Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Screens and attention
Charge the phone in another room overnight and use a proper alarm clock. Small change, and it takes the decision away from you completely.
In bed the phone is right there, and stopping is left to you at the hour you have the least left. Out of the room, there is nothing to resist. Buy the cheap clock first so the usual objection is dealt with before it arrives. If it feels too abrupt, start with the nights before a day that matters, and expect the first few evenings to feel oddly long and a bit empty.
Qur’an and Sunnah
It is in the remembrance of God that hearts find peace (Quran 13:28). Worth holding at midnight, when what you are reaching for is usually settling rather than more information.
ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَتَطۡمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُم بِذِكۡرِ ٱللَّهِۗ أَلَا بِذِكۡرِ ٱللَّهِ تَطۡمَئِنُّ ٱلۡقُلُوبُ
those who have faith and whose hearts find peace in the remembrance of God- truly it is in the remembrance of God that hearts find peace
Qur’an 13:28read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
A narrative review concludes that the links with disrupted sleep in young adults are stronger for device use at bedtime and for addiction like patterns than for total screen time. Alongside it, a validation study in 910 undergraduates built a measure for the specific habit of putting off sleep because of phone use in bed, treating it as distinct from bedtime procrastination in general. Both point at the narrow behaviour this tip targets, though the evidence is observational.
Khan MD, Junaidi S, Dalbah MI. (2026). Digital Engagement and Sleep Dysregulation in Young Adults: A Narrative Review.. Cureus doi
Tu Z, He J, Wang Z, Wang C, Tian J, Tang Y. (2023). Development and validation of the while-in-bed-smartphone-use-induced sleep procrastination scale (WSPS) in Chinese undergraduates with/without problematic smartphone use.. Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
Something out of reach does not need to be resisted.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
What you are on there for matters more than how long you are on. Scrolling to keep up with people you love is a different activity from posting and then watching to see who approved.
Check, feel the small relief, put it down, feel the pull again a minute later. If your phone use has that shape, it is running like a compulsion, whatever else it is.
A young person on the sofa with their phone looks like nothing is happening. From the inside it is often the first hour all day that has asked nothing of them.