There is a popular email management technique called “Inbox Zero”. It’s called “zero” because that’s the optimal amount of time for your brain to spend thinking about your inbox. In general, Inbox Zero recommends limiting time spent checking emails, actioning emails immediately, and reducing clutter in one’s inbox. The concept is summarised in more detail here.

I’ve found a lot of benefit from applying Inbox Zero to my email inboxes and Slack workspaces, both at work and in my personal life. In fact, I only check my work Slack once each day and my work emails (which are exclusively external correspondence) one time each week! Life is good.

Recently, I’ve been getting into trouble (in a metaphorical sense) because too much of my brain is in my text messages. I spend too much time thinking about text messages, which means I check my text messages more, which means I text message people more frequently, which means more text conversations happening even at weird hours… good grief!

So, I’ve implemented a few tools to apply Inbox Zero to my text messages (note that I use an Android phone):

  1. An app blocker. I’ve installed the app DigiPaws from the F-Droid store, which I’ve configured to prevent me from opening my text messages except for a window from ~4pm to ~6pm each day.
  2. A messaging app that allows you to archive message conversations. Fossify Messages does the trick, so I replaced my stock Messages app with this. Note that uninstalling most pre-installed apps, including the Messages app that comes with Android phones, requires a few extra steps (specifically, you need [root access]—this also lets you mess around with the powerful [App Manager], a great way to spend an afternoon).

So, I now only text message for an hour or two in the afternoon, and I archive conversations when I’m not actively using them. This has bought me a lot of mental freedom that I can spend on more constructive tasks.

And while you’re sipping coffee and hacking your Android phone until it’s a mere husk of its former self, some other stuff that can help buy some psychological freedom from your phone:

  • You can use App Manager to delete all of the unnecessary bloatware that comes pre-installed on your phone (looking at you, Google apps).
  • You can replace your launcher (the main screens on your phone where you navigate through your apps) with Easy Launcher. Much more organised and less distracting.
  • You can set your entire phone to only display in black and white, instructions here.
  • You can use Key Mapper to set up your volume buttons to perform specific functions. Currently, holding down my “volume up” button plays or pauses media and holding my “volume down” button toggles the flashlight. And my favourite one: double tapping my “volume down” button plays the ‘Beep’ sound that is also used for my alarms; since I use these alarms to remember to feed my dogs meals and medication, my dog Max associates this sound with treats, so he’ll stop his mischief and come and sit down in front of me.

Yay for tinkering!