The 30-day phone challenge.

Week 1: see it

1. Count. Look up last week’s screen time, how often you picked the phone up and how many notifications arrived. Write the three numbers down: where to find them.
2. Switch off what you would not miss. Go through the apps that sent you the most notifications and turn off the ones you would not miss: fewer notifications, step by step. Why it matters: notifications and focus.
3. Let a few people through. Set Do Not Disturb so that family and the school still reach you: Do Not Disturb with exceptions.
4. Move the pull. Take the apps you open without meaning to off your first home screen: why you keep checking.
5. Go grey for a day. Switch the screen to grayscale and see what changes: what a trial found.
6. Charge it outside the bedroom. A cheap alarm clock does the waking: your phone before bed.
7. Check in. Which of the six do you want to keep? Undo the rest without guilt.

Week 2: take back the edges of the day

8. Let the phone wind down before you do. Set a bedtime schedule that quiets it: bedtime mode on iPhone and Android.
9. One thing before any screen. Water, daylight, a stretch, then the phone: a morning without the scroll.
10. A meal without phones on the table. Face down still counts as on the table: a phone on the table.
11. A walk without the phone, or with it deep in a bag: nature and attention.
12. Five minutes of nothing. Wait for the kettle or the bus without reaching for the screen: is boredom good for you?
13. Read something long on paper: paper or screen?
14. Check in. Compare this week’s pickups with day 1.

Week 3: protect your focus

15. Phone out of reach for one block of work. Another room if you can: the phone on the desk.
16. Mail at set times, two or three a day, with notifications for it off in between.
17. Phones away in meetings, and see who notices: phones in meetings.
18. Rest your eyes with a far look every so often: the 20-20-20 rule and its evidence.
19. Put stopping points back into feeds, such as a time limit on the app that runs longest: infinite scroll.
20. News once, not all day: doomscrolling, and how to stop.
21. Check in. Which day made the biggest difference to your focus?

Week 4: a few bigger steps

22. Run one errand without the phone: what to sort out first.
23. A day off one social app, and notice what you missed, if anything: what the experiments found.
24. Use your voice for small things, a reminder or a timer, instead of unlocking the screen: speaking or typing?
25. An evening without the phone, with a plan for the few things you need: an evening without your phone.
26. Set an app limit on the one app you most often regret: limits on iPhone and Android.
27. Half a weekend day phone-light, with the phone in a drawer and Do Not Disturb on.
28. Delete one app you have not missed this month.
29. Count again. Screen time, pickups and notifications, against day 1: what your number adds up to.
30. Keep what worked. Write down the three changes you want to stay, and undo the rest.

If you slip

Skip a day and carry on; the plan is a menu, not an exam. Changes to settings keep working without willpower, which is why so many of the days are settings. If a change made you anxious about missing something important, keep it and add an exception for the people who matter.

Where a ring fits

Many pickups are for small things: the time, the next meeting, a reminder, a quick answer. We are building Lychnos Ring to take those off the phone, with a buzz and a line of text on your finger. It is in development: a phone-free assistant.