1h Protocol to Take Control of Your Phone
What will help you take control of your phone? Find out in one hour.
Some days your phone feels bigger than you. In one hour, you see why it pulls you, and leave with a plan built from your own answers.
First chapter free. No account needed to start.4.5 out of 5 · 4 learner reviewsVersion
Learners
What learners say
A clear, approachable guide that made me think more carefully about my phone habits.
Some ideas felt familiar, but I appreciated how straightforward the overall approach was.
The tone felt encouraging, and the advice seemed realistic for everyday life.
A useful starting point, though I would have enjoyed a little more depth.
How a 1h Protocol works
This is the hour where it changes. You stop guessing, see why it happens to you, and build your plan from your own answers: a few clear moves, and fourteen days to prove them.
- 1
Free chapter
Start from the evening that disappeared
You describe your own phone, in your own words, and check the numbers it already keeps. Days like these:
- •One thing after dinner. Then it’s past eleven.
- •Seven a.m., scrolling before you’re out of bed.
- •At your desk at two, and your hand finds it.
- 2
Free chapter
Find your phone pattern
Your answers point to one of five patterns. Each has its own starting point, and you get one thing to do today.
- •The ReflexYour hand moves first. You start by keeping it at arm’s length.
- •The ScrollStopping is the hard part. You start by limiting the app.
- •The On-callEvery alert feels urgent. You start by choosing who gets through.
- •The EscapeIt’s how you escape a feeling. You start by naming it.
- •The Tune-upNo single cause. You start by moving where it charges at night.
- 3
Paid chapters
Understand why, then plan
Six chapters explain why your phone pulls, then build your plan while you set up your own phone as you go.
- 01Why it pullsTake apart yesterday’s longest pick-up into cue, reach and pull, and see what it cost.
- 02One pick-up, step by stepMove the charger, quiet your alerts, tidy your home screen and limit your top app.
- 03Your patternChoose extra changes for your pattern, like autoplay off, a ready replacement or reply times.
- 04The moment you meant to put it downPlan your stop, the second app that opens next and the morning after a lost evening.
- 05Your phone, on your termsSee your protocol, try your first change once and test that your people still get through.
- 06Your fourteen daysSave your sheet, lock-screen card and reminders, and learn how to review on day fourteen.
- 4
Yours for life
Leave with your protocol
A short plan for your phone: what to do, when, and what to do in the moment it pulls. Built from what the evidence supports, fitted to your own day, with fourteen days to prove it.
- ✓The two habits to start with, three at most
- ✓The rest kept for later, so nothing piles up
- ✓Why each habit matters, with the evidence behind it
- ✓Your phone’s own settings set up to back them, with your people let through
- ✓A plan for the moment you meant to put it down
- ✓Fourteen days to prove it, with four one-tap check-ins by email
Key sources
A selection of the research, official guidance and expert voices this program draws on.
- Heitmayer and Lahlou: Why are smartphones disruptive? A filmed field study of everyday use (2021)
- Dekker et al.: Turning notifications off for a week, a randomized trial (2024)
- Fitz et al.: Batching smartphone notifications three times a day, a randomized trial (2019)
- Olson et al.: A self-chosen package of phone settings, a randomized trial (2022)
- Allcott, Gentzkow and Song: Digital addiction, a trial of daily app limits with 1,933 adults (2022)
- Grüning et al.: A pause before opening an app, field data and an online trial (2023)
- Elliott et al.: If-then plans reduce phone use while driving, a randomized trial (2021)
- Parry et al.: Self-reported versus logged phone use, a review of 44 studies (2021)
- Allcott et al.: Deactivating Facebook and Instagram, two large trials (2025)
- National Sleep Foundation: Screen use and sleep across the lifespan, a consensus statement (2024)
- American Psychiatric Association: Technology addictions (2024)
- CAMH: Problem technology use
- Gloria Mark on Armchair Expert (2022)
- Catherine Price on Ten Percent Happier (2018)
- Anna Lembke on The Mel Robbins Podcast (2026)
- Adam Alter: Why our screens make us less happy, TED (2017)
This program is practical education and habit planning for everyday phone use, not a diagnosis, treatment or professional advice. It's for people aged 13 and over.
Questions
About the program, and about phones and attention.
Yours for life
Your phone protocol
$19.99this program, one time
No subscription · Lifetime access · Lifetime updates
or start with the first chapter, freeScreen-time advice is free everywhere. Why pay for this?
Free advice tells everyone the same things. A 1h Protocol works out which of it applies to you, from your own answers and your phone’s own numbers. You leave knowing the two habits to start with, and why.
I’m busy. How much time does it take?
About an hour, once, to build your protocol and set up your phone. It’s easiest on a computer or tablet, with your phone in your hand. After that, you tap the habits you kept on a short daily sheet.
Do I have to give up my phone or my apps?
No. You keep the phone and apps you have, and change where they sit and when they can reach you. The people who need you stay let through, and you test that they get through before you finish.
Does it work on iPhone and Android, and for teens?
Yes. Every setting comes with steps for iPhone or Android. It’s for anyone 13 and over, and for a phone a parent manages, it shows what to set together.
What do I pay, and what do I keep?
One payment, with no subscription and nothing to buy inside. You keep the program, your protocol and every future update. The first chapter is free, so you see your pattern before you pay.
About phones and attention
How much screen time is too much?
The American Psychiatric Association says time spent on technology alone doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem. In a review of 71 studies, feeling unable to stop went with feeling worse far more than the minutes did. So a better test is whether the phone does what you meant it to.
Do screen-time limits work?
They help, but people snooze them. In a large US trial, limits set at people’s own ideal would have cut about 53 minutes a day. They cut about 22. Most of the gap was the snooze button.
Does using my phone in bed affect my sleep?
In a survey of adults in Belgium, those who texted or called after lights out tended to report worse sleep. That’s a link, not proof of a cause. The NHS suggests putting the phone away before bed.
Why do I keep checking my phone?
Usually you start it yourself. In one study that filmed people’s days, nearly nine pick-ups in ten began with the person, not with an alert. Habits attach to places and moments, so a queue or the start of a dull task becomes a cue.
Do notifications affect focus?
In lab studies, a notification disrupted people’s work even when they didn’t touch the phone. Yet in one trial, turning every alert off left checking unchanged and raised worry about missing something. Alerts batched into three a day helped people feel more attentive and more in control.
Is phone addiction real?
“Phone addiction” isn’t an official label. The main US manual doesn’t include it, and Canada’s CAMH says no formal one exists. If your phone still feels out of control after two weeks of changes, talk to someone you trust.