[mzelling]

Intermittent idleness is appealing and even productive, as it often surfaces valuable ideas from your subconscious. That said, today's society is badly equipped for idleness. With phone notifications going off every few minutes, it's difficult not to be constantly interrupted with the "task" of looking at a text. Let's throw out our phones first, then we can experience true mental repose.

[alsetmusic]

> That said, today's society is badly equipped for idleness. With phone notifications going off every few minutes, it's difficult not to be constantly interrupted with the "task" of looking at a text.

I have to leave home to read a book. Sitting on a park bench is the only way for me to focus and not get distracted. It’s great, though. We have a beautiful rose garden nearby. Lots of critters scurrying about.

[butlike]

Perpetual Do Not Disturb is a better stopgap

[mzelling]

I agree for the most part. DND isn't perfect, though. When you're bored, your mind naturally searches for things to do, and you'll be tempted to proactively check your lock screen, which unhelpfully informs you about "3 messages received while in Do Not Disturb." Now you really want to know what those messages are.

This is why I tend to keep my phone physically far away from me, and out of sight.

[butlike]

Less phone usage makes for less phone usage. It gets easier. Now I don't particularly care what the messages are if they come outside of my designated "message checking time."

Anecdotally, I'd give it 3 months of "reduced phone usage mindfulness." For further reading, check out the wikipedia article on ∆FosB expression, which is a gene expression which essentially tells your body to keep doing things that release dopamine. It takes about 3 months for the ∆FosB expression to decay.

[returningfory2]

In my experience turning off my phone solves the temptation to check it. The friction of having to turn on my phone is small but apparently enough.

[a96]

Some smaller doses of friction include not putting icons of entertaining apps on home screen or removing such apps entirely and e.g. using a browser if you need a particular service. Making sure unlock requires entering a (long) code. Making the colour scheme dull, maybe B&W mode. Removing notification permissions as much as possible. Turning off notifications on lock screen.