How I Stopped Myself From Overusing My Phone

In my Daily Check In I was noticing that I was spending more time on social media than I wanted to. In reading my reflections about it, I found that the reason was because I was choosing to watch specific Youtube videos related to soccer highlights or analysis… something I genuinely enjoy and consider to be a good use of my time… And once I finished I was getting caught binging other videos unconsciously.

I devised a solution that would accomplish both goals of enjoying my soccer highlights without being tempted to keep scrolling once they were done: Instead of watching the soccer videos on my phone, I could chromecast them to the TV. That way I could put my phone on the kitchen counter (way out of arms reach). This meant that in order for me to watch more videos after the highlights finished, I'd need to get up to grab my phone and be painfully aware that I’m doing it. And it worked like a charm!

What I just described is an instance of intentional environmental design. Using the law of proximity, I added friction to a negative behavior and made it way more difficult to do. It also prevented me from snapping into the habit unconsciously.

Taking a step back, one of the main factors that indicates how easy an action is to do, is accessibility. If an action is more accessible, meaning it’s physically closer to you or there’s less resistance to initiate the action, it’s way more likely to happen.

This is just another version of saying what James Clear introduces in ‘Atomic Habits’ about making good actions easy and bad actions difficult. It’s the classic example of burying bad food deep into a pantry, or removing alcohol from your house so you need to shop for it when you feel the urge. More resistance leads to less follow through on the behavior. 

This is a simple, everyday example of how you can use environmental design to make good choices easier! It worked for me, and something like this could work for you too.

‍