PhonePact
NOTES ON ATTENTION

On using your phone less. Together.

58 field guides for people fighting the algorithm, written by someone who used to build it. No lockouts, no shame, no five weird tricks.

START HERE

What is a digital wellness circle?

The oldest behavior-change technology there is, redesigned for screen time: a few people you trust, one shared fact, zero surveillance. Definition, and a how-to you can run tonight with a group chat.

7 MIN · BEYOND BLOCKERS

For your brain

ADHD & ATTENTION
01ADHD and Phone Addiction: To Your Brain, a Blocker Is Just a Puzzle8 min · adults 02You Beat Every App Blocker in Two Seconds. That's Not the Failure You Think It Is.7 min · adhd 03Her Husband Holds Her Passcode. It Works. That's Exactly the Problem.7 min · design

For your family

ENDING THE TECH WAR
01How to Get Your Teen Off Their Phone Without Taking It Away8 min · framework 02What Are Realistic Screen Time Rules That Teenagers Actually Agree To?7 min · template 03The Bedtime Phone Battle Can't Be Won at Bedtime7 min · bedtime 04Teen Screen Time and Sleep: What Parents Should Actually Worry About6 min · sleep 05Screen-Free Activities Teenagers Don't Hate (Chosen by What Actually Competes With a Phone)6 min · activities 06Seven Words From a 4-Year-Old Did What No App Blocker Ever Could.6 min · parents 07The After-Bedtime Scroll Isn't Laziness. It's Revenge. (It's Also Backfiring.)6 min · evenings 08Your Phone Has Two Jobs. You Only Hate One of Them.6 min · reframe

Beyond blockers

FOR PEOPLE WHO BYPASS EVERYTHING
01Why App Blockers Don't Work (From Someone Who Tried Them All)7 min · essay 02The 7 Best Screen Time Apps in 2026, Picked by How You Actually Fail9 min · compared 03Apple Screen Time Was Designed for Someone Else's Phone. That's Why It Fails on Yours.7 min · explainer 04Why Do I Keep Picking Up My Phone Without Thinking?7 min · everyone 05What Is a Digital Wellness Circle? (And How to Start One)7 min · start here 06The Pickup Experiment: Count Every Phone Check for Seven Days7 min · experiment 07What PhonePact Measures, and What We Refuse To5 min · transparency 08How to Stop Doomscrolling (and Why Bad News Feels Impossible to Quit)6 min · mechanism 09What Happens When You Quit Social Media: The Honest Week-by-Week Timeline6 min · timeline 10Nomophobia: Why Being Without Your Phone Feels Like Low-Grade Panic6 min · anxiety 11Dopamine Detox: What the Science Actually Supports (and What's Marketing)6 min · science 12A Digital Detox Weekend Cures Nothing. Run It Right and It Tells You Everything.6 min · plan 13Digital Self-Control Isn't a Trait You Lack. It's Four Skills Nobody Taught You.7 min · method 14The Couples Screen Time Pact: How Two People Stop Policing and Get Their Evenings Back6 min · couples 15855 Remote Workers Asked How to Stay Off Their Phones at Home. The Answer Used to Sit Next to Them.7 min · remote work 16There's a Button on Your Phone That Defeats Every App Blocker Ever Made. You've Already Pressed It.7 min · mechanism 17Your Screen Time Report Isn't Failing to Change You. It Was Never Trying.6 min · explainer 18You Admitted Your Phone Use Scares You. They Said "Same." Here's What They Didn't Hear.6 min · essay 19Months Sober, and Six Hours a Day on Your Phone. The Relapse Nobody Counts.6 min · recovery 20You'll Lose Every Fight About Your Partner's Phone. One Sentence Wins Instead.6 min · couples 21PhonePact, OurPact, OwlPact, LockPact: The Difference Is Who Holds the Keys7 min · compared 22Brain Rot Is Real. It Also Runs in Reverse.6 min · mechanism 23Your Attention Span Isn't Shrinking. It's Being Farmed.6 min · attention 24TikTok Isn't Even Fun Anymore. You're Still on It Every Night. That's Not an Accident.6 min · short-form 25You Check Your Phone Within Seconds of Waking. The Cost Isn't the Ten Minutes.6 min · mornings 26It's 1am. You're Exhausted. You're Still Scrolling. It Was Never the Blue Light.6 min · nights 27Is Your Phone Causing Your Anxiety, or Hiding It? Getting This Wrong Is Why Nothing's Worked.6 min · mental health
PHONEPACT

You were never supposed to fight the algorithm alone.

PhonePact is the shame-free way to use your phone less: trusted circles, duration-only check-ins, nothing locked. You set your own daily point; when the app syncs that point and up to six later milestones, your circles can receive a plain line such as you reached 5h on your phone today. Exact app and site details stay on your phone.

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