Simple phone home screen hacks for a less stressful life

If one takes a look at how much time an average person spends on their mobile phone, we realize that we are just one step away from becoming slaves to our mobile devices. Today there are mobile apps for virtually everything, including casinos. 

One can play poker games and place bets anywhere and anytime on cool apps like onlinepokerindia.net. However, it is only a matter of time before one gets overwhelmed by the perpetual influx of notifications and the need to manage other activities on our phones. 

Thus, lots of people spend so much time on their phones without even realizing it. The big question people tend to ask is this: "how can I stay abreast with new notifications and still shuffle between apps effectively?” 

The simple answer is the Home-Screen. 

The Home-Screen

The Home-Screen is the first screen that appears after you unlock your phone. It seems so vague and straightforward, but unknown to most people, the way apps are arranged on the Home-Screen can significantly impact how you use them.

For instance, there is a higher chance that we'll end up using accessible apps more often. You can boost your productivity by simply rearranging your home screen with the following simple hacks:

1. Monitor your habits 

One must make a conscious effort towards their desired goal to achieve it. To stop a specific habit, one must first monitor them and then make conscious decisions against such habits as most of our behaviors are based on unconscious choices. 

Human behavior is based on three factors: motivation, ability, and prompts. All three factors must come to play before one can cultivate a certain action. For instance, when a notification pops up, it provides a prompt, the ability to click on the notification since you have easy access to it combined with our instinct as humans to socialize, which motivates us to fulfill our social desires by clicking on the apps. 

Habits are automatic behaviors, our first reaction to things. Thus to stop a habit, you must design a system that creates friction that prevents you from doing the same thing again, but first, you must monitor your habits.

2. Create barriers 

Once you have identified the apps you check too much, you must create obstacles between you and those apps to break the habit loop. These barriers help reduce your ability to check the apps, thus breaking the habit loop. 

One way to create a barrier is by moving the apps from your home screen or putting them in special folders, so the apps are not in your face. You can delete such apps, so you will need to manually load the web version on your desktop before you can access them. 

Another way to break the behavior is to disable your notifications, thus taking away the prompt to open apps. Disabling your notifications means that you can choose to go on the app only when necessary. 

3. Find the perfect layout 

When designing the ideal setup, give priority to apps you would love to use often. If you are used to reading from left to right, then emphasize the screen's left side. 

Take note that this does not apply in every situation. For instance, if you are using a larger phone such as the iPhone 11 pro max or the Huawei Mate 20 X, you may be drawn to the bottom right corner as it is the most easily accessible. 

Conclusion 

It would be best if you customize your home screen to suit your needs and boost productivity. If you need to turn off notifications or turn off background themes and color to discourage you from over-handling your phone, then do it.

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