The hard part isn't deciding to use your phone less. It's the gap. The 5 minutes you suddenly have, standing in line, waiting for a friend, sitting on the tram, that you used to fill by scrolling.
None of these take effort. None of them are "habits." They're just things you can do, in the space your phone used to fill, that don't make you feel worse.
Look at something further than 6 feet away. Your eyes haven't done it for hours.
Notice three things you can see, two things you can hear, one thing you can smell. The actual present.
Stretch your neck. Tilt left, right, hold each for 10 seconds. You've been hunching.
Drink water. Not because you need to — because it gives your hands something to do.
Watch one specific person walk past you and try to guess what they do for a living.
Write down whatever's bugging you on a scrap of paper. Throw it away. The point is the writing, not the keeping.
Plan dinner. Not on an app. In your head. What's in the fridge. What you could make. What you actually want.
Pick a single line of a song you know and try to remember every word. You'll fail. The failing is the entertainment.
Look at your shoes. Are they the right shoes for what you're doing today? When did you last clean them?
Count backwards from 100 by 7s. Hard. Wakes up the brain.
Text someone you haven't talked to in a while. One sentence. "Thought about you, hope you're well." Don't elaborate.
Look at the architecture of whatever building you're near. Notice one weird detail.
Plan the next 2 hours. Not on a calendar. Just in your head. What's the most important thing.
Sit up straight for 2 minutes. Just that. You won't sustain it; the point is noticing how much you weren't.
Practice your handwriting. On a napkin, on a receipt, on your palm. Slow letters. It will be terrible.
Listen to whatever's happening around you, but try to identify ONE conversation specifically. Eavesdropping is fine.
Think of the last meal you ate. Describe it to yourself in 20 words.
Remember a person who was kind to you 10+ years ago. Picture their face.
Estimate how much time has passed since you got here. Then check. Calibration practice.
Sit still and notice that nothing is wrong.
None of these are good. That's the trick. They're not supposed to be exciting. They're supposed to be better than the slop you would otherwise consume, which is a much lower bar than "interesting."
For the first week of using your phone less, this is the work: filling 5-minute gaps with anything other than a feed. After a week or two, the gaps stop feeling like gaps. You'll forget you used to have your phone in your hand. You'll be looking out a window for no reason. That's the goal state.