[dgarrett]

I think the trick is to be configurable, but with high friction. Otherwise it's too easy to reconfigure away from the minimalism on the fly.

I've thought about using Parental Controls on iOS to do something similar. Set a very long password that can't be memorized easily, write it down somewhere accessible if needed, and you get a minimal phone that can be reconfigured if needed. Just with high friction (typing in a long password from a paper in your home).

Of course, this assumes your goal is "avoiding a distracting environment" rather than "avoiding a bloated environment". Everyone has different goals with minimalism.

[derefr]

The simpler way to do that (that doesn’t assume/require you to ever be home) is to make any reconfigurations that should be possible-if-necessary, but not done on a whim, take 24 hours to take effect. Teach the user this in advance, such that they know that they’ll need to plan to set their phone into a new mode at least 24hrs in advance of actually undertaking whatever adventure needs the new config.

(This is the Animal Crossing approach to friction. Move your house? Sure, but it won’t happen for 24 hours.)