The sun is out, the days are longer, and the world is calling you to come out and play. But what’s that buzzing and glowing in your pocket? All too often, our smartphones pull us away from the very moments we want to cherish. Instead of feeling the grass between our toes, we’re scrolling through endless feeds.
But what if you could put your phone on a “summer diet”? It’s not about ditching your device entirely—it’s about making it work for you, not the other way around. Let’s create a “Summer Mode” for your phone: a simple, customized setup that helps you disconnect from the digital noise and reconnect with the real world.
Here is your ultimate checklist to make it happen.
Phase 1: The Great App & Home Screen Declutter
Your home screen is prime digital real estate. If it’s cluttered with distracting apps, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Let’s tidy up.
- ☐ Conduct an App Audit: Go through every single app on your phone. Ask yourself: “Do I truly need this for the summer?” Be ruthless. Social media, endless news apps, and addictive games are the first to go. Remember, you can always reinstall them in the fall.
- ☐ Create an “App Drawer” or “Boring” Folder: Move all remaining non-essential apps off your primary home screen. Tuck them away into a single folder on your second or third screen. This extra swipe creates just enough friction to prevent mindless opening.
- ☐ Design a Minimalist Home Screen: Your goal is a home screen with only essential tools, not toys. Keep your Phone, Messages, Camera, and Maps apps. That’s it. A clean slate reduces temptation and mental clutter.
Phase 2: Silence the Digital Noise
Notifications are the number one enemy of focus and presence. A single buzz can derail your train of thought and pull you out of a beautiful moment. It’s time for a notification lockdown.
- ☐ Turn Off (Almost) All Notifications: Go into your phone’s settings and disable notifications for every app except for calls and messages from actual people. Do you really need to know that someone liked your old photo right now? No. The world won’t end if you miss an email or a news alert.
- ☐ Disable Badges: Those little red circles with numbers (badges) are designed to create anxiety and a nagging feeling of incompletion. Turn them off for all apps. You’ll be amazed at how much calmer you feel. You can find this option in your phone’s notification settings.
Phase 3: Make Your Phone Less Appealing
Our phones are designed to be vibrant, engaging, and addictive. By tweaking a few visual settings, we can make them intentionally more… boring.
- ☐ Activate Grayscale Mode: This is a game-changer. Removing color makes your screen significantly less stimulating, dulling the psychological reward of scrolling.
- On iPhone: Go to
Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Color Filters. Toggle it on and select Grayscale. (Pro-tip: Set this as an Accessibility Shortcut for easy on/off). - On Android: Look for “Grayscale,” “Color correction,” or “Bedtime mode” under your Digital Wellbeing or Accessibility settings.
- On iPhone: Go to
- ☐ Change Your Wallpaper: Replace your flashy wallpaper with something simple and calming. A photo of a serene landscape you took, a solid dark color, or even a blank black screen works wonders. The goal is to make your phone a tool, not a centerpiece.
Phase 4: Set Your Summer Boundaries
The final step is to use your phone’s own features to enforce your new summer rules. These built-in tools are incredibly powerful for managing screen time.
- ☐ Create a “Summer” Focus Mode: Both iOS and Android have powerful “Focus” or “Digital Wellbeing” features. Create a new mode called “Summer” or “Vacation.”
- Set it to allow notifications only from your closest family and friends.
- Block all distracting apps from being used while this mode is active.
- Schedule it to turn on automatically during evenings, weekends, or your entire vacation.
- ☐ Set Strict App Timers: If you can’t bring yourself to delete an app like Instagram, set a strict daily time limit. Five or ten minutes a day is often enough to catch up without falling into a rabbit hole. Your phone will lock you out when your time is up.
- ☐ Leave Your Phone Behind: This is the final boss of digital detox. When you go for a walk, head to the pool, or have dinner with friends, practice intentionally leaving your phone at home or in the car. Start small—a 15-minute walk—and see how it feels.
Embracing a “Summer Mode” isn’t about restriction; it’s about freedom. It’s your permission slip to be fully present, to soak in the sunshine, and to create memories that you’ll actually remember, not just ones you documented.
Now go enjoy that beautiful day!
Photo by Humphrey M on Unsplash