How Digital Minimalism Has Changed The Way I Use My iPhone

Recently I published a post about Digital Minimalism and how it’s impacted my life in a very positive way.

If you haven’t read that post yet you can find it here.

So, after finishing that post I thought it may be beneficial to share what my phone looks like, and the reasoning behind it’s minimalist set up.

Let’s begin.

The Lock Screen

For those who have been subscribed to the blog for any decent amount of time you’ll know I’m happily married to my wife Victoria.

But where is her picture?! Why isn’t it on my Lock Screen?!?

Take a deep breath, and relax my friend. I’ll explain.

Her picture isn’t on my Lock Screen (or wallpaper) because I look at my phone as a tool.

To me, having a picture of my loved one only encourages me to use my phone more. I’ll see her picture, want to pick up the phone, and probably endlessly scrolling on something.

With a phone that looks boring I’m less inclined to grab it and spend unnecessary time on it.

Before I move on, I’ll address the elephant in the room.

Many people put their loved ones on their Lock Screen to shun any undesired advances from the opposite sex. In other words, they hope that picture shows they are taken, and not to flirt with them.

I believe my character and conduct should deter those types of advances, and show I’m not to be approached that way.

So relying on a mere picture to do that is somewhat silly to me.

Anyways…on to the next point.

The Home Screen

On my Home Screen you’ll see everything I need and nothing I don’t.

The only two apps I have are for calls and texts. This is intentional as I believe these are the two main reasons to reach my phone in the first place.

Any other app I want to use will have to be found in the App Library. I use the search bar at the top to make finding them easy.

What I love about this process is the extra step it takes me to access those apps. Why?

Because that extra step is a subconscious way of making me not want to be on my phone.

If I know I have that extra step, I’ll be less likely to open up the app before I actually need to.

One of my favorite things about the Home Screen is I no longer have the Safari app there. This helps me not jump on the internet “just because “.

Widgets

For my widget screen I keep it simple. Above you’ll see I have widgets for :

• Calendar
• Battery Percentage
• Spotify
• Google Maps

I often need to access all of the above widgets. From checking to see if I have a meeting, to resuming my favorite podcast; these widgets always come in handy.

And again, these widgets help keep me from accessing my App Library.

The App Library

Here we are. The infamous App Library I’ve been trying to avoid this whole time . Just kidding. There’s nothing wrong with apps.

What I like about Apple is it automatically organizes the apps according to what category they belong to.

So if I need to check my finances, it’s easy to find. If I need to access a productivity app, it’s all right where I need it.

Conclusion

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed having a sneak peek into how my phone is set up. Everything about it is intentional, and serves a purpose.

I’ve had it this way for going on a month now, and I don’t see myself changing it anytime soon.

Phones are great, but they can’t replace quality time spent with the ones we care about.

The less time I spend on my phone the more time I can spend with my wife, and people I love. That’s what life is really about.

Take care, and until next time Gents!

Posted By: Jeffrey Chark · In: Minimalism