How to reduce your screen time: 12 realistic tips

Phones have been engineered to keep us hooked: a US court found Meta and YouTube’s platforms were designed to be addictive, and the companies paid a combined $6m. Prof Marcantonio Spada warns that “we’ve outsourced our brain to California – our emotions, our thinking,” and that apps use intermittent rewards so “your brain tends to remain in a state of anticipation, which you don’t necessarily get with the traditional substance addictive patterns.” Psychotherapist Hilda Burke has seen phone use linked with low mood and relationship and sleep problems.

She says the thing people were trying to self-medicate – “conflict, a problem at work or a feeling of being lost in our lives” – remains after hours of scrolling, leaving a “hangover” of regret, and she encourages making phone use a conscious choice rather than something passive.

Practical steps include tracking time with built-in tools such as Android’s Digital Wellbeing and Apple’s Screen Time, although Spada cautions against overmonitoring and prefers the occasional alert.

United States, California

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