Remove the Bottomless Pit Apps From Your Home Screen to Avoid Wasting Time on Your Phone
It’s easy to get lost in the phone. You open it to reply to text, and the next thing you know, you dive deep into your Twitter feed for two weeks. To curb reckless web browsing, reorganize your home screen to include only two types of apps: tools and aspirations.
This idea comes from Tristan Harris, a former product philosopher at Google. He explains that most applications generally fall into one of three categories:
- Tools. Harris explains that these are “specific cross-cutting” objectives. For example, your camera, calendar or maps. You go into the application, do your job, and you’re done.
- Bottomless Pits : These are apps that easily become time traps. Twitter, Instagram, email, or any other app that you’ve thoughtlessly browsing for too long.
- Aspirations : These apps represent things you want to spend more time on, like audiobooks, podcasts, and meditation.
Harris suggests narrowing your apps down to two categories: indispensable tools and realistic aspirations. The tools are pretty obvious: What applications do you rely on often? In terms of realistic aspirations, Harris explains:
Those that are things that you really want to spend more time in your life on – listening to certain podcasts, as well as an app for recording lessons at my local yoga studio – are not unrealistic. For example, I love to meditate, but meditation apps usually don’t work for me, so I don’t turn them on.
Now create a home screen consisting of only:
- Your indispensable tool apps
- Your realistic aspiration apps
Remove everything else from the first page. The fewer icons our eyes have to scan when we unlock the phone, the less work our mind has to do.
In other words: out of sight; out of sight. I followed this advice and organized my home screen accordingly. This is a big difference. Of course, I can just swipe to the next page and open Instagram, but I’m used to it being on my home screen, so an extra second gives me time to remember that I don’t have to go to Instagram and mindlessly scroll. I’ve caught myself and stopped myself several times throughout the day, so this also opens my eyes to see how ingrained this habit is. Plus, my inspirational apps serve as a great visual reminder to listen to podcasts and learn a new language – two things I want to spend more time with than social media.
For more tips on how to maintain a healthier relationship with your phone, see the full post below.
8 Steps to Take If You Want a Healthier, More Addictive iPhone Relationship | Muse