3 hours and 1 min
… was how long I set the timer for my phone’s first stint in phone jail.
1. Why this, why now
It’s time to take back control from our algorithmic overlords. And to recognise my lack of self-control.
I’ve found myself in the darkness of 2-hour-long Tik-tok binges and lost sleep over some random internet meme rabbit hole. Also, I do find doom-scrolling extremely anxiety-inducing.
In short, social media is awesome. But only in micro-doses.
2. What hasn’t worked for me
I’ve tried leaving my phone outside the room to charge overnight (That didn’t work, I’d just choose not to charge it and use it in bed). I’ve tried the iPhone’s Screen Time Limiting feature. This helped prod me with a reminder and it worked for the first month or so. But I’ve eventually given in to the addiction and ended up over-riding the time limits set on apps like Tik Tok or Instagram.
3. Introducing the… iDiskk Portable Smart Timer Phone Locker Box Cell Phone Time Locking Container
There are surprisingly not many variations of the Phone Jail. This probably means I have poorer self-control than other humans.
Anyway, the iDiskk Phone Jail works like this:
Put your phone into container. Set a Timer.
Lock the container
That activates a 10 second “regret countdown”, where you can still open the container.
After that, its locked shut for your “desired” time.
There are holes in the container that allow you to do basic things like pick up calls and charging.
It’s not made of titanium. This means that, if this cold turkey experiment fails, you can probably access the phone via brute force or smashing the container on the ground.
4. Robot Battle
I find the idea of a Phone Jail really crude.
But maybe a simple, analogue solution is what we need to curb overwhelming digital desire.