From NPR, it's been a minute. I'm Elise Hugh in for Sam Sanders. Today on the show, we're

talking attention. We ask listeners to write in about how their tech addictions are affecting

their lives.

I was just spending a lot of mindless time scrolling through and scrolling through and

scrolling through Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, and then also watch TV at the same time.

But I couldn't just delete my Facebook and Twitter and Instagram accounts.

I would go to bed quite early, but I would still be in bed with my phone.

And the only time that I didn't have a phone for hours was when I was asleep.

That's Jordan Perry, Paul Copeland and Andrea Gounor. Each of them basically staged a tech

intervention on themselves to break their habits. Jordan's solution was to take control

of her Facebook feed.

And I unfollowed every single one of my friends. This took about half an hour, 45 minutes

when I finally did sit down to do it. It has been really life-changing for me to have so

much more control about what I see and when I see it.

Andrea bought a lock box, not a digital one, an actual lock box to combat her addiction.

So I put a reminder on my phone to lock it up at 11.30. So I put the phone there.

I had a lock box at 11.30 and then I look it up.

Paul decided to do something seemingly obvious, but difficult in practice.

I go for walks. I go outside, I take photos. I find analog hobbies that allow me to express

myself without being in front of a computer screen.

These are one-off solutions that worked for Jordan and Andrea and Paul.

But they and the rest of us who are always connected are part of a larger system designed

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