I’ve managed to cut news out of my life entirely. Nothing really changed, except the extra free time.

Hacker news is not really any different, it is just easier to justify as “I might find something useful here”.

But all I achieved here is fav & forget smart sounding articles, and point whored at the comment section for easy dopamine.

It’s a trap.

And still you are here

sounds familiar

One thing I have found that helps is "not finding my phone attractive". Weird phrasing, pardon my English.

Basically, I have a midrange phone that cannot play the latest games at 60fps, and has a crack on its tempered glass running through the middle. This functionality and appearance makes it much less appealing than say, a Kindle with no scratches to spend time on.

Due to this, I basically forget my phone is next to me on my bed, and it only serves to take calls if needed in the middle of the night and wake me up next morning with the alarm.

Good luck!

The thing that I've found helpful with going to sleep on time and not spending too much time in the night on the phone is to just keep the phone in a different room. That way, you either read a book or go to sleep, both of which are better than social media (including HN IMO)

I also keep my phone in another room. Helps me with waking up because I need to get up to turn the alarm off. For going to bed on time, with which I still struggle, I tried to set reminders on the phone.

- 10 PM - Stop chores.

- 11 PM, settle down. Means no "active" things anymore, like gaming, HN. I lie down. Reading a book would be best then, watching TV is a bit worse but still more passive. Audiobooks or podcasts get me sleeping then right away.

- 11 PM: Go to bed. Getting up from the couch, brush teeth, go to bed. I think a routine like this is very helpful.

If it helps you stay motivated, I'd love to hear the results of your "experiment" :)

Seconded on updates! Staying up too late is the issue I have struggled with for the longest time and all my attempts to change the behaviour have failed in the long run (e.g. working out earlier in the day, short periods of taking melatonin at a particular time to 'reset my circadian rhythm', meditation before bed, cutting out caffeine).

Consider enabling greyscale mode on your phone.

I have an older iPhone, and a triple tap of the home button will toggle grayscale. Incredible difference in my sensory experience when everything looks a bit…dull.