How to turn your mobile into a 'dumb phone' without the commitment

Get your attention back

People are rushing out to buy bricks and flip phones in the hopes of finally breaking their phone addictions. But you can save yourself the commitment of a dumb phone by just altering your phone settings.

We’ve never been more aware of our phone addictions. 

It’s sad to say it’s not rare for many of us to see 8 hours (half of our waking hours) when we open our screen time settings. 

Most of the time, we don’t even know what makes up all that time; we just jump between five or so equally unfulfilling apps, and scroll for an unspecified amount of time, hoping the carefully trained algorithm will show us what we want to see. And then eight hours have passed and we can only remember looking at a Scandi girl’s outfit, dog video and taxing political content. 

Yet we still say we have no time for hobbies, workouts or reading.

We all really sat through The Social Dilemma thinking the documentary was enough to make us throw our phones far out of arm’s reach, but now we just continue to scroll while fully aware of what our screen time is doing to our brains.

Our addictions have got so bad, even TikTok is trying to help us log off, adding features to push us to be more mindful about our scrolling habits and, importantly, actually go to sleep.

A growing portion of Gen Z has finally cracked, and are paying up to $200 for the flip phone many of us would’ve tried to trade in for an iPhone had our parents handed them to us at 13. Image: Unsplash

Gen Z are paying for brick phones and accessories to end their screen addictions

A growing portion of Gen Z has finally cracked, and are paying up to $200 for the flip phone many of us would’ve tried to trade in for an iPhone had our parents handed them to us at 13. 

While most aren’t fully committing to going analogue, keeping their smartphones and documenting their days and nights on socials, flip phone in hand, they’re making a conscious effort to claw back their attention.

Phone-free retreats sounded like a ridiculous idea a few years ago, but many of us now dream of a relaxing destination where we literally have no choice but to disconnect. Hiking, camping and luxe secluded stays seem to be more popular than ever as people feel like they have to go completely off the grid in order to just put their phone down for a few hours.

Companies like Kendrick Lamar’s pgLang sell ‘anti-smart’ phones to replace our digital jails with the most basic call, alarm, music and notes functions. Image: pgLang

Companies like Kendrick Lamar’s pgLang sell ‘anti-smart’ phones to replace our digital jails with the most basic call, alarm, music and notes functions, while Locked and Brick sell phone accessories that temporarily remove distracting apps and notifications so you can finally focus on your life.

But if you can’t afford a dumb phone, or just don’t want to commit to shelling out any cash in order to buy back your attention, you don’t have to. You can transform your smartphone into a dumb phone in seconds by just adjusting some settings.

How to turn your mobile into a dumb phone in settings

If you’re aware of your phone addiction, it’s highly likely you’re aware of the focus section of the settings app too.

Pick the apps you still want to access. Image: iStock

#1. Get a screen time app 

Download any screen time app to block and unblock apps; some options creators are sharing on TikTok include Opal, Blank Spaces and Dumb Phone.

#2. Pick the apps you still want to access

Once in the screen time app, select all of the apps you want to still have access to while in dumb mode. 

Most people pick phone, messages, calendar, notes and alarm. Some have better self-control than me, and keep Spotify, camera and photos on their home screen too.

Change your background to provide as little temptation as possible. Image: Pexels

#3. Add your screen time widget

Return to your home screen, long hold and press edit in the top left corner to add a widget. 

Add the screen time app’s widget.

#4. Change your background to provide as little temptation as possible 

You can also change your background to blend in with the unexciting background of the widget to really limit visual stimulus.

Add a new focus setting. Image: iStock

#5. Add a new focus setting  

Open your focus settings and press the plus icon in the top right corner to add a new focus option.

#6. Customise for peak productivity

Label it ‘dumb phone’, ‘lock in’, ‘get off your phone’ – whatever you think will really push you to focus on your to-do list, and then you can schedule a time for your mobile to turn into a dumb phone. Customise your screens so that the only lock and home screens available to you while in this focus mode are the ones with the widget on them. 

Congratulations, you have a dumb phone for as long as you want. 

If, like me, you routinely ignore your screen time limits and DND settings, hopefully this is the trick to finally help you put your phone down. Image: iStock

You can easily return your phone to its regular functioning by deselecting the focus mode in settings or Control Centre. 

If, like me, you routinely ignore your screen time limits and DND settings, hopefully this is the trick to finally help you put your phone down.

Even if it’s just for the time it takes you to tick that one errand off your to-do list.

Originally published as How to turn your mobile into a 'dumb phone' without the commitment