For years, my morning routine consisted of setting the alarm on my iPhone half an hour early, hitting snooze every nine minutes, and telling myself that the only way I could wake up was by blasting my eyes with blue light.
My phone alarm did wake me up — but it also got me hooked on my screen from the minute I opened my eyes. My morning scroll transitioned from checking text messages to a stream of short-form content and ads on Instagram, TikTok, and X.
It was all too much.
The solution turned out to be surprisingly simple: a $16 alarm clock.
I sleep better
As a Gen Z-er, I came of age when using a smartphone to set an alarm was the default. I spent years of my life falling asleep — phone still in hand — while messaging friends or scrolling on social media.
I made my analog leap and bought an alarm clock in September 2024.
I was surprised by how quickly some of my digital habits could be broken. The biggest obstacle was the fear that my new alarm clock would fail to ring in the morning. Once I got past that fear, I demoted my phone even further and started leaving it outside my bedroom to charge overnight.
I no longer doomscroll before bed. Without a phone by my bedside, I read and journal more. The analog alarm clock has also helped me break the bad habit of checking my phone in the middle of the night, which would only leave me counting down the hours until I have to be up.
I’m not the only person who has decided that the best way to curb phone addiction is to return to analog.
One TikTok user suggests carrying “analog bags” with portable activities like crossword puzzles to prevent reaching for your phone. Others are going even further and trading in their smartphones for “dumb phones.”
It transformed my morning routine
One of the surprising side effects of my new habit is how I feel when I’m working on mundane tasks.
Without an intense dopamine hit from TikTok first thing in the morning, tasks like unloading the dishwasher or making breakfast feel easier.
This isn’t just in my head. Delaying the dopamine reward of going on your phone actually makes you more productive and clear-headed, said Antonio Kalentzis, who works as a private psychologist and researcher.
“When we wake up, the brain is transitioning from sleep to full alertness. During this period, systems responsible for self-control, emotional regulation, and sustained attention are not yet operating at their optimal level,” he told me.
Exposing the brain to intense digital stimulation when you’ve not given yourself the chance to wake up properly makes you seek that same hit again and again.
Now, instead of automatically reaching for my phone when having my coffee, I read instead or just let myself think.
I did go back to my phone for a while
After over a year of using the alarm clock every day, I encountered my first obstacle: early morning shifts. In my previous job, my day started at 6:30 a.m., and I would usually get up at 5:20 a.m.
My alarm clock only lets me set one alarm, and the light and off buttons are very close together.
When I accidentally turned off the alarm one night, I woke up at the time I was supposed to be at work.
I caved. I started to keep my phone in my room if I had to work an early shift, and I felt my concentration and productivity decline in the mornings.
After a monthlong blip, I slowly trusted myself to use the alarm clock again.
Now my only worry is that I have no idea when to change the batteries — call it analog anxiety.
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