If you’re trying to use your phone less, the solution might surprise you: Fight tech with tech.

I have reached the point where I don't want my phone involved in every single thing I do. I pick it up to check the weather and somehow end up watching a stranger reorganize her pantry. I open it to set a timer, then I start reading texts from 20 minutes ago.

I'm not interested in throwing my phone into the ocean and beginning a new life off the grid. I just want to stop reaching for it quite so often.

Ironically, a few other pieces of technology can help.

Get an Actual Alarm Clock

Using your phone as an alarm means it's probably the last thing you look at before bed and the first thing you reach for in the morning. An actual alarm clock removes one very convincing reason to keep it on your nightstand.

You can go basic, but I'm particularly intrigued by the Hatch 3 sunrise alarm clock. Sunrise clocks gradually brighten your room before the alarm goes off, which sounds considerably nicer than being yanked from sleep by whatever aggressive sound I selected on my phone.

Put the phone across the room, and let the alarm clock handle mornings.

Read on an E-Reader Instead

Reading on my phone sounds like a great idea until a notification appears. Then I'm answering a message, checking something “really quick,” and somehow my book has been abandoned.

An e-reader gives you the convenience of carrying around a ridiculous number of books without all the usual phone distractions. It's still a screen, obviously, but it's a screen with one main job.

Sometimes that's exactly what I need.

Bring Back a Real Speaker

You don't necessarily need your phone beside you every time you want music playing.

A smart speaker or Wi-Fi speaker can handle music, podcasts, and internet radio while your phone stays on the charger—or in another room entirely.

I especially like this idea while cooking. I can listen to something without repeatedly touching my phone with hands covered in flour or whatever mystery substance dinner has produced.

Try a Visual Timer

My phone is a perfectly good timer. It's also a perfectly good portal to every possible distraction.

A small digital or visual timer works beautifully for focused work sessions, cleaning sprints, stretching, or reminding yourself that the cookies need to come out of the oven.

Set it and get on with whatever you're doing, no notifications required.

Give Your Phone a Home

Pick a designated charging spot somewhere outside the bedroom and start leaving your phone there when you don't need it.

A charging dock (I use this one by Satechi) makes this feel more intentional. Drop your phone onto it when you get home, let it charge, and resist the urge to carry it from room to room like an emotional-support rectangle.

You can still grab it when you need it. The point is that you don't need it all the time.

Your Phone Doesn't Have to Do Everything

I'm not anti-phone. My phone is incredibly useful, and I'm certainly not trading it for a flip phone anytime soon.

But convenience has a sneaky way of turning into dependence.

If an alarm clock keeps my phone out of the bedroom or an e-reader helps me finish a book without checking notifications, that's technology doing exactly what I want it to do.

Helping me use a little less technology.