I've noticed on Hacker News a tendency where people declare phones to be distracting for them and thus the only solution is to stop using them. I've been liste

I've noticed on Hacker News a tendency where people declare phones to be distracting for them and thus the only solution is to stop using them. I've been listening to the Cortex podcast recently. It is a productivity podcast by CGP Grey (youtuber) and Myke Hurley (runs a podcasting company). There is a big focus on the tech they use and how they make the most of it. There is a large focus their phones and iPads. They both would probably agree that the garden-path with modern smartphones is a distracting mess. But where they differ is that assuming that means all hope is lost. They are quite advanced users of the systems they use but the basics can be done with only a bit of effort and will make a big impact. * Go through your apps and purge ones you aren't using anymore. * Go through the apps you chose to keep and explicitly set the notification settings for them. A lot of distracting apps are distracting because they use notifications to remind you that they exist. * Remove time-sink apps from your home screen. You'll use them less if opening them takes more effort. * Use the spots where time-sinks apps used to exist for apps you want to get into the habit of using. You'll have a few days of muscle-memory to exploit to your benefit. * Take a look at what your calendar and reminder apps can do and start making use of them. They consider these two apps to be the core of the productivity software, and the basic apps will serve people for a long time. * Look at Screen Time (or the Android equivalent) and see what it can do to further help you. You can set app limits and notification free periods (with exceptions). An interesting metric that is worth periodically checking is Pickups. This tracks what is the first app you switch to after unlocking your phone. It can be handy for identifying troublesome apps. There is a lot of simple stuff that can make a big difference. That entire list can probably be done in the time it took me to write this. It seems so weird then to see how much of Hacker News is utterly defeatist and doesn't try. If this did make you curious about the podcast, two episodes I think would make good jumping in points would be: * #101 Productivity 101: An attempt to cover all the basics for someone just getting into productivity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eSCldom1Yc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eSCldom1Yc https://www.relay.fm/cortex/101 https://www.relay.fm/cortex/101 * #109 State of the Apps: This is a yearly overview of the apps they are using and what they get from them. They include screenshots of their homescreens in the shownotes which can make some useful inspiration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIiOfhlBB4A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIiOfhlBB4A https://www.relay.fm/cortex/109 https://www.relay.fm/cortex/109