“Digital detox” has a bad reputation: we picture a retreat with no signal, impossible to stick to. The realistic version is more about taking back control: less screen time you put up with, more screen time you choose. Your eyes, your sleep and your concentration all benefit. Here's a simple plan, one small change a day for a week.
Day 1: measure
Open your phone's screen time tracker (Screen Time on iPhone, Digital Wellbeing on Android). Note your daily average and the three apps that take up the most time. No judgement: this is your starting point.
Day 2: turn off unnecessary notifications
Every notification is an invitation to look at the screen. Keep messages from loved ones and your calendar; turn off social media, promotions and games. You'll check those apps when you decide to.
Day 3: the phone sleeps elsewhere
Charge it outside the bedroom, and go back to a real alarm clock. This is the change with the biggest effect: no more scrolling in bed, no more reflex on waking. Screen light in the evening delays falling asleep — we explain how in our article on sleep.
Day 4: breaks for your eyes
For every 20 minutes of screen work, spend 20 seconds looking into the distance. And at lunchtime, eat without a screen. Your eyes get out of their fixed focus, and you come back more focused. Other simple habits are gathered in our guide to beating eye strain.
Day 5: an hour outdoors
Walking, running, reading on a bench: daylight sets your internal clock and rests your eyes, which finally look far away. It's also the best time to leave your phone at the bottom of your pocket.
Day 6: a screen-free evening
A paper book, a board game, a meal with friends, some music. Just one evening a week is enough to break the habit — and many people keep it afterwards.
Day 7: take stock
Compare your screen time with day 1. Keep the two or three changes you liked most, and forget the others. A detox that lasts is one that doesn't frustrate you.
When the screen is essential
Work, studies, evening series: some screens stay, and that's perfectly fine. Make them gentler: suitable brightness, night mode on automatic and, if you like, a pair suited to the moment — clear lenses for daytime (MIDI, JADE), tinted lenses for the evening (SAFRAN). A pair of glasses doesn't replace a detox; it goes with the screens you've chosen to keep.
In short
- Measure your screen time.
- Turn off unnecessary notifications.
- Take the phone out of the bedroom.
- Take breaks for your eyes.
- Spend an hour outdoors.
- Treat yourself to a screen-free evening.
- Keep what works.
Read next: Series and streaming: watching without tiring your eyes · Dark mode, Night Shift, screen filters: do they really help?