one sec

For the past month I've been using an app called "one sec" to help reduce my mindless phone usage. I paid the annual subscription to get the full features. 

The app runs "interventions" when you try to open other apps, for example your web browser, so that you are delayed by about 10 seconds. There's a transition animation on screen and a configurable message. At the end you are asked if you really want to open the app, and the option highlighted most prominently is "I don't want to open [the app]". It also shows stats about those options about when you last opened it and how many times you have opened it in the last 24 hours. 

I really like it.

I've tried other ways to introduce some friction into my phone usage and so far I've found a 10 second delay to be the most effective. 10 seconds isn't a long time, but it feels long when you're interacting with interfaces that play so much on quick feedback and always giving you more stimulation.

One irritating thing is that I have it set up both for my browser and for my RSS reader. I open my RSS reader, wait 10 seconds and start reading a post. If I click on a link in a post it opens in my browser so there's an additional 10 seconds to transition to the browser and another 10 seconds to transition back to the reader. I say this is irritating, but all told that is 30 seconds of waiting for something to happen. I should be able to manage that.

I don't like how my patience and attention gets warped by my phone, but I also find there are benefits to using it. So for now, the friction stays.