There’s a ton of great tips and tricks packed into this read! Probably one of the most comprehensive essays I’ve read on the topic. One question: How much time do you devote to batch‑reading emails/messages per day? I agree that batch‑responding is much more efficient than pinging messages throughout the day, but I’m always concerned about being a bottleneck for work-related conversations. So I'm curious how you've approached this and how you didn't fall behind or out of the loop despite being harder to reach.
For email batch-reading, the amount of time really varies (can be 3+ hours depending on complexity; can also be 15m). Depending on the work situation and how much bottlenecking you're causing (and how much of an issue this genuinely creates), you might need to invert and just block out time when you *won't* respond to emails/messages, rather than time when you will. One interesting thing I've observed is that there is a barbell in response times across the best performers I've known: they either respond to everything with shocking immediacy (minutes), or they clearly batch communication and responses can take days/weeks (or never). I've gravitated towards batching over time, but I have a lot of control over my schedule and I heavily optimize for 'deep work.' If you want to move towards batching without bottlenecking, I'd communicate your intention and give people the right to bypass it at their discretion.
Matt– delightful article, clearly so much thought went into this.
I'd love to add a tip that's not well-known to your already impressive list: setting up your iPhone with MDM, using Apple Configurator. It's essentially a far more robust version of Screen Time that doesn't allow you to remove any blocks for apps, websites, or even the browser (yes, you can completely disable the browser from your phone, along with tons of other things you normally can't do). There are lots of paid MDM software for managing huge organizations, but one that's free for personal use is Apple Configurator.
You put your iPhone in a "supervised" mode, managed by your Mac. You can't change any settings unless you physically plug the device into your Mac with a lightning cable– something I'm increasingly finding is rare these days– and there's no way to remove the blocks otherwise. You could, of course, set up your iPhone from a friend's computer, so their computer "manages" your phone. But I've found that doing it from your Mac essentially removes any desire to take it off.
Hey Jacob! Another reader pointed me towards an MDM for doing what you're describing, I believe it was called Shift but can't find it now. I planned to give it a try because it seems like a fantastic solution. Thanks for sharing this. If/when I give it a try, I'll shoot you a message if I have questions. It's pretty hardcore, but I think these problems require hardcore counter-offensives.
I love how practical you've made this, and it's obvious how much time you've spent researching this topic and experimenting with the tools you'd recommend. The time and energy you put into this is a gift to anyone and everyone who takes the time to read it and implement some of your suggestions.
So thank you. It's been an amazing supplement to attention preserving tactics I was already employing.
This is a wonderful post with so many great resources! It must have been a lot of work to pull it all together. Thank you!
I've also spent a great deal of time on reclaiming my attention, and here are two tips that might be helpful:
1. Reset your brain with screen-free time -- even just a weekend away from your devices and usual habits will help. The trick isn't just taking the screen free time, it's setting yourself up for success when you return.
I keep a list of the websites I want to access, such as my Readwise dashboard and my library's Overdrive page. (You could probably use bookmarks for this, but I'm not that organized.) Before I go, I clear my browser history. I come back home to a clean slate, and I only add the sites I want to access, when I need to access them.
This cuts down the impulse to check a website just because its address is saved in my browser, I happen to notice it, and I think 'oh, maybe there's something there I could look at.' Things just seem less compelling after even a short reset. And if I feel an impulse to look at something, having to type it out gives me a chance to pause and reconsider.
2. Cultivate disdain and disgust for things you want less of in your life. I've barely been able to use Instagram since February 2025, when shock videos appeared in Reels (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/27/instagram-reels-violent-videos). I didn't even see any of the videos, but just reading about some of the awful things people saw made me imagine Instagram as a thin film of pretty pictures floating on the surface of a vast pool of chaos and filth, separated from my mind only by the mercy of an algorithm I have no control over.
After that, I didn't need to *try* to cut down on Instagram. It's as appealing as a bowl of fresh dog turds on my kitchen table.
I tell my kids, the tech companies would cheerfully ruin your life if it improved their stock price by half a cent. I'm fascinated by how social media is used to hijack emotions, drive attention, change behavior, and extract value from users. The more I read, the less interested I am in using it myself. (Recommended reading: Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America, Careless People, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Amusing Ourselves To Death)
In the end, we're all driven by our feelings. If you subconsciously associate social media and news with "staying informed" "connecting with friends" "maybe someone new and interesting wants to talk to me" "useful information" "pretty pictures" "might miss something important" -- that is, feelings of desire, curiosity, lack, fear, and loneliness -- then of course it's going to be harder to stay away.
If instead you feel "mind control" "vapid useless information" "emotional manipulation" "bad for humanity" "need to protect myself from brainrot and big tech" -- that is, revulsion, disdain, and self-preservation -- then it's a lot less appealing.
This is so great. Thanks Liana! To your first point: over time my plan is to share a comprehensive strategy for developing extreme levels of concentration and what you're describing is one of the keys for sure. Since I've learned about the neuro-mechanics of attention I've largely stopped listening to music or podcasts during commutes or while exercising. Your brain needs rest time in order to make connections, and if it's always stimulated, you're training it to require stimulation.
This is a very thorough article, you have managed to get everything into an article, very impressive. I've done a lot of these tools over the past 5 years naturally and these tools really do work.. Substack and YouTube are my only apps now and I pay for YouTube so I don't get yucky ads.. Great read over morning coffee!
Very exhaustive and practical list, thank you. My problem is that I use a laptop all day for work, so after hours I tend to use a tablet, which means apps, which means no extensions or blockers (I think?)
Oh, that’s an interesting predicament. I honestly haven’t spent time thinking about it, but I bet there are more workarounds than you’d think at first. What 2-4 apps would give you the most time back if you had plugins/solutions for them?
That's quite an exhaustive list! Many of the tools/extensions are new to me, and I'm inclined to try them.
FWIW, I am building a Chrome extension that may quite fit the topic here: it hides the content on social media based on user preferences, using an LLM. Basically, for each item, it asks the LLM a version of "is this relevant based on the user preferences?" If you wanted to give it a shot, I would be very interested to hear what you think about it!
I would say it lies somewhere between 'no filtering' and 'Unhook' -- you still want to get some recommendations/feed, but have more control over it. Anyway, it's in early stages, I'm still trying to gauge whether this is something people would find useful.
Thanks for sharing Jakub, and thanks for working on solutions to these problems. I've thought about the concept you're working on and I think this solution has a ton of potential. I personally don't even want to see a feed at all, even a curated one. But for a lot of people I think your solution is a great middle ground. And if there was an option to fully hide the feed (or add keywords/concepts that you don't want to see) I think that'd be really helpful (like telling the LLM you don't want to see any political content).
I will also say that if you added Substack to the platforms that you're filtering for for I think that'd be a real service. There are a few pretty decent plugins for Substack (I use Ye Old Substack), but no killer app like Unhook yet.
Thanks for the kind words! My use case which prompted this was that I wanted to browse YT videos but not get distracted by politics/sports, but more often the preferred action would be to hide the feed completely.
Yes, I'd like to add Substack eventually, good to know that it could be useful here! The next step currently is to see if there is a quick and cheap way to also filter images/videos, which is in my opinion the biggest disadvantage of the extension at the moment.
The “Simplify Gmail” chrome extension + “Clean email.” One makes Gmail look minimal and clean, the other screens your email so only those you consent to get in.
“No notif” chrome extension blocks all tabs from displaying notification amounts like “(12).”
“Delayed Gratification” as my only news source. It’s the whole world’s news every three months distributed as a print magazine. It provides everything you need to know about around the word without getting it through real time alarmism.
For local news you can actually take action on in the US, I subscribe to my state’s dispatch. This gives me only Utah’s local political news which keeps me aware of things I can sign and ballot initiatives I can vote for. You can find and subscribe to your state here: https://statesnewsroom.com/
I could cry. Thank you. THANK YOU for taking the time to write this and thoroughly explain such practical and doable SOLUTIONS! This is so empowering. I am thrilled to tell everyone about this! I’m super inspired by you and have already turned my phone to basically a Light Phone via your Blank app you shared and looking at the Home Screen feels like a weight has been taken off of me. I’m so excited!! Here’s to LIVING!
You can do something similar but not perfect with the regular setting of the iPhone. The icons are still there but you can put into grayscale and make the entire background and icons black-tinted.
Would like to humbly offer up the SLEKE phone as a potential attention saving tool. We've built an OS that we embed onto a Pixel phone that is designed specifically to eliminate the distracting elements of smartphones. We are invested in improving our collective attention span. Check out our writing if interested!
Can confirm this works. I’ve seen Matt fix his attention problem first hand
There’s a ton of great tips and tricks packed into this read! Probably one of the most comprehensive essays I’ve read on the topic. One question: How much time do you devote to batch‑reading emails/messages per day? I agree that batch‑responding is much more efficient than pinging messages throughout the day, but I’m always concerned about being a bottleneck for work-related conversations. So I'm curious how you've approached this and how you didn't fall behind or out of the loop despite being harder to reach.
For email batch-reading, the amount of time really varies (can be 3+ hours depending on complexity; can also be 15m). Depending on the work situation and how much bottlenecking you're causing (and how much of an issue this genuinely creates), you might need to invert and just block out time when you *won't* respond to emails/messages, rather than time when you will. One interesting thing I've observed is that there is a barbell in response times across the best performers I've known: they either respond to everything with shocking immediacy (minutes), or they clearly batch communication and responses can take days/weeks (or never). I've gravitated towards batching over time, but I have a lot of control over my schedule and I heavily optimize for 'deep work.' If you want to move towards batching without bottlenecking, I'd communicate your intention and give people the right to bypass it at their discretion.
Great advice, thanks for answer Matt!
Matt– delightful article, clearly so much thought went into this.
I'd love to add a tip that's not well-known to your already impressive list: setting up your iPhone with MDM, using Apple Configurator. It's essentially a far more robust version of Screen Time that doesn't allow you to remove any blocks for apps, websites, or even the browser (yes, you can completely disable the browser from your phone, along with tons of other things you normally can't do). There are lots of paid MDM software for managing huge organizations, but one that's free for personal use is Apple Configurator.
You put your iPhone in a "supervised" mode, managed by your Mac. You can't change any settings unless you physically plug the device into your Mac with a lightning cable– something I'm increasingly finding is rare these days– and there's no way to remove the blocks otherwise. You could, of course, set up your iPhone from a friend's computer, so their computer "manages" your phone. But I've found that doing it from your Mac essentially removes any desire to take it off.
It's on my list of "best things I've ever done," as far as technology is concerned. I wrote an article about it on Reddit that might interest you if you or anyone would like to give it a try: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosurf/comments/1g5z70r/for_iphones_the_answer_is_apple_configurator_make/
Hey Jacob! Another reader pointed me towards an MDM for doing what you're describing, I believe it was called Shift but can't find it now. I planned to give it a try because it seems like a fantastic solution. Thanks for sharing this. If/when I give it a try, I'll shoot you a message if I have questions. It's pretty hardcore, but I think these problems require hardcore counter-offensives.
This is a brilliant, useful and engaging post Matt! Thank you for sharing.
Appreciate this! 🙏🏼
Dude, this is an absolute banger of an article.
I love how practical you've made this, and it's obvious how much time you've spent researching this topic and experimenting with the tools you'd recommend. The time and energy you put into this is a gift to anyone and everyone who takes the time to read it and implement some of your suggestions.
So thank you. It's been an amazing supplement to attention preserving tactics I was already employing.
Thanks Adam! So stoked to hear that you’re finding this helpful. I went deep down the rabbit hole for months to try and sort out this problem.
This is a wonderful post with so many great resources! It must have been a lot of work to pull it all together. Thank you!
I've also spent a great deal of time on reclaiming my attention, and here are two tips that might be helpful:
1. Reset your brain with screen-free time -- even just a weekend away from your devices and usual habits will help. The trick isn't just taking the screen free time, it's setting yourself up for success when you return.
I keep a list of the websites I want to access, such as my Readwise dashboard and my library's Overdrive page. (You could probably use bookmarks for this, but I'm not that organized.) Before I go, I clear my browser history. I come back home to a clean slate, and I only add the sites I want to access, when I need to access them.
This cuts down the impulse to check a website just because its address is saved in my browser, I happen to notice it, and I think 'oh, maybe there's something there I could look at.' Things just seem less compelling after even a short reset. And if I feel an impulse to look at something, having to type it out gives me a chance to pause and reconsider.
2. Cultivate disdain and disgust for things you want less of in your life. I've barely been able to use Instagram since February 2025, when shock videos appeared in Reels (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/27/instagram-reels-violent-videos). I didn't even see any of the videos, but just reading about some of the awful things people saw made me imagine Instagram as a thin film of pretty pictures floating on the surface of a vast pool of chaos and filth, separated from my mind only by the mercy of an algorithm I have no control over.
After that, I didn't need to *try* to cut down on Instagram. It's as appealing as a bowl of fresh dog turds on my kitchen table.
I tell my kids, the tech companies would cheerfully ruin your life if it improved their stock price by half a cent. I'm fascinated by how social media is used to hijack emotions, drive attention, change behavior, and extract value from users. The more I read, the less interested I am in using it myself. (Recommended reading: Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America, Careless People, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Amusing Ourselves To Death)
In the end, we're all driven by our feelings. If you subconsciously associate social media and news with "staying informed" "connecting with friends" "maybe someone new and interesting wants to talk to me" "useful information" "pretty pictures" "might miss something important" -- that is, feelings of desire, curiosity, lack, fear, and loneliness -- then of course it's going to be harder to stay away.
If instead you feel "mind control" "vapid useless information" "emotional manipulation" "bad for humanity" "need to protect myself from brainrot and big tech" -- that is, revulsion, disdain, and self-preservation -- then it's a lot less appealing.
Hope that's useful!
This is so great. Thanks Liana! To your first point: over time my plan is to share a comprehensive strategy for developing extreme levels of concentration and what you're describing is one of the keys for sure. Since I've learned about the neuro-mechanics of attention I've largely stopped listening to music or podcasts during commutes or while exercising. Your brain needs rest time in order to make connections, and if it's always stimulated, you're training it to require stimulation.
Agreed -- it's a constant battle with so much to pay attention to, but it does pay off. Looking forward to future posts!
This is a very thorough article, you have managed to get everything into an article, very impressive. I've done a lot of these tools over the past 5 years naturally and these tools really do work.. Substack and YouTube are my only apps now and I pay for YouTube so I don't get yucky ads.. Great read over morning coffee!
Thanks Franky!
Very exhaustive and practical list, thank you. My problem is that I use a laptop all day for work, so after hours I tend to use a tablet, which means apps, which means no extensions or blockers (I think?)
Oh, that’s an interesting predicament. I honestly haven’t spent time thinking about it, but I bet there are more workarounds than you’d think at first. What 2-4 apps would give you the most time back if you had plugins/solutions for them?
I deleted them altogether, I don't miss them anymore.
That's quite an exhaustive list! Many of the tools/extensions are new to me, and I'm inclined to try them.
FWIW, I am building a Chrome extension that may quite fit the topic here: it hides the content on social media based on user preferences, using an LLM. Basically, for each item, it asks the LLM a version of "is this relevant based on the user preferences?" If you wanted to give it a shot, I would be very interested to hear what you think about it!
I would say it lies somewhere between 'no filtering' and 'Unhook' -- you still want to get some recommendations/feed, but have more control over it. Anyway, it's in early stages, I'm still trying to gauge whether this is something people would find useful.
Link: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/great-filter/mbifgfgfbnemojmfkckodkikibihcgaj
Thanks for sharing Jakub, and thanks for working on solutions to these problems. I've thought about the concept you're working on and I think this solution has a ton of potential. I personally don't even want to see a feed at all, even a curated one. But for a lot of people I think your solution is a great middle ground. And if there was an option to fully hide the feed (or add keywords/concepts that you don't want to see) I think that'd be really helpful (like telling the LLM you don't want to see any political content).
I will also say that if you added Substack to the platforms that you're filtering for for I think that'd be a real service. There are a few pretty decent plugins for Substack (I use Ye Old Substack), but no killer app like Unhook yet.
Thanks for the kind words! My use case which prompted this was that I wanted to browse YT videos but not get distracted by politics/sports, but more often the preferred action would be to hide the feed completely.
Yes, I'd like to add Substack eventually, good to know that it could be useful here! The next step currently is to see if there is a quick and cheap way to also filter images/videos, which is in my opinion the biggest disadvantage of the extension at the moment.
A few more hacks I personally love:
The “Simplify Gmail” chrome extension + “Clean email.” One makes Gmail look minimal and clean, the other screens your email so only those you consent to get in.
“No notif” chrome extension blocks all tabs from displaying notification amounts like “(12).”
“Delayed Gratification” as my only news source. It’s the whole world’s news every three months distributed as a print magazine. It provides everything you need to know about around the word without getting it through real time alarmism.
For local news you can actually take action on in the US, I subscribe to my state’s dispatch. This gives me only Utah’s local political news which keeps me aware of things I can sign and ballot initiatives I can vote for. You can find and subscribe to your state here: https://statesnewsroom.com/
This is really a phenomenal post
I could cry. Thank you. THANK YOU for taking the time to write this and thoroughly explain such practical and doable SOLUTIONS! This is so empowering. I am thrilled to tell everyone about this! I’m super inspired by you and have already turned my phone to basically a Light Phone via your Blank app you shared and looking at the Home Screen feels like a weight has been taken off of me. I’m so excited!! Here’s to LIVING!
Love these.
annoyed that Blank Spaces Launcher costs money.
You can do something similar but not perfect with the regular setting of the iPhone. The icons are still there but you can put into grayscale and make the entire background and icons black-tinted.
Would like to humbly offer up the SLEKE phone as a potential attention saving tool. We've built an OS that we embed onto a Pixel phone that is designed specifically to eliminate the distracting elements of smartphones. We are invested in improving our collective attention span. Check out our writing if interested!