Notice
Whether you catch the moments your phone takes over.
The phone check-in · a free pilot
Tried to cut back on your phone, and it didn't stick?
Answer 15 short questions about how you actually use your phone, not how long. See where your choices slip, and leave with one thing to try today.
15 questions · about 4 minutes · your result straight away · for adults (18+)
Example result
9/20
Choosing some of the time
- Notice
- Choose
- Belong
What it looks at
Three areas, none of them measured in minutes
Ten of the questions are about small, specific things you do or don't do. They add up to a score out of 20, split across three areas:
Choose
Whether you decide what it is for, and when to stop, before the feed decides for you.
Belong
Whether the people around you, and the way you see yourself, make the change easier.
The last five questions ask about your situation, what you want to change, and what has got in the way. They aren't scored. They shape the advice you get.
Why not count hours?
Because hours turn out to say surprisingly little
About half of US adults say they spend too much time on their phone. Of adults who tried to cut back in the past year, about a quarter said they were extremely or very successful. About half said somewhat. Most "use your phone less" advice is about the number of minutes. The best research I have found says that number tells us surprisingly little.
In one of the most careful large studies, of hundreds of thousands of young people, how much they used technology explained at most 0.4% of the differences in their wellbeing. My working idea is that what matters more is whether you chose it. In small studies, people who swiped through short videos with no limit were worse afterwards at remembering a plan they had made earlier. In one of them, people whose swiping was limited did better. They don't show why, and they don't show that choosing is the reason.
Researchers commissioned by Ofcom, the UK regulator, spoke to 40 children aged 8 to 16, all chosen because they said they spent more time online than they planned or realised. The researchers report children describing how the decision to keep scrolling "didn't feel like a decision", and how going online for something specific gave them "more of a reason to come off".
So this check-in asks about choice points: noticing, deciding, and the people around you. The swiping studies are small and short-term. The Ofcom work is a small interview study, not representative of all children, so it describes experiences rather than proving a cause. I'll say that wherever I lean on them.
Sources
- Pew Research Center (2026): about half of US adults say they spend too much time on their phone
- Orben & Przybylski (2019), Nature Human Behaviour: technology use and adolescent wellbeing
- Chiossi et al. (2023), CHI: short-form videos and remembering your intentions
- Barton & Smyth (2025), Memory: a follow-up study with a limit on swiping
- Ofcom (2026): how persuasive design relates to the time children spend online, interviews with 40 children aged 8 to 16
What you get
A result you can use, even if you never come back
Your score and what it means. Out of 20, with how you're doing in each of the three areas.
Three insights from your own answers. What's already working, where your biggest opportunity is, and a note on what has been getting in the way.
Step 1: a two-minute exercise aimed at your lowest area, which you can do straight away.
Step 2: an invitation, if it fits. I'm running a small one-week reset pilot. Your result says honestly whether it suits you or not.
Who's behind this
Made by Chernyang, and honest about being new
I'm a mathematician who spent over a decade building software. These days I'm asking a different question: as technology becomes smarter, how can we become wiser humans? I test every idea on myself first, and share what I find, including what doesn't work.
This check-in is brand new. There are no testimonials yet, because you'd be among the first to take it. The score is a mirror to reflect with, not a clinical or validated measure.
Ready when you are
For adults. If you're a parent, the questions are about your own phone. That's deliberate: it's the one you can change today.
Your answers are sent to me so I can learn what actually helps people. Your name and email are optional. How I handle your answers.