---
date: 2019-04-30
modified_at: 2019-04-30
tags: [productivity]
description: Reducing daily screen time from 9 hours to 6 hours through digital minimalism, using Freedom.to for blocking distractions, and switching to physical books and dumbphones.
---
# Screentime update, April 2019

In the beginning of this year, I've been online a lot. My average of january
2019 was a whopping 9 hours a day of screentime. All things I did required me to
be on my phone and laptop all the time. I didn't sleep well and felt stressed a
lot. But then I read the book Digital Minimalism
http://www.calnewport.com/books/digital-minimalism/. It helped me a lot. Three
months later, it's time for a small comparison.

I use freedom.to to block distractions, and screentime to track the categories I
spend time on. Really helps.

Besides that, I’ve been using a A5 notebook which I keep in my pocket, instead
of a phone in the past month, together with a dumbphone. I can’t be happier, I
sleep way better and it reduced my stress a lot.

Last but not least, I’ve been buying real books lately instead of podcasts,
audiobooks and eBooks. Why? Because they end up lying around, and it’s just
something way easier to see and pick up after you forgot about it. I’m planning
to get all books I want to read physically and have a whole bookcase. It’s also
great when friends visit and I can show them my books.

Now there are days I just spend 5 hours on a screen, it’s wonderful. Average of
April is just 6 hours!!!