Stop Being So Dependent on Your iPhone: Turn It Into a Dumb Phone Instead


The mindless pull of the infinite scroll has a way of turning every spare moment into a lost hour. It starts as a quick check for a notification or a brief distraction during a work break, but these apps are engineered to keep you trapped in a loop of “just one more.” 

Before long, that reflex to reach for your phone becomes an automatic response to any second of boredom, leaving you stuck in a cycle of digital noise that is hard to break with willpower alone.

I miss the feeling of calm that comes with being without a smartphone. And I’m not the only one. A Pew Research survey from 2024 found that 72% of US teens say they feel “peaceful” when they don’t have their smartphone, while 44% say it makes them anxious.

Watch this: Ditching My iPhone for the Low-Tech Light Phone 3. Can I Survive?

But switching off is hard. Crucial personal and banking information is tied to my phone, and I’d still need it occasionally even if I tried switching to a second, simpler device.

So instead of breaking free, I found ways to reduce my screen time and phone addiction. I wish I could say it was through willpower, but nope. I relied on some of the same technology to get away from it.

I used my iPhone’s built-in features to curb my phone usage. It’s not a perfect solution, but these methods have helped me lower my screen time without swapping to a dumb phone.

Set up your iPhone for fewer distractions

Social media apps on an iPhone home screen

Personally, these social media apps cause a lot of distraction.

Prakhar Khanna/CNET

If your phone addiction isn’t extreme, you can set up your iPhone to be less distracting. 

It starts with easy things like disabling notifications and simplifying your home screen. I removed all social media apps from mine, and it helped me reduce the daily open rate. I was no longer mindlessly tapping those icons because I’m lazy enough not to swipe down and type the app’s name just to scroll through them. 

Here are other iPhone settings that you can use to curb your phone addiction.

Use Focus Mode

I use the iPhone’s Focus mode to limit distracting notifications when I’m working and traveling — essentially for times when I want to be 100% present in things I’m doing. 

This feature goes beyond the simple Do Not Disturb function. I need notifications from my family and favorite contacts to pass through, so I have set up different Focus modes instead of using a blanket Do Not Disturb mode every time. Here’s how to set up Focus mode. 

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Go to Settings > Focus and tap on the + icon.

Mike De Socio

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Create and customize your own Focus mode.

Mike De Socio

1. Go to Settings > Focus.
2. Tap on the + icon (on the top-right corner) to create a Custom Focus.
3. Manage notifications by choosing which apps and contacts you want to hear from during your focus time. You can change individual settings here through People and Apps.

You can also create a custom home screen that activates when you switch on your new focus mode. For instance, I have Instagram on my home screen in Travel focus mode, and none of the social media apps are on my Work home screen. 

To use a new home screen, you’ll need to set it up from the home screen and then link it to your new focus mode.

Set Screen Time limits

Apple’s Screen Time feature can help you create schedules and set limits for apps that are sucking the joy out of your life. If you’re adamant about having time away from your phone, you can block apps and notifications for those time periods. 

For instance, I have Instagram set to 45 minutes per day and 30 minutes on weekends. Here’s how to set up Screen Time. 

Go to Settings > Screen Time > App Limits and tap on Add Limit.

Go to Settings > Screen Time > App Limits and tap on Add Limit.

Screenshots by Prakhar Khanna/CNET

Screenshots to select the apps you want to set time limit for.

Select the apps you want to set time limit for.

Screenshots by Prakhar Khanna/CNET

1. Go to Settings > ScreenTime > AppLimits
2. Tap on Add Limit
3. Select the individual or categories of apps you want to set timers for.
4. Tap Next and set the amount of time you want to allow yourself on each app.
5. Tap Customize Days if you want to customize your limit’s schedule.
6. Tap Add in the upper right corner.

Once set, your iPhone sends a notification 5 minutes before approaching your set time limit. After the app reaches the Screen Time limit, it stops whatever it’s doing and displays a new screen. It prompts you to tap OK to exit the app. You can choose to tap Ignore Limit if you’re doing something urgent that requires more time to finish.

Schedule downtime

Go to Settings > Screen Time > Downtime and set a schedule.

Go to Settings > Screen Time > Downtime and set a schedule.

Screenshots by Prakhar Khanna/CNET

Schedule downtime on iOS is part of the Screen Time feature, and you can use it to force yourself to put down your iPhone. I have set it up for weekends. Here’s how you can set up downtime on your iPhone. 

1. Go to Settings > Screen Time > Downtime.
2. Toggle on the widget next to Scheduled.
3. Set your downtime schedule.

When downtime is enabled, only phone calls and apps that you choose to allow are permitted. Like Screen Time limits, when you schedule downtime, a 5-minute reminder is sent before it begins. You can then ignore the reminder or turn on downtime. It can be turned off at any time by turning off Scheduled.

Use Assistive Access

Using Apple's Assistive Access on the iPhone Air.

Assistive Access makes it easy to stay focused with only the essential apps. 

Prakhar Khanna/CNET

Assistive Access is an accessibility feature in iOS. It provides a simplified user interface that aims to help people with cognitive disabilities use an iPhone with greater ease and independence. However, it can double as a feature that’s enabled when you want a more focused way to use your iPhone.

In a way, this feature dumbs down your iPhone. Apple says, “Assistive Access offers ways for people to navigate iPhone and communicate using visuals rather than text.” 

It displays on-screen items in a large grid that emphasizes images and icons. You also get large text labels and high contrast buttons on the iPhone’s home screen and across essential apps like Calls, Messages, Camera, Photos and Music.

Here’s how you can set up Assistive Access on your iPhone. 

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Prakhar Khanna/CNET

Assistive Access customization screens.

Tap on Continue on these screens and customize what you want to see when your Assistive Access is turned on.

Prakhar Khanna/CNET

1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Assistive Access.
2. Tap on Set Up Assistive Access and select Continue.
3. Choose the layout for home screen apps from either Rows (if you want items arranged in a list) or Grid (for bigger icons arranged in a grid).
4. You can now tap on the + icon to select apps available in Assistive Access.
5. The iPhone will prompt you to enter your passcode and set up an Assistive Access passcode. Follow the on-screen instructions, and you’re done.

To exit Assistive Access, you need to:

1. Triple-press the side button (for modern iPhones) or the Home button (for iPhones with Touch ID).
2. Tap Exit Assistive Access.
3. Enter the Assistive Access passcode you entered during the setup process.

I haven’t been able to use Assistive Access for more than a day because it limits the iPhone’s functionality down to a basic phone. It is great if you can live with just simple functionalities. 

Otherwise, I recommend using the settings mentioned in the previous section to keep 100% of your iPhone’s functionality while reducing your screen time.

Make your iPhone minimalist with this Dumb Phone app

The Dumb Phone app running on the iPhone Air.

I made my iPhone Air semi-dumb by installing this app.

Prakhar Khanna/CNET

The Dumb Phone is a $3 per-month app (or $25 for a lifetime purchase) that lets you create a minimalist-style phone. Unlike the iPhone’s built-in Assistive Access feature, it creates a text-based launch menu for your most essential apps and hides everything else.

The setup process is simple with on-screen instructions, but you need to enable a few settings. 

  • Add Widget: Go to your home screen > tap and hold on empty space > Tap Edit > Add Widget > search for “dp” > Select Page 1 widget.
  • Set the minimalist DP wallpaper: In the DP app, the second instruction takes you to an option to save a wallpaper. Save it and go to Settings > Wallpaper > Add New Wallpaper > Photos > select the recently saved black wallpaper > follow the rest of dp instructions.
  • Enable Dark mode: Go to Settings > Display & Brightness > select Dark.
  • Set Reduce Animations & Transparency to On: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Per-App Settings > Add App > Home Screen & App Library. Then, after it’s added, tap Home Screen & App Library > Reduce Motion, then tap On.
  • Create a minimalist Home Screen: The app prompts you to uncheck all other home screen pages, suggests widget positioning and removes dock icons.

I added my essential banking and work apps to the dock and enabled all the other settings. The Dumb Phone app offers plenty of customization options to personalize your iPhone experience.

By default, all other settings and UI elements remain the same as before. You can still access all the other apps and add whatever you want to your home screen. 

However, if you want the true dumb phone experience, you can turn on Detox Mode to block non-essential apps. It connects the app to the iPhone’s Screen Time setting, which can be used to permit or block app notifications and access.

It took me at least an hour to set up the Dumb Phone app to my liking, but once it was, it helped me reduce my screen time. 

I like it because it didn’t force me to relearn the basic features of my iPhone. It simply adjusted my home screen and settings for a more focused, distraction-free interface. It made me realize that most of it comes down to muscle memory — because readjusting my home screen was a bigger win than expected.

By removing apps from my home screen or deleting them altogether, I am no longer mindlessly tapping on apps I don’t need.

YouTube running on Assistive Access on iPhone Air.

Assistive Access is likely the most effective way to curb your phone usage. It gives you these big UI buttons within apps.

Prakhar Khanna/CNET

That said, there are two relatively obvious issues with this route. First, you’re paying additional money for the privilege of simplifying things. And secondarily, you’ll still need to rely on some willpower, because it’s not hard to swipe away from these customizations. 

If you do eventually decide that you want a secondary device for staying connected while minimizing distractions, there are a lot of options. Newer keyboard-equipped phones, “minimalist” themed phones and the Barbie-themed flip phone offer different ways to still have access to communication while cutting back. 

But you might not need the extra expense if some of these iPhone customizations provide a similar way to quiet things down. While I’m still on this journey, these iPhone settings have helped me limit my screen time. I hope they’ll help you too. 





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What is Data Science?

Data science is the study of how to gain insightful knowledge from data for business choices, developing strategies, and other reasons utilizing state-of-the-art analytical technologies and scientific ideas. Businesses are becoming aware of its significance: among other things, data science insights assist companies in improving their marketing and sales efforts as well as operational effectiveness. They might eventually give you a competitive edge over other businesses.

Data Science combines a number of fields, including statistics, mathematics, software programming, predictive analytics, data preparation, data engineering, data mining, machine learning, and data visualization. Skilled data scientists are generally responsible for it, however, entry-level data analysts may also be engaged. Additionally, a growing number of firms now depend in part on citizen data scientists, a category that can encompass data engineers, business intelligence (BI) specialists, data-savvy business users, business analysts, and other employees without a formal experience in Data Science.

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What is Linear Algebra

Within Data Science and ML, linear algebra is a field of mathematics that is very helpful. In machine learning, linear algebra is perhaps the most crucial math concept. The vast majority of machine learning models may be written as matrices. A matrix is a common way to represent a dataset. The preprocessing, transformation, and assessment of data and models require linear algebra.

A study of linear algebra may involve the following:

  • Vectors
  • Matrices
  • Transpose of a matrix
  • The inverse of a matrix
  • Determinant of a matrix
  • Trace of a matrix
  • Dot product
  • Eigenvalues
  • Eigenvectors

Why learn Linear Algebra in Data Science?

One of the fundamental building elements of Data Science is linear algebra. Without a solid foundation, you cannot erect a skyscraper, can you? Try to picture this example:

You wish to use Principal Component Analysis to minimize the dimensionality of your data (PCA). If you were unsure of how it would impact your data, how would you choose how many Principal Components to keep? Obviously, in order to make this choice, you must be familiar with the workings of the algorithm.

You will be able to gain a better sense for ML and deep learning algorithms and stop treating them as mysterious black boxes if you have a working knowledge of linear algebra. This would enable you to select suitable hyperparameters and create a more accurate model. Additionally, you would be able to develop original algorithms and algorithmic modifications.

Linear Algebra Applications for Data Scientists

We will now learn more about the most common application of linear algebra for data scientists:

Machine learning: loss functions and recommender systems

Without a question, the most well-known use of artificial intelligence is machine learning (AI). Systems automatically learn and get better with experience employing machine learning algorithms, free from human intervention. In order to detect trends and learn from them, machine learning works by creating programs that access and analyze data (whether static or dynamic). The algorithm can use this expertise to analyze fresh data sets once it has identified relationships in the data. (See this page for more information on how algorithms learn.)

Machine learning uses linear algebra in many different ways, including loss functions, regularization, support vector classification, and plenty more.

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Loss Function

Machine learning algorithms function by gathering data, interpreting it, and then creating a model via various techniques. They can then forecast upcoming data queries depending on the outcomes.

Now, we may assess the model’s correctness by utilizing linear algebra, specifically loss functions. In a nutshell, loss functions provide a way to assess the precision of the prediction models. The output of the loss function will be greater if the model is completely incorrect. In contrast, a good model will cause the function to return a lower value.

Modeling a link involving a dependent variable, Y, and numerous independent variables, Xi’s, is known as regression. We attempt to build a line in place on these variables upon plotting these points, and we utilize this line to forecast future values of Xi’s.

The two most often used loss functions are mean squared error and mean absolute error. There are many different forms of loss functions, many of which are more complex than others.

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Recommender System

A subset of machine learning known as recommender systems provides consumers with pertinent suggestions based on previously gathered data. In order to forecast what the present user (or a new user) might like, recommender systems employ data from the user’s prior interactions with the algorithm focused on their interests, demographics, and other available data. By tailoring material to each user’s tastes, businesses can attract and keep customers.

The performance of recommender systems depends on two types of data being gathered: 

Characteristic data: Knowledge of things, including location, user preferences, and details like their category or price.

User-item interactions: Ratings and the volume of transactions (or purchases of related items).

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Natural language processing: word embedding

Artificial intelligence’s Natural Language Processing (NLP) field focuses on how to connect with people through natural language, most frequently English. Applications for NLP encompass textual analysis, speech recognition, and chatbot.

Applications such as Grammarly, Siri, and Alexa are all based on the concept of NLP.

Word embedding

Text data cannot be understood by computers, not by its own. We use NLP algorithms on text since we need to mathematically express the test data. The use of algebra is now necessary. A sort of word representation known as word embedding enables ML algorithms to comprehend terms with comparable meanings.

With the backdrop of the words still intact, word embeddings portray words as vectors of numbers. These representations are created using the language modeling learning technique of training various neural networks on a huge corpus of text. Word2vec is among the more widely used word embedding methods.

Computer vision: image convolution

Using photos, videos, and deep learning models, the artificial intelligence discipline of computer vision teaches computers to comprehend and interpret the visual environment. This enables algorithms to correctly recognize and categorize items. 

In applications like image recognition as well as certain image processing methods like image convolution and image representation like tensors, we utilize linear algebra in computer vision.

Image Convolution

Convolution results from element-wise multiplying two matrices and then adding them together. Consider the image as a large matrix and the kernel (i.e., convolutional matrix) as just a tiny matrix used for edge recognition, blurring, as well as related image processing tasks. This is one approach to conceiving image convolution. As a result, this kernel slides over the image from top to bottom and from left to right. While doing so, it performs arithmetic operations at every image’s (x, y) location to create a distorted image.

Different forms of image convolutions are performed by various kernels. Square matrices are always used as kernels. They are frequently 3×3, however, you can change the form depending on the size of the image.

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Where do we use linear algebra in Data Science?

Data Scientists often make use of Linear Algebra for various applications including:

  • Vectorized Code: To create vectorized codes that are relatively more effective than their non-vectorized counterparts, linear algebra is helpful. This is so that results from vectorized codes can be produced in a single step instead of results from non-vectorized codes, which frequently involve numerous steps and loops.
  • Dimensionality Reduction: In the preparation of data sets required for machine learning, dimensionality reduction is a crucial step. This is particularly true for big data sets or those with many attributes or dimensions. Many of these characteristics may occasionally have a strong correlation with one another.

The speed and effectiveness of the ML algorithm are improved by doing dimensionality reduction on a big data set. This is due to the fact that the algorithm only needs to consider a small number of features before producing a forecast.

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Concepts of linear algebra for Data Science

Linear Algebra for Data Preprocessing – Linear algebra is used for data preprocessing in the following way:

  • Import the required libraries for linear algebra such as NumPy, pandas, pylab, seaborn, etc.
  • Read datasets and display features
  • Define column matrices to perform data visualization

Covariance Matrix– One of the most crucial matrices in Data Science and ML is the covariance matrix. It offers details on the co-movement (correlation) of characteristics. We can create a scatter pair plot to see how the features are correlated. One could construct the covariance matrix to determine the level of multicollinearity or correlation between characteristics. The covariance matrix could be written as a symmetric and real 4 x 4 matrix.
A unitary transformation, commonly known as a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) transformation, can be used to diagonalize this matrix. We note that the sum of the diagonal matrix’s eigenvalues equals the total variance stored in features because the trace of a matrix stays constant during a unitary transformation.

Linear Discriminant Analysis Matrix – The Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) matrix is another illustration of a realistic and symmetrical matrix in Data Science. This matrix could be written as follows

Linear Discriminant Analysis Matrix

where SW stands for the scatter matrix within the feature and SB for the scatter matrix between the feature. It implies that L is real and symmetric because the matrices SW & SB are also realistic and symmetrical. A feature subspace with improved class separability and decreased dimensionality is created by diagonalizing L. So, whereas PCA is not a supervised method, LDA is.

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Conclusion

Often a skipped-over concept due to premeditated assumptions of difficulty, a good hold over linear algebra could help build a crucial foundation for those aspiring to have flourishing careers in Data Science.

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