What I'm trying to achieve here is to make more conscious choices.

If I want to scroll Reddit, I would like to make a deliberate decision rather than doing it habitually in an "uncontrolled" way, just immediately out of boredom.

The app intervenes in this unconscious phone pickup habit loop and prompts me to reconsider this.

I'm not deleting social media apps from the device and I believe we shouldn't. I'm just trying to adjust the way how I reach them.

A lot of people doing the scrolling thing seem not satisfied with it. Listening to them, it seems they feel like it not only kills their time funnily, it actually goes beyond, and kills their time more they wanted will still not being so enjoyable.

So they are trying to find hacks to counter their habits.

I can relate. Sometimes I'm on HN a bit more longer than ideal. But that's not a big issue for me and it's not very often so I'm not finding a fix for this.

You might have a great relationship with time and your phone, which is great. Not all of us have that. If/when my mental health is not on its best legs tools like this might prevent it from going deeper. Its VERY easy for me to do 30 minutes of mindless youtube shorts watching instead of doing something I was supposed to do or even wanted to do.

ADHD brain is a bitch. "Gimmicks" help to trigger a intentional conscious response to break out of a pattern.

i don't have phone problems, but I do think there is a non-arbitrary worthiness scale to things I do for fun. In the long term, I think I benefit more and feel better about myself for spending time learning something or creating something than playing video games or doing something passive.

> It's only "addictive" because it's fun

This is not true. Almost everything in mobile phones exploit human brain biases to keep us hooked. It's about regaining control of what you want to use your time for.

When I don't have my phone's distractions, I read books instead, or play music, or maybe do a few pushups.

Basically anything I in-fact do when my phone's not around, is better than the phone.

The only thing I do without the phone that's almost as low-value is video gaming (gee, more electronics...)

These critiques/nudges/reminders about screen time are as much worth as a YouTube short: a dime a dozen. Completely shallow, thoughtless, vapid and a waste of time.[1] Anyone can make the point that people are staring at their phones. That they spend time on social media.

It’s the equivalent of getting up on a soapbox and exclaiming that we live in a society. (Except everyone is on their phone and won’t give you any attention)

Why? Why are you on your phone? Well, have you, the critiquer of the supposed malaise given any real thought to that? Or do you have no insights to offer, nothing more than a rhetorical one-word question to ask, nothing that penetrates the surface of the supposed problem?

Have you, OP?

At least propose a theory. Like: maybe people are overstimulated and have choice fatigue. Then what the hell does yet another automated nagger help? One more reminder that you should drink a cup of coffeine-free green tea and smile at a stranger?

Nothing was uncovered. Nothing was gained.

[1] This is not true. Making YouTube shorts takes some editing skills.

it's currently very cool to announce to everybody how little time you spend on your phone, it's like the new "I'm vegan" or "I use arch btw".

people don't realise how addiction works - see the Vietnam veterans case: https://jamesclear.com/heroin-habits

we have bigger (social) problems that's causing the phone addiction: if it wasn't a phone, it would be video games, TV or alcohol or something else.