What My Minimalist Phone Looks Like In 2022

You’ve known about how distracting notifications and mobile apps can be since early 2014, when CEOs and silicon valley startup bros started posting blog articles about how they were doing 30-day digital detoxes. You’ve known about how dangerous social media can be since the 2016 US Presidential Elections, when engagement-driven advertisement-serving algorithms had a demonstrable effect on the outcome of the election.

And yet, still, your phone is blowing up all the time.

It’s distracting you. It’s distracting you from work, which you know. Worse, it’s distracting you from your loved ones and meaningful activities in your life. It’s shortening your attention span and worsening the quality of your life.

Those claims are vague. They don’t convince you. So let’s make this more concrete. If you use your phone 3 hours and 30 minutes a day, which is average, you spend 24 hours a week on your phone.

Would you like to feel more relaxed? Would you like longer, better sleep? Would you like to have more time off? The way to get all these things is right at hand:

Stop using your phone so much.

My journey to a minimalist phone began in 2018, when I checked my iPhone Screen Time stats one day to find I’d spent six hours on my phone that day, most of it on Snapchat and Instagram. For the first time, I asked myself, what am I getting out of these apps? The answer was disappointing: a fashion shopping habit, unrealistic beauty standards for myself, and a raft of superficial relationships.

First I deleted my Snapchat. Then I broke my phone addiction using an easy process that involved no digital detoxes. Last but certainly not least, I deleted my Instagram, Facebook, and remaining social media accounts. I posted an article about what my minimalist phone looked like. Since then, I’ve written one year and two-year reflections on life without social media.

The only way to save yourself from drowning in a sea of notifications and distractions — to take back that 24 hours a week and live it on your terms — is to take back control of your phone. Here’s how I did that.

My Home Screen

There are only 12 apps and one widget on my iPhone’s one home screen.

1. Medisafe, for logging medication
2. Ulysses, for logging article ideas
3. TickTick, for to-do and habit tracking
4. Whatsapp
5. CML Mobile, for my local library
6. Craigslist, for finding free stuff
7. Nextdoor, also for finding free stuff
8. Daylio, for logging my mood
9. Phone
10. Music
11. Signal, for messaging
12. Messages
13. My calendar widget.

Technically speaking, I have broken the cardinal rule of digital minimalism: I have two apps with endless feeds on my home page. When I’m bored, I scroll through the Craigslist and Nextdoor “free stuff” sections to score cool stuff like orchid pots and office desks. Since these feeds don’t make me feel bad about myself and I get free stuff from them, I’ve decided they’re OK.

My Notifications

Anecdotes suggest the average number of notifications per day people get is somewhere in the range of 75–100 per day. My daily average is much better: 36.

Nearly every single one of my notifications is from a bona fide human being trying to reach me in real-time. (Or my clock, reminding me for the third time in twenty minutes that I need to leave for therapy).

The effect this has on my peace of mind is profound.

Trying to have a calm and happy life with a phone that was constantly beeping and buzzing was like trying to climb Everest with rocks strapped to my back. I never realized how much they weighed me down until they were gone.

All I can say is, give it a shot. Disable all nonessential notifications. You’ll feel much better.

How to Become a Mobile Minimalist

I’m not suggesting you reconfigure your phone to look like mine today. If you dive in right now and delete all your social media, all your apps, and all your notifications, you’ll probably break down and redownload them all again less than a week from now. All that will do is make you feel frustrated and discouraged.

Start with some steps you’re ready to take today. Here are some possibilities:

1. Delete your social media apps and commit to only checking social media on your computer.
2. Delete all your mobile phone games.
3. Download some educational apps you can play with instead of social media or mobile phone games. Duolingo and Brilliant are a great place to start.
4. Set up downtime for your phone. Have it turn off all notifications before bed and while you’re asleep.
5. Configure night shift so your display turns orange at night. This will encourage you to sleep instead of staring into the display all night.

View digital minimalism as an ongoing project, not a one-and-done thing. Every few weeks or months, take a look at your phone and ask yourself “What can I change about my phone so it supports my life better?”

I ask myself this question about once a month. Sometimes it leads to no change. Most of the time, the answer makes things better. I turn off one more set of notifications that I recognize isn’t bringing value to my life. I delete widgets I’m not using. I get rid of habits I’m not keeping up with.

My reward is 20 extra hours a week and 50+ fewer notifications per day. Huge reward for such a small investment.

In Conclusion

You already know being on your phone too much is getting in the way of you living a good life. All that’s left is for you to stop justifying your bad habit to yourself and take the leap. You’ll be bored and uncomfortable for a few weeks, but the improvement in your quality of life will be well worth it.

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