I swear I used to have more time than I do now. Sometimes I wonder how much of the reason why is my phone.
It’s so easy to lose a half hour here and there to mindless scrolling. Now, it’s OK if you don’t feel guilty about your phone usage—we all get to decide how we want to spend our time on earth, and no one should feel guilty for scrolling if that’s what gives them joy. I, however, frequently find myself feeling absolutely nothing while scrolling. I’m getting nothing out of an activity I’m dedicating hours to daily. I wish I was using that time to learn things instead.
As it turns out, I’m not the first person to think this. There are plenty of apps that can put your phone addiction to work, allowing you to learn new things during what would be downtime.
Decide What You Want to Learn and Find Apps
I live in a town with a large Spanish-speaking population. I studied Spanish in college, and even used it for work during a summer job at a nursery, but I pretty much forgot everything I knew about the language as soon as I left college. I wish I could still speak it, though, which is why I started using Duolingo. The app offers quick lessons, and I’m regaining my ability to read and speak the language.
What I really find fascinating, though, is how many design cues Duolingo takes from video game design in order to make learning addictive. For example, there’s an XP system, which is used to rank you against other learners. This already hooks me—I’m an RPG gamer at heart, meaning if there’s an XP stat, I want to see that number go up. But the design hooks go deeper: If you practice during the morning you get a double XP boost, which you can use that evening. Practicing in the evening gives you a double XP boost, which you can use the following morning. This little loop helped me build a Spanish learning habit.
There are other great language learning apps, of course. Brilliant offers interactive math and computer science lessons that are designed to be done in 15-minute chunks, which makes it a great replacement for your Twitter/X habit. Or there’s Wonderium, which offers courses on a variety of subjects. (It’s the streaming service offered by the company that created the Great Courses.) You could also look into the various online classes that are actually worth taking, including MasterClass, Skillshare, and Coursera. All offer online lessons and classes about almost any subject you can imagine.
And there are apps to learn music. There are apps for learning meditation. There are also apps that can help you learn about the world around you: Merlin Bird ID, for example, can help you identify what bird is singing outside your window right now. And don’t forget, there are all kinds of free digital resources you can find at the library.
The point is to find some kind of app that helps you learn—ideally one that helps you build a pattern of learning. Then put that app prominently on your phone’s home screen, so you reflexively click it.
Hide Your Impulse Apps
Once you’ve filled your home screen with apps that can teach you something, consider taking another stop: hiding the time-sink ones. You don’t have to uninstall these apps—you can just remove them from the home screen and then find them in the App Drawer (Android) or App Library (iOS). Simply tap-and-hold, then remove the app from your home screen.
Or, if you prefer, you can leave your apps on the home screen but use the app One Sec to add a little bit of friction. This free app shows up every time you open an application you find to be a distraction and makes you wait a few seconds. The idea, backed by research, is that you’ll be less likely to reflexively open such apps if you stop and reflect on why you’re opening it.
Social networks can be a great way to connect with people you care about and possibly even learn something, but let’s be honest: Most of time you’re just mindlessly scrolling. This is by design. Silicon Valley companies are spending millions to ensure that people open up their apps as frequently as possible. Willpower, up against a force like that, just isn’t useful. So I’m trying to redirect my addiction, and I recommend you also give it a shot.
