10 Tips To Get Off Your Phone & Touch Grass
Help – I’m addicted to my phone and I can’t stop scrolling!
We’ve all been there. That crazy urge to comb through your apps and get the next dopamine rush from a funny meme, interesting TikTok trend, or see how good Dua Lipa looked on her last tour stop.
But sadly, we all know it’s eating us alive. The Brain Rot is real. Personally, I’ve found myself shorter with my conversations, bored more easily, and struggling to pay attention for periods longer than a few minutes. Studies show that these types of consequences are not only commonplace, but a direct result of staring at our phones too long.
In fact, 71% of Americans report spending more time on their phones than with their romantic partner, contributing to feelings of neglect or disconnection in relationships (Reviews.org, 2025). For kids, it’s even worse, as 65% of children feel their parents’ phone use distracts from quality family time, leading to feelings of neglect. Teens are 2.5 times more likely to report emotional distance from parents who are heavy phone users (Common Sense Media, 2023).
You don’t have to look very far to find alarming stats on phone addiction ruining our interpersonal relationships. And frankly, we all know we should probably get off our phones more often. But how do we actually do this?
At Noble, this is a problem we built our company to solve first hand, starting with our No-Bull Plan that offers you unlimited data on the nation’s most powerful 5G network (for when you need it), but also gives you cash back when you use less data each month… all for just $50 per month!
AND… if you do want to get the most out of that plan, or just start building a healthy phone-life-balance, here are a ton of good tricks to get off your phone and end the Brain Rot:
- New Rule: No-Phone Commutes
- Most of us end up scrolling our phones while we’re commuting to and from work or various events in our lives. If I get in an Uber it’s almost a reflex now to open my phone to avoid conversation with the driver.
- Personally, the best thing I’ve found is to just make a new rule of keeping my phone away while on the subway or riding somewhere. If you need music, predownload it on WiFi, and don’t take your phone out of your pocket.
- Airplane Mode is Your New BFF
- Going for a walk and want to enjoy your surroundings? Flip on Airplane mode and feel yourself free up from the constant notifications on your phone. You’ll still get your important texts and emails when you turn it back on, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised a, how much you didn’t miss, and b, how relaxing it’ll be. I’ve done this while commuting too – it’s a healthy reminder, “Oh yeah, that text/ping/email is actually not life-or-death, and I can respond on my own time.”
- Going for a walk and want to enjoy your surroundings? Flip on Airplane mode and feel yourself free up from the constant notifications on your phone. You’ll still get your important texts and emails when you turn it back on, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised a, how much you didn’t miss, and b, how relaxing it’ll be. I’ve done this while commuting too – it’s a healthy reminder, “Oh yeah, that text/ping/email is actually not life-or-death, and I can respond on my own time.”
- Focus Mode
- A simple “do-not-disturb” setting on iPhones does wonders for Brain Rot. More importantly, you can customize certain focus settings on your phone:
- For iPhones: Go to Settings > Focus
- For Androids: Go to Settings > Digital Wellbeing & Parental Controls > Focus Mode
- In each feature, you can block apps, remove them from your home screen, and adjust notifications you don’t want to receive when this mode is activated
- Make different settings for work, commutes, home, so you can avoid unnecessary emails, pings, or other notifications that prevent you from being present.
- For me, once I’m done with work, I have a “Personal Time” focus setting that only lets my good friends and family text me, and prevents work emails, apps, social media, and other work-related distractions pop-up and pull me back into my phone.
- A simple “do-not-disturb” setting on iPhones does wonders for Brain Rot. More importantly, you can customize certain focus settings on your phone:
- Leave Your Phone At Home
- Try this – go for a walk, or go get a meal with friends, and leave your phone at home. It’s jarring at first, but you’ll be AMAZED at how free you feel. It’s a forcing function to be more present, and removes the phone temptation with one simple step.
- Try this – go for a walk, or go get a meal with friends, and leave your phone at home. It’s jarring at first, but you’ll be AMAZED at how free you feel. It’s a forcing function to be more present, and removes the phone temptation with one simple step.
- Set Time Limits
- Use built-in phone features like Screen Time (iOS) or Digital Wellbeing (Android) to set daily app limits. Start with 1-2 hours for non-essential apps like social media and track your progress as you go.
- Use built-in phone features like Screen Time (iOS) or Digital Wellbeing (Android) to set daily app limits. Start with 1-2 hours for non-essential apps like social media and track your progress as you go.
- Create Phone-Free Zones
- Designate areas like your bedroom, dining table, or bathroom as phone-free spaces to encourage mindful presence.
- Designate areas like your bedroom, dining table, or bathroom as phone-free spaces to encourage mindful presence.
- Use Grayscale Mode
- Switch your phone to grayscale to make it less visually stimulating, reducing the dopamine pull of colorful apps and games. You’ll be surprised how less interested you become in your phone’s addictive pull.
- For iPhone:
- Settings > Accessibility > Vision > Display & Text Size
- Scroll and tap Color Filters > Toggle On
- Select Grayscale > Adjust Intensity if you’d like
- You can create a shortcut to turn this on pretty easily:
- Settings > Accessibility
- Scroll to General > tap Accessibility Shortcut (at the bottom) > Color Filters
- Now you can Triple-Click the Side Button to toggle grayscale on/off
- For Android:
- Settings > Accessibility > Vision enhancements
- Tap Color Correction under Display > Toggle on
- Select Grayscale from the options
- On Samsung – you may have to click Apply
- You can create an easy shortcut to toggle Grayscale on/off:
- Swipe down from the top of the screen to open Quick Settings.
- Tap the pencil/edit icon to customize tiles.
- Drag the Color correction or Accessibility tile to the active list
- Tap the tile to toggle grayscale.
- For iPhone:
- Switch your phone to grayscale to make it less visually stimulating, reducing the dopamine pull of colorful apps and games. You’ll be surprised how less interested you become in your phone’s addictive pull.
- Put Your Phone Across The Room
- Place your phone in another room or a drawer during work, meals, or sleep to break the habit of mindless scrolling.
- May of our users complain about the urge to doomscroll right before bed, solve this by putting your phone across the room to charge. It also has the added benefit of forcing you to get up to turn off your alarm!
- Journal
- You can’t be on your phone while you’re writing. Journaling, even a few minutes per day, will help you be more present and calm your brain.
- You can’t be on your phone while you’re writing. Journaling, even a few minutes per day, will help you be more present and calm your brain.
- Use “Dumb Tech” Tools
- There are amazing tools like Brick to help you avoid using certain apps and social media while you’re at home or work.
- If you want to go even further, “dumb phones” like Light Phone are really cool tech options to limit the number of apps and notifications you are trying to avoid
Generally, our Noble members report way less screen time and Brain Rot, but regardless, these healthier habits will improve your phone-life-balance and get you touching grass in no time.
Stay tuned for more tips to use less data so you can get paid, not played!
– Team Noble
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