You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

Hey, it's Mariel.

I just got an alarm clock.

It has a radio feature, so I wake up to the sounds of NPR every morning.

Does it sound like I'm trying to suck up to my employer?

I promise I'm not.

Anyway, I did this because I was sick and tired of having

my phone in my bedroom all night. Even when I blocked certain apps, I'd still find something

to look at on there. Photos, old texts. It's a bad habit, and it kept roping me in. This is, of course,

a very common experience. Jose Briones is the author of

low-tech life, a guide to mindful digital minimalism. We all have this screen in front of us,

most of the time, and then our offline life is relegated to a secondary place. But the reality is

that as humans, we have lived in the offline default for so long that we

crave it.

We miss it.

The alarm clock thing, by the way, is working really well for me.

And now I am craving more.

More freedom from smartphone tyranny.

Because, you know, I don't work for the smartphone.

It's supposed to work for me.

On this episode of Life Kit, we're going to give you five takeaways to help you get to a better

place with your screen time. We'll talk about coping with that urge to scroll, about how you might

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