Breaking the habit

How to take back your mind, according to three former tech addicts

1. Delete those apps

JAKE KNAPP, FORMER DESIGN PARTNER, GOOGLE VENTURES; COAUTHOR, MAKE TIME “My iphone had always absorbed my attention, but in 2012, when it started to encroach on time with my kids, I decided to do something about it. I deleted every app that distracted me: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube. I deleted the Gmail app, and disabled the built-in email and even Safari. It was a huge relief. I thought this would be a short-term experiment, but six years later, those apps are still off my iphone.”

2. Supersize your device

MICHELL ZAPPA, FOUNDER, ENVISIONING TECHNOLOGY “To develop awareness of when and how I used my smartphone, I tried replacing it with the ipad mini 3G, which has all the features of the iphone, except calling. Because the ipad was big enough to be cumbersome to use at, say, the dinner table, it made me realize when I was killing time on it; I virtually stopped using Instagram and Twitter. Eventually, I went back to a smartphone, but I am more conscious about using it.”

3. Make it unpleasant

SARAH LAWRENCE, GRAPHIC DESIGNER “The first step is to install an app like Moment to track your usage. It notifies me when I’m on my phone more than usual, and I can see how many times I’ve picked it up each day. I also tried a comparison: For two weeks I used my iphone screen in color, and for two weeks I used it in gray scale, which is designed to be irritating. I found that gray scale reduced my usage to just utility and eliminated aimless scrolling.”