Cell division: How to really pull the plug on your screen addiction

Finding a healthier way to live with screens

Indiadailyupdate.com – The wish to step away from technology has acquired different labels across generations. Some call it a digital detox, while others prefer “analogue living”. The underlying aim is similar: create enough distance from phones and feeds to make room for attention, relationships and quiet.

For many people, however, abandoning the smartphone altogether is neither realistic nor desirable. Phones have become tools for work, payments, directions, bookings and family communication. The more workable goal may be to establish boundaries that reduce compulsive use without making daily life unmanageable.

A weekend flip phone experiment

Mumbai businessman Siddharth Bhimani, 38, began looking for a way to switch off after his daughter, then five, pointed out that he was constantly on his phone. About three years ago, he bought a Nokia flip phone for weekends. His iPhone would stay off, while the second phone remained available for emergency calls.

“There’s something calming about knowing no one can contact you.”

He describes those two days as immediate mental decluttering. The change also affected the way he spent time with others. Bhimani began learning recipes from scratch alongside his daughter, and when meeting friends, he suggested games instead of letting everyone drift into their own screens.

Over time, he found that the urge for the quick reward of checking Instagram or Facebook became less powerful, even when he was back on his iPhone. His experience suggests that reducing access at selected times can be more sustainable than trying to give up technology permanently.

Making the phone less inviting

For Harita Odedara, 23, a freelance music writer in Himachal Pradesh, the push toward an analogue routine followed the student protests in July. She had been spending around 12 hours each day on her phone, liking and sharing Reels in solidarity. On the day she and her partner booked bus tickets to attend the protests, education minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned.

“All of a sudden, I felt so empty.”

Odedara responded with practical adjustments rather than a full disconnect. She installed an app that changed her phone display to black and white, making it less tempting to keep looking. She also limited short-form videos and confined social-media use to a two-hour window between 6pm and 8pm.

The reclaimed time went toward sketching, reading and connecting with artists. Yet she found that limiting screen time revealed another difficulty: dealing with the emotions that were previously masked by scrolling.

“We don’t talk enough about this side of digital detoxing — learning what to do with yourself when you’re not doomscrolling.”

That discomfort is an important part of changing a habit. A screen can provide distraction, stimulation and an easy escape from boredom or anxiety. Removing it leaves a gap that needs to be filled deliberately, whether through a hobby, conversation, rest or simply learning to sit with an unsettled feeling.

What happened after a complete break

Business manager Ayan Modi, 26, took a more dramatic route. During a solo trip across Europe in 2023, he noticed that posting photographs and Reels was taking more of his attention than the trip itself. After returning to Mumbai, he decided to see what would happen if he stopped using a smartphone for seven days.

He switched to a Karbonn K140 Pop, used cash for payments and disappeared from online activity. A week became two weeks, then a month. Eventually, Modi spent five months without a smartphone. He asked his boss to call if something needed immediate attention. Since his work at the time involved sales data and number-crunching, his work laptop was enough to follow developments in his field.

“I felt more focused at work because my phone was not around to distract me.”

After returning to a smartphone, Modi retained some of the habits he developed during the break. He prefers listening to music on a record player or radio, watches longer YouTube videos or listens to podcasts, and tries to make his media choices more intentional rather than endlessly scrolling.

When full disconnection is not practical

A clean break does not suit every life or job. Clinical dietician Malvika Fulwani, 34, averages 15 hours of screen time a day. Attempts to put her phone in another part of the house, or even on another floor while she worked, did not remove the fear of missing out.

“I had to get out of the spiral.”

Her reset came through a 10-day Vipassana retreat in Nashik, where participants had no devices, conversation, books, music or games and focused only on meditation. Afterward, Fulwani found she could leave her phone alone for an hour or longer. She now uses Do Not Disturb mode from 10.30pm until 6am.

“I still have to be on social media for work. But at least I’m no longer so attached to it.”

The limits of a dumbphone are real. When Bhimani uses his Nokia, he depends on his wife’s phone for online payments, GPS and event bookings. He has missed client calls and delivery OTPs.

“Get a dumbphone only if you’re okay putting up with these inconveniences.”

Being offline can be easier for someone running their own business than for an employee expected to respond quickly. It can be especially complicated for people whose work requires constant online presence, or for women who use location-sharing and online trackers to reassure loved ones about their safety.

The lesson is not that every phone must be replaced or every app deleted. A workable reset may be as simple as setting social-media hours, switching off notifications overnight, making a screen less visually rewarding or leaving the phone behind for a planned part of the day. The most useful boundary is one that restores attention without cutting people off from the practical support and connections they genuinely need.