Is your phone's home screen sabotaging you?

The digital hack that has COMPLETELY overhauled my mornings

I got to tell you, for the first time in 43 years, I feel like 2024 is the year I’m actually going to nail my goals. Why? Because I gave my iPhone a serious, game-changing make-over.

Hear me out.

As much as I loathe to admit it, I spend more time staring into that black rectangular cuboid of doom than I do my husband’s baby blue peepers, and that device of mine? It was a raging bin fire. Each time I tapped it to life — apps everywhere. Those ugly, demanding square dictators, screaming at me to “BE MORE PRODUCTIVE, LISE!”. Emails, messaging platforms, social media, school stuff, editing tools, grocery orders, rewards cards, banking apps. A relentless assault on my retinas COUNTLESS times a day, seducing me to keep motorboating its punishing iBosom.

So, what did I do about it?

The solution came to be like a Joan of Arc-esque apparition. I heard voices (mostly my sons playing Xbox) and saw visions of a beautiful screensaver and an intentional home screen, one that would spotlight the things I wanted to prioritise in my life.

Let’s begin with the screensaver. Mine used to be plain black - no photos, no graphics - because someone once told me that keeping my phone looking boring and unstimulating would result in less screen time. THAT DIDN’T WORK. I just felt boring and unstimulated. This year, I’ve chosen an inspo pic of the front entrance gates of my dream. It’s a goal my husband and I have been working towards for yonks, and while a home reno may not be your thing, achieving these gates stupidly mean a lot to me. I’m basic like that.

Now comes the good part. The home screen. This is essentially the first thing I see every day so the apps I have chosen to keep are ones that move me closer to my goals. Here’s what up there: