Reducing screentime while at work

Measure your screen time

If you want to reduce your screen time substantially, you must first know how much time you're spending and where. Once you have a baseline, you can systematically reduce your screen time and set clear goals. Activate the screen time functionality on any of your Apple devices or use any of the third-party apps in Google's Play Store, such as ActionDash, Digitox or Screen Stopwatch to better understand how much time you spend on which apps and how often you unlock your phone. These apps track everything for you automatically and often work right out of the box.

Set limits accordingly

Once you have a good idea of how much time you spend on your phone, how many unlocks you average a day, and on which apps you spend the most time, you can start setting hard limits. Most of the screen time-measuring apps also have features that either limit the time you spend on those apps or block them once you've spent a certain amount of time on them. You can use those features to limit using apps that are unnecessary while working and hamper your productivity.

Limit Social Media to be more specific

Social media apps usually serve no purpose whatsoever while you're working. Most of the time we find ourselves with increasing screen time particularly because of these apps, and they substantially hamper our productivity while we're working. Place strict limits on your social media (just Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok—LinkedIn, Reddit, and other platforms can have the same effect).

There are apps and browser extensions such as StayFocusd, BlockSite, Freedom, or Apple's Screen Time, to block or restrict your usage of certain platforms. You can also adjust your settings to log out of your social media accounts automatically.

Create screen-free zones

As our phones have become extensions of our bodies, we have developed a tendency to take them everywhere, even to places where we don't quite need them. Reduce screen time by creating zones in your house where you're not allowed to take your phone. The bathroom is a good start. The harder it feels not to take your phone in a particular room, the more important it is to work on this right now.