Replace checking with a scheduled pickup window

Instead of picking up the phone whenever the urge hits, designate two pickup windows per evening.

Why it works

Without a replacement behavior, removing the phone from reach tends to produce a restless urge-monitoring cycle — "is it time yet?" becomes a new form of checking behavior. Scheduled pickup windows convert the phone from a reactive device to a proactive one: you initiate contact on your schedule rather than responding to a pull. This shifts locus of control from the device to the person.

How to do it

1. Choose two fixed pickup windows per evening (e.g., 7 PM and 9 PM), each lasting 10-15 minutes.
2. Use the window to respond to anything urgent, then return the phone to the foyer.
3. If you anticipate something genuinely time-sensitive, tell the relevant person your pickup schedule in advance.

Evidence

Scheduled rather than continuous phone access has been associated with lower perceived stress and greater task focus in observational studies of phone-use behavior. (observational)

Direct evidence for the foyer method specifically is absent; the scheduled-access mechanism draws on batch-processing research.

Common mistake

Making the window open-ended ("I’ll check for a bit") rather than time-bounded, which lets one check become twenty minutes of scrolling.