6 Ways I Keep My Phone Minimalist | Digital Minimalism

I absolutely have a love-hate relationship with my phone. And before I made some big changes to make it the phone of a digital minimalist, I would say I was rather addicted. Using whatever I had on there to kill any gap in time and search for entertainment in any moments of boredom. I remember just sitting and scrolling through anything and everything and watching 30 or 40 minutes just disappear. And I always felt much worse afterwards. So after I made some of the changes I'm going to share today in this video, I found my phone to be much less addicting and distracting and more of a tool. Here's how I optimize my phone for digital minimalism. But first, if you're new to my channel, thank you for stopping by. Here we talk about minimalism, frugal living, tech, and things of that nature. So if that sounds good to you and you end up liking the video, be sure to like and please use the keyblade on the subscribe button. Let's get started. One app per function. And I remember first thinking of this when I had several redundant apps on my phone, like Signal and WhatsApp, wondering why I had these several different apps that literally serve the same purpose and in some cases hadn't even opened in several months. And I actually feel like this applies to all categories, like social media, note-taking apps, music, and entertainment. It doesn't make sense for me to completely make a suggestion on what anyone else should have on their phone, but I think a great starting point is just like the physical aspect of minimalism, focusing on the most used or favored versions. Not to mention, this has a ton of passive benefits, like reducing storage clutter and the clutter in my app library. And while this might even seem a little extra nitpicky, it just makes finding what I need easier when I am scrolling through the app library or even settings. It usually means less passwords to manage and overall being more intentional with the apps I decide to use and keep. Ultimately, I want my phone to be more of a tool that makes my life a little easier rather than a place I spend every single empty pocket of time and this was a great first step towards doing that. Keep dock intentional. And this is far and beyond what I've been doing for the longest amount of time out of everything on this list. When I go back and look at the very first phone setup video I've made on this channel four years ago, it's completely identical. And for me, this really is the definition of if it isn't broke, don't fix it. At the bottom dock of my phone home screen is just the phone app and the text messaging app and as long as I'm able to, this is exactly how I plan on keeping it. And while I do use my phone for music, directions, and other important things, when I see this, it's just a little bit of a reminder of what I mostly want my phone to be used for. I noticed that when I experimented putting other things in the dock or on the home screen in general, it instantly felt cluttered and quite honestly, annoying. And not to mention, the only notifications I actually care about seeing if they're missed and getting back to are missed phone calls and some text messages, which in itself is another reason why, for me, these are the only two apps that belong here. There's no email or any other notification that can't wait a little while. For someone who doesn't want to purge the apps on their phone completely, I, at the very least, recommend trying a more intentional home screen or dock to be more specific. I wanted to quickly take a minute to talk about the sponsor of today's video, Factor. Factor delivers fresh, never frozen, dietitian-approved meals right to my doorstep. They're ready to eat in just two minutes, and I'm able to choose from a weekly menu of 35 different options, like keto, protein plus, or vegan options, plus many more. Factor is also highly flexible. I can change my order every week with plans from 4 to 18 meals per week or pause or reschedule my deliveries at any time. I have my order size arranged to cover my meals during my work shifts, so I never have to worry about it. And as someone who cooks every single day, this is just a really nice option to have sometimes. Skip the overpriced takeout trap. Factor's a cheaper, way more delicious option, and ready to eat in just two minutes. Head to factor75.com or click the link below and use code 50NICHOLASG to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first Factor box. That's code 50NICHOLASG at factor75.com to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. Thanks again to Factor for sponsoring this video. Delete old contacts. And there really isn't too much to elaborate here. However, I'm always pretty confused as to how I end up with so many contacts to delete by the end of every year, usually from people getting a new phone number and me saving both of them or just saving a contact temporarily for work or freelance reasons. And while I only do this about once a year, I always find about five or ten contacts I can get rid of. And maybe some people need to hear this, but if there's someone in there I don't talk to anymore or frankly don't ever want to talk to again, this is a bit of a way to actually commit to that. Putting that much meaning into something as simple as a contact list might sound a little silly, but I like to imagine the people in my contact list are the ones I care the most about talking to, reaching out to, and vice versa. I absolutely recommend going through your contact list to delete the numbers of the people you don't talk to anymore or the Tinder date that said you look like the Walmart Keanu Reeves or Hosier. That never happened to me. Require face ID or hide apps. This truly might be one of the best features in any iPhone update in recent memory. I'm not entirely sure, but it's possible this exists on Android as well. Regardless, the philosophy can still apply here. If you long press an app on your iPhone, you can now require face ID or touch ID to open the app as well as even hide the app entirely. This to me is perfect if you have an app you use super irregularly but still need it on your phone. I actually do this with my Geico app, which the only reason I keep is that it has my insurance card in there just in case I need that on the fly. Because God forbid of an accident, the last thing I want to do is download an app on my phone. Hiding the app entirely is so well hidden that in fact, the only way I've noticed I'm actually able to locate the app after hiding it is by going to the app store, searching for it, and opening it that way. If you wanted to create a serious amount of friction to reduce the amount of times you might be checking an app or refreshing it, this is absolutely the best way to do it in my opinion. Batch process tasks. This idea can really apply to everything, but I'm going to specifically talk about how it applies to my phone use and digital minimalism in general. Ultimately, my goal with all the tips on this list is to waste as little time as possible doing scrolling, watching Family Guy clips, or checking to see if the Winds of Winter has a release date. And this directly keeps me from wasting that time. This means I'm trying to intentionally unlock my phone and complete similar things in one single session, like responding to texts, emails, or even missed calls. And what's so great about implementing this is that I found that I'm actually thinking about why I'm going into my phone rather than just mindlessly unlocking it and starting to scroll. One of my worst habits is doing something productive and randomly in the middle of it, switching over to YouTube, watching an entire video, and then going to whatever's next on my to-do list and repeating that indefinitely. By sticking to this process of working in small batches, I just noticed that a tremendous amount of time is saved rather than wasted. Embrace physical alternatives. I know I'm usually talking about the flip side of this, choosing digital versions over its physical counterpart, but I absolutely see the beauty in the physical option of certain things. For example, I do use the Notes app daily, but I also keep a physical notebook for certain things, like my least organized thoughts that I want to journal. And the same thing goes for reading physical books. I read physical books as well as ebooks, and after staring at a computer screen for an entire work shift, I actually feel like my eyes are resting and not burning when they're looking at paper pages. I would even argue that this is a huge reason why I love my analog watch. Because something as simple as checking the time on my phone could lead to me seeing a notification or just unlocking it without a purpose. While I personally think digitizing tasks makes them easier overall, opting for the physical alternative has had its own benefits that I've noticed in the past. And it's interesting because a lot of the times I feel like I have to choose between a digital version or a physical version of anything when there's literally no reason to just go back and forth as I please. I would say for the most part, these were the most effective changes I made to my phone and behavior around my phone that helped me on this everlasting journey towards digital minimalism. I really hope you found some of these tips useful and can apply to you. And lastly, I wanted to mention if you liked my phone's wallpaper, I have a link down below for my wallpaper store where the majority of them are completely free to download. So check that out if you're interested. Anyways, as always, I appreciate the time you spent here and I appreciate you watching. If you did like this video and you like this type of content, be sure to like and consider subscribing to my channel. And I'll see you next time.