Smartphones are an incredibly powerful tool for organising our lives and achieving goals. Despite this, many of us use them incorrectly. We waste time on them instead of leveraging their features to get things done.
The average person spends three to four hours a day on their phone. If you think you are the exception, check your weekly screen time report. You will be surprised.
Imagine if that time was devoted to developing a gift or pursuing a goal, rather than getting lost down the social media rabbit hole. The smartphone in your pocket has more processing power than the supercomputers of the 1960s. So why are you using it to scroll through photos and argue with people you have never met?
Here is the truth: smartphones are not evil. The real problem is the way we use them. To free yourself from being a screen slave, take charge of your device and use it to order your life in the direction you want it to go. That is what digital wellbeing really means: using technology intentionally, in service of your goals, not the other way around.
Below are my ten ideas for minimising distraction, starting a productivity revolution and making your smartphone serve you.
1. Turn Off All Notifications
The first step to reclaiming your screen time
This is the most basic and fundamental of all these tips, but few people actually do it because of FOMO. Turning off notifications is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to take back control of your screen time and protect your mental health in the process.
I do not turn off every notification. The few that remain on for me are essential travel and navigation apps. Those updates are vital for being in the right place at the right time. Everything else is turned off.
Notifications are unrestrained interruptions. Those red dots do nothing but create anxiety. I only enter my messages, emails or voicemails when I have the time to batch all these tasks together and reply. Then I can sit, focus and get it done.
If you are constantly interrupted, you will never get important or meaningful work completed. Reducing notifications is one of the most underrated digital wellbeing habits a student can build.
2. Put Social Media Apps in a Folder
Create friction between you and your biggest screen time drains
If life is made up of time, apps like TikTok are stealing the life out of teenagers everywhere. TikTok is a seriously engaging platform, but the problem is it is a deep dark void and your life will continue to be sucked away if you do not employ some serious discipline.
Ask any student today if they have ever lost three hours tumbling down the rabbit hole of a social media binge. The same goes for Instagram, Snapchat and all the other usual suspects.
Place all social media apps into a folder called something like “Open between 5pm and 5:30pm” and select your own 15 to 30 minute window. If you miss your window, you wait until tomorrow. Guess what? You will be fine.
You can also set a screen time limit for certain apps and give someone else the password. Or just delete the app. I did not say it would be easy, but it is worth it. While your friends are dreaming of becoming influencers, you will be making real progress toward your goals.
3. Pick a Note App and Capture Everything
Get it out of your head and into a system
Your mind is meant for having ideas, not holding them.
David Allen, productivity expert
Research has shown we can only hold four pieces of information in our heads at any one time. Yet most of us have hundreds of things we need to get done. Writing everything down is the first step to a more productive life.
I have used Evernote, Notability and Simple Note, but I keep coming back to the simplest option. A good note app can be accessed across all your devices and saves everything automatically. Simply capture everything you need to do or want to remember in one place.
Create a “Mind Sweep” note and download every task from your head. Jot down everything you can think of, from completing an assignment to buying a new pair of shoes to picking up groceries on the way home. Then create folders to sort everything into. For students, useful folders might include things like assignments, goals, ideas, morning and evening routines, shopping lists and personal growth notes.
Indeed, getting things out of your head and into a system is one of the most powerful productivity and digital wellbeing habits you can build.
4. Create a Morning and Evening Ritual
Use your phone to build habits, not break them
Once you have your note app set up, create a note called Morning Rituals and another called Evening Rituals. List at least five habits you want to build to supercharge your morning or quiet your mind and prepare for sleep.
These tiny habits, when completed daily, lead to massive change. Set reminders until your rituals become automatic. The latest research suggests it takes around 66 days to turn a new ritual into a lasting habit.
Here is an example of a simple morning ritual: drink two glasses of water, do 20 squats, read for 10 minutes, write out your top three priorities for the day, and practise a two-minute meditation. An evening ritual might include listening to a podcast, writing out your daily reasons to be grateful, reading, stretching and reflecting on what went well.
Furthermore, for students especially, a consistent morning and evening ritual is one of the most effective tools for managing screen time, supporting mental health and building genuine wellbeing.
5. Use Your Voice Assistant
Stop doing manually what technology can do in seconds
Your phone’s voice assistant is free to use and can dramatically improve your productivity. Nobody should be setting alarms or timers manually anymore. Use your virtual assistant to help save time with micro duties.
My kids used to laugh at how long it took me to take a photo. I had to turn on my screen, unlock my phone and find the camera app. Now I just say a single command and it is done instantly.
I also use voice commands in the car. As soon as I get in, I ask for the day’s headlines and they are read out loud. Brilliant. The more we use our voice assistant, the more adept we become at leveraging this tool in a way that saves time rather than wastes it.
Moreover, using voice commands instead of manually opening your phone reduces the temptation to get sucked into apps. It is a small but powerful digital wellbeing strategy.
6. Listen to Engaging, Informative Podcasts
Replace passive scrolling with active learning
Have you ever wished you could be a fly on the wall when two powerful and successful people are having a conversation? You can. And for free.
There are so many brilliant conversations happening between the world’s most amazing thinkers, artists, professional athletes and business leaders. I am amazed more people do not take advantage of this incredible resource.
Add a podcast to your morning or evening routine, or listen to one whenever you are in transit. Make notes and integrate what you learn into your life. If you can listen to even 15 minutes of a great conversation each day, it will arm you with more than enough insight to change how you think and act.
In fact, swapping passive social media scrolling for active podcast listening is one of the most impactful screen time decisions any student can make for their learning and mental health.
7. Use the Reminder App
Free your mind from clutter
I love the Reminders app. It keeps me on point and sends me alerts about little things I often forget. If we spend more time using these kinds of apps and less time on the ones that waste our time, we will achieve far more than our peers.
Your voice assistant can set a reminder for you in seconds. Having a message pop up an hour before you need to be somewhere is a genuine life-saver, and it means one less thing cluttering your mind.
Set reminders to free your mind from to-do clutter and redirect that mental energy toward the things that actually matter. This is digital wellbeing in practice: using your device to support your life, not distract from it.
8. Just Press Record
Capture ideas before they disappear
A good voice recording app is one of the best productivity investments you can make. The right app will not only record your voice but transcribe the whole recording into editable notes automatically.
If you are in a meeting, seminar or class, you can record and transcribe everything. You then edit and organise the notes as you see fit. It is an amazing tool, especially for the student who always gets asked to take notes. All you have to do is press record and clean up the notes later.
Recording conversations to be transcribed saves your brain space and rescues you from trying to type at a million miles a minute. It is also a far better use of your screen time than passively scrolling through content that adds nothing to your life.
9. Use Text Replacement Shortcuts
Automate the repetitive so you can focus on the meaningful
I love automations and anything that makes life more productive. When replying to emails, I used to find myself typing the same opening lines every time. With text replacement shortcuts, I now type just a few characters and the full sentence writes itself.
For example, I set up a shortcut so that typing two characters instantly pastes my full contact details into a message. This kind of micro-efficiency saves real time across the day.
In your phone settings, find the keyboard options and look for Text Replacement. Tap the button to add your own shortcuts. Hardly anybody uses this feature. Set yours up today and get ahead.
However, the deeper point here is this: the more you automate the repetitive tasks on your device, the less time you spend on your screen, and the more time you spend on the things that actually matter to your wellbeing and your goals.
10. Get Rid of the Clutter
A clear phone supports a clear mind
It is the ultimate nightmare: you go to capture something important, only to find your phone tells you that storage is full. A cluttered phone is a metaphor for a cluttered mind.
There are great apps that make it easy to swipe away unwanted photos quickly. Swipe to favourite, swipe to keep, swipe to delete. You will be amazed at how liberating it feels to clear the clutter. Try it if you want a cleaner, faster and more focused digital life.
Clearing your phone is not just about storage space. It is a digital wellbeing practice. When your device is clean and organised, it is easier to use intentionally and harder to get lost in.
The Choice Is Yours
Digital wellbeing starts with a decision
These are just some of the ways we can make our lives more productive. There are other simple strategies, like leaving your phone somewhere out of reach while you work. You could even try switching it off completely.
Remember this: if you do not have the discipline or are not willing to cultivate it, your future will be lost in an infinite abyss of meaningless content. Learning to develop digital dexterity will help you successfully navigate this modern world.
Put yourself to the test. Try some self-regulation. Pretty soon you will find yourself among the few who have truly mastered this discipline, because screen time addiction is only going to get more challenging as technology expands.
If you cannot choose wisely about how and when to use technology for your benefit and wellbeing, how will you be able to escape it when you need to? The answer starts with a single decision. Make it today.
Want to bring this message to your school? I deliver powerful, values-driven presentations to students across Australia on digital wellbeing, screen time and mental health. Book a school presentation or visit The HopeFULL Institute to learn more.