone, and with a swipe down I can find the apps I used. But the constant presence of the little red notifications is gone. So I pick up my phone, look at the time, and more often than not, put it down again.

That little bit of extra friction to get to the apps I’d waste my time on has been just enough to put me off.

Now the things on there are things I want to do - make a call, send a message, take a note, or a photo.

Will it last? Who can say. I quite like the clean look, and the lack of distractions.

What do you think?