Are Your Apps Helping or Hurting You?

Is Your Phone Layout Working for You or Against You?

Here’s a simple question that changed how I use my phone:

Are my apps helping me or hurting me?

I realised that my phone layout was working against my goals.

Every time I unlocked my phone, I’d open a social media app without thinking. Before I knew it I'd be down a social media blackhole and forget what I was supposed to be doing.

James Clear, in Atomic Habits, talks about the power of your environment in shaping your behavior. When most people hear environment, they think about their physical space. But our digital environment matters just as much.

The average person spends over 3 hours on their phone daily, and those 3 hours can either move us closer to our goals or keep us stuck in cycles of distraction.

One Small Change That Had a Big Impact

I decided to remove all social media apps from my home screen and replace them with apps that encourage productive habits.

Now, when I unlock my phone, I see Kindle, Reader by Readwise, and Obsidian instead of Instagram or TikTok.

It’s a small tweak, but it's made a huge difference.

Since I’ve made this change I've read more books in 3 months than I did in the previous year.

Plus my time on social media has dropped.

I feel more refreshed and focused, and I’m no longer wasting time scrolling through content that doesn’t add to my life.

Design Your Digital Environment

Make sure your phone works for you, not against you. Set your home screen in a way that sets you up for success, not failure. It’s a small change that can have a big impact.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Have you got any other ideas to help make you phone work for you?

Let me know.