[Beestie]

I felt like as soon as I opened my phone, everything on the home screen was clamoring for my attention: new text messages, new emails, new calls, new reminders, alerts, alerts alerts.

Now, when I open my phone, I get a peaceful empty screen. If I scroll right, I can see the ocean of alerts (if that's what I'm ready to tackle) or I can swipe left to a screen with a few shortcuts for phone or browser (Orion).

In short, I put the chaos in a box that I only open when I want to. Might sound trite but it's made a big difference. I also turned off the thing that opens the phone as soon as I pick it up. Now, half the time I pick it up, I look at, decide I can live without all the chaos and put it back in my pocket.

I guess my orig post triggered because with a blank home screen, I can't accidentally activate the phone camera.

[snowwrestler]

An alternate strategy is to turn off most of those alerts. When I open my home screen I see a bunch of icons, but only two of them are allowed to show the little red circle with a number in it: Phone and Messages. I picked those since I am habitually up to date on them. So the number is usually quite low, usually below 5.

I also do not allow most apps to put banners on the screen (locked or unlocked), or beep, or buzz the phone. Almost all my apps have notifications turned off completely. If I want to know the status of my email, I open the email app. If I want to see what's new in Instagram, I open Instagram. Etc.

But the point is, those checks happen on my schedule, not when I'm prompted.