Woman looking at her smartphone beneath the heading “Mom’s Struggles: Phone Addiction” and “How to Break Free From Phone Addiction and Redeem Your Time.

Moms, it’s time to break free from phone addiction and redeem your time!

Seven hours a day on my phone.

Oh, friend. That is hard to admit. I was horrified when I realized my screen time.

If you are a mom struggling with phone addiction and wondering how to redeem your time, I understand. I know what it feels like to pick up your phone to look for one thing and find yourself scrolling thirty minutes later, completely forgetting why you picked it up!

For years, I have struggled with spending too much time on my phone.

Phone addiction is a reall problem most moms I know are struggling with. I know I am not alone!

I hated wasting precious hours. I hated feeling pulled toward my phone when there were people I loved right beside me.

And here is the humbling part: I have already lived without a smartphone for an entire year.

I know how freeing that can be. I have experienced it before. Yet I found myself needing to make changes again.

That is why I created The Unplugged Homeschool Mama.

I need this journey, too.

I want less scrolling and a richer life. I want to enjoy my husband and children, grow in God’s Word, read wonderful books, nurture friendships, and have room for creativity and rest.

I want to be fully present while I have my children near me.

And I would love to walk this journey with you.

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My Phone Addiction Wake-Up Call: 49 Hours a Week

During our first Unplugged gathering, another mom and I shared the same startling realization: we had been spending around seven hours a day on our phones.

That is 49 hours a week.

More hours than a typical full-time workweek!

Of course, some phone time serves a purpose. Many of us work online, homeschool with digital resources, communicate with family, and handle necessary tasks on our devices. I certainly do.

But I needed to ask how much of my time was useful—and how much disappeared into checking, scrolling, and following whatever caught my attention.

How often had I said I didn’t have time to read a book, bake, exercise, or enjoy a hobby?

Then I looked at how much time my phone was receiving.

That was a real heart check and almost gave me a heart attack!

I have written about this before in How Much Time Are You Spending on Facebook?. Those frequent visits to facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and ChatGPT add up, even when each one seems harmless.

Seeing that weekly total made me think about everything else I could have done in those hours.

The Hidden Cost of Phone Addiction

Here is the simple math:

Daily phone use Weekly total
2 hours 14 hours
3 hours 21 hours
5 hours 35 hours
7 hours 49 hours

These totals include all phone use. They give us a starting point for examining which hours we want to keep and which we would rather spend differently.

Another calculation I shared in my emails stopped me: five hours a day, continued for 72 years, adds up to 15 years of accumulated time.

That is an illustration, rather than a prediction about anyone’s life. But it makes those daily hours feel very real.

Sometimes the cost is a conversation we barely remember because we were distracted.

Sometimes it is the book we keep meaning to read, the creative project we never begin, or time with the Lord that keeps getting pushed aside.

Sometimes it is staying awake longer than we intended and feeling exhausted the next morning.

I love baking bread for my family. My son has described it as my love language! Yet I found myself feeling that I didn’t have time to bake.

There were things I loved doing that had been crowded out like Bible journaling and cross stitching.

What have you stopped making room for because your phone is always within reach?

That question takes me back to the first time I realized how much my phone habits needed to change.

What Giving Up My Smartphone Taught Me

Years ago, I gave up my smartphone for an entire year.

Yes, a whole year!

I shared part of that experience in 3 Things I Gained by Giving Up My Smartphone.

At the time, my children helped me recognize something painful. My young daughter would hold my face and turn it toward her to get my attention. My son asked me to turn off my phone when he was trying to talk to me.

They were right in front of me, wanting their mom to listen.

I wanted to teach my children the habit of attention. I needed to consider the habits they were learning by watching me.

Hands Free Mama by Rachel Macy Stafford helped me recognize what constant distraction was costing my family. That book was part of an important turning point for me.

Living without a smartphone showed me that I could make a meaningful change. Remembering that year still encourages me.

But a decision we made years ago needs to be supported by the choices we make today. As life became more demanding, I needed to pay attention to my boundaries again.

And one particularly demanding season left me longing for more presence with my children.

Why I Want to Redeem My Time With My Children

Going back to school for my master’s in Biblical Studies was hard.

I was thankful to pursue something I had dreamed about. But juggling studying, homeschooling, ministry, business, and family responsibilities left me exhausted.

Even when I was physically home, my mind was often occupied with something I needed to read, a paper I needed to write, or some other assigment I had to finish.

Looking back, I feel like I missed two years of being fully present in my children’s lives.

That hurts. It hurst so much I haven’t been able to celebrate my graduation yet.

I loved them through those years. I cared for them and did my best with what was in front of me. But I wish more of my attention had been available to enjoy being together.

Perhaps you understand that feeling after a demanding season of your own.

I am learning to acknowledge that sadness without allowing regret to consume the time I have today. Those years held love and meaningful effort. I can appreciate that while also recognizing what I want to experience differently now.

After finishing my degree, I needed rest. I needed room to recover and rediscover the joy of ordinary family life. That’s why I took a sabbatical year. But our family was also facing circumstances that made that need for connection feel even more urgent.

A Difficult Family Season and an Unexpected Move

Then came the stress of what happened to our son. We found out he was being groomed online, just as we found out we had to leave Florida and move back to Canada.

I cannot begin to tell you what we went through. We fought hell to save our son!

Never in my life I imaged us going through a situation like this – never!

Our biggest mistake is to think that things like this will never happen to our children.

There are details of our son’s experience that I am keeping private here. But that season deepened my concern about the online dangers facing our children and teenagers.

You have no idea how easily and cheap they can get an unblocked phone you won’t even know they have it. Or how they can change apps icons to hide something you don’t know they’ve accessing.

Do you really know what’s on your kids devices? Have you spent time checking it lately? If not, when was the last time you checked them?

Please don’t answer never.

You don’t know how clever these grommers are and how easily they persuate our children.

Lord, have mercy!

Because of that, our family went six months without Wi-Fi at home. We had to cut evil from the root!

Those experiences changed the way I thought about technology, family connection, and the boundaries our home needed.

Protecting our children involves much more than reducing our own screen time and theirs. Being available to listen, notice, and maintain honest conversations matters deeply to me.

With concern for our son and a major move ahead, there was so much to carry. We needed opportunities to breathe and enjoy being together again.

Thankfully, our journey back to Canada gave us that opportunity.

Five Weeks of Unplugged Adventures Helped Us Reconnect

We the five weeks we spent RVing back to Canada were exactly what our family needed to heal and regroup unplugged.

Oh, friend. Those weeks were a breath of fresh air!

After so much stress and change, our family had amazing unplugged adventures together. We shared experiences, made memories, and had opportunities to reconnect.

We visited Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, Big Bend, Zion and many other National Parks.

We visited friends every place we could and I even made a special visit to TPUSA with my daughters! It was such an incredible opportunity.

I treasure every moment we hiked and prayed together. Every conversation under the stars or seating on a mountain peak.

The trip did not remove every difficulty we were carrying. But within that transition, we had room to enjoy one another again.

It reminded me how much I wanted to protect that connection.

I know a five weeks trip may not bet possible or affordable for everyone. But God knows this was exactly what we needed to recover from such a shock and trauma – also, to protect our son.

I knew that to continue to protect our children, I needed to come up with a plan.

What would need to change? What was taking my attention? And why was it so easy to return to scrolling, even when I knew how much I wanted something different?

Those questions led me beyond screen-time totals and into the reasons behind my habits.

What Are We Hoping Our Phones Will Give Us?

Our first Unplugged focus was EVALUATE.

Before changing our phone habits, we began looking at where our time was going and why we kept reaching for our devices.

Sometimes we are bored, tired, lonely, stressed, or overwhelmed.

Sometimes we want encouragement, comfort, connection, or a little escape from everything waiting for us.

And sometimes reaching for the phone has become so automatic that we barely notice doing it.

In my newsletter, I invited moms to consider these questions:

  • What do I run to when I feel lonely, stressed, sad, or disappointed?
  • What am I hoping my phone will give me?
  • Am I seeking rest, comfort, connection, validation, or distraction?
  • What responsibilities or emotions might I be avoiding?
  • When I put my phone down, do I feel refreshed or more exhausted?

These questions deserve an honest, compassionate answer.

If I need rest, I want to recognize that need and choose something restorative. If I need connection, I want to consider who I could call, visit, or spend time with.

Understanding what I am reaching for helps me decide what might serve me better.

It also helps explain why simply telling myself to “use my phone less” has not always been enough. I need practical changes that support my intentions.

Research I shared during the launch gave me more reasons to take those changes seriously.

What Research Says About Reducing Smartphone Use

A 2025 randomized study in PNAS Nexus tested blocking mobile internet on smartphones for two weeks while retaining calls and texts. Researchers found improvements in attention, mental health, and well-being; 91% of participants improved on at least one of those outcomes. You can read the study on blocking mobile internet.

Another 2025 randomized study in BMC Medicine asked a group of healthy students to reduce smartphone screen time to two hours or less daily for three weeks. Compared with the control group, the intervention group showed improvements in sleep, stress, depressive symptoms, and well-being. The researchers also found that screen time rose again afterward, highlighting the challenge of maintaining changes. Read the smartphone screen-time reduction study.

That last finding reminds me why ongoing habits and support matter.

And interruptions can affect us before we even pick up the phone. A 2015 experiment found that receiving phone notifications disrupted performance on an attention-demanding task, even when participants did not interact with their phones. The researcher explains the findings in The Attentional Cost of Receiving a Cell Phone Notification.

These studies encouraged me to consider both the distractions I could remove and the everyday habits I wanted to build.

As I shared those ideas, I heard from other moms who wanted the same kind of change.

What Moms Want—and What We Are Tired of Carrying

When I began sharing Unplugged, I received replies from moms who recognized their own struggles.

The responses included excitement: “This is exactly what I need!”

But there was also a concern I understood immediately:

“Will it take too much time? I already have so much on my plate!”

Oh, Mama. I hear you.

We want time to read our Bibles without rushing. We want enjoyable conversations with our children, more connection with our husbands, peaceful home rhythms, friendships, creativity, and rest.

We want to finish meaningful work without repeatedly pulling our minds somewhere else.

And we are tired of feeling scattered.

We don’t need hours of videos to catch up on, another demanding schedule, or another place to feel behind.

We also don’t need more pressure to make our homes look like the ones we see online.

I love living books, nature journals, poetry teas, and beautiful things. You know I do!

But our actual children need our attention in the homes and circumstances we have today.

Real homeschooling includes changed plans, moves, illness, difficult days, and teenagers whose needs are different from when they were ten.

In Enough With the Hustle! Confessions of a Burned Out Mom, I wrote honestly about reaching my limit. I want to protect the peace God has helped me recover.

That means any change I make needs to fit our real family life. And that is why the practical steps inside Unplugged begin small.

We Need to Work on Our Own Habits, Too

Charlotte Mason wrote:

“The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days.”
— Home Education, Volume 1, page 136

As homeschool moms, we put so much effort into helping our children develop good habits. We teach them to pay attention, finish their work, listen when someone speaks, and use their time wisely.

But what habits are we practicing ourselves?

I needed to ask that question honestly. Reaching for my phone at every pause, scrolling longer than I intended, and repeatedly interrupting what I was doing had become habits I wanted to correct.

And changing them can be uncomfortable!

When we are used to picking up our phones whenever we feel bored, tired, or overwhelmed, putting them away leaves us facing that feeling. We may feel restless. Our hands may reach for the phone before we have even thought about it.

I want us to expect some discomfort as we practice a different response. That uncomfortable beginning is a time to notice the urge, remember what we want to make room for, and choose our next action.

We can open our Bibles, pick up a book, step outside, or give our attention to someone beside us. Sometimes we can simply let a quiet moment remain quiet.

The habits we help our children build require patient practice. Our own habits deserve that same care and persistence.

Phone addiction is costing us time, sleep, attention, and opportunities for connection. Correcting those habits takes effort, and I believe the life we are making room for is worth that effort.

Phone Addiction Was Costing Me Money, Too

I also had to look at what happened when I opened the Amazon app.

It was so easy to browse, see something I liked, and order it—even when I didn’t need it. A few taps, and something else was on its way to our house.

Can you relate, Mama?

Having that app on my phone made shopping available in every spare moment. I needed to put some distance between the temptation to browse and the decision to buy.

So I removed Amazon from my phone.

I can still purchase something our family needs. But now I have an opportunity to pause and consider the purchase instead of ordering almost without thinking.

My phone habits were costing me money as well as time. Recognizing that gave me another reason to change them.

How to Stop Phone Addiction: Practical Steps You Can Begin Today

You can choose one manageable change and give yourself time to practice.

Here are some of the steps I shared throughout the Unplugged launch.

1. Look at Your Actual Phone Use

Open your screen-time report and review your daily average, most-used apps, and patterns.

Multiply your daily average by seven.

Then consider which activities are necessary, which you enjoy intentionally, and which leave you wondering where your time went.

Write down three answers:

What am I reaching for? What am I missing? What do I want to reclaim?

2. Silence Unnecessary Notifications

Keep the calls, messages, and alerts your household needs.

Silence the notifications that repeatedly draw your attention toward social media, shopping, or other distractions.

Give yourself fewer interruptions to resist.

3. Remove One Distracting App

I removed social media and other distracting apps from my phone. I also switched my screen to grayscale.

My colorful little distraction machine looked rather boring—which was exactly what I wanted! 😂

You could begin by deleting one app you repeatedly open without intending to.

I also removed Amazon from my phone after noticing how conveniently I could browse and buy. I wanted to be more intentional about my money as well as my time.

4. Create Phone-Free Moments

Put your phone away during a meal, Bible reading, homeschool lesson, or family activity.

Begin with a manageable window. Make arrangements for essential communication as needed.

Thirty minutes of uninterrupted attention is something to celebrate.

5. Give Online Work a Clear Place

“What if I work online?”

So do I!

I understand that we need useful technology. Scheduling computer time and writing down what I intend to accomplish helps give my work a clearer purpose and stopping point.

In How to Organize Your Busy Mom Schedule, I shared more about planning with priorities and margin.

Our work needs attention, and our plans also need room for family life.

6. Make an Offline Activity Easy to Reach For

Leave a book where you usually sit. Keep a notebook handy. Put a game on the table. Gather supplies for something you would enjoy making.

During the launch, I shared two videos that prompted questions I am still considering: how our phones pull at our attention, and what we used to enjoy before every quiet moment became an opportunity to scroll.

What would you like to rediscover?

7. Make Room for Rest

Shabbat has become such a meaningful part of protecting rest in my own life.

You might begin with a screen-free evening or another period of rest that works for your household, keeping necessary communication available.

Read. Pray. Go outside. Enjoy your family. Let a conversation continue without checking your phone.

Give yourself the opportunity to notice how that time feels.

As these small changes create space, we can begin deciding what we want to do with it.

Redeem Your Time: What Could You Do With One Hour a Day?

Imagine reclaiming one hour a day from unnecessary scrolling.

That would give you:

  • 7 hours in a week
  • 28 hours in four weeks
  • 84 hours over twelve weeks

Eighty-four hours!

What would you love to do with them?

Read your Bible and pray? Enjoy your husband and children? Finish a book? Walk outdoors? Bake? Nurture a friendship? Rest?

Even thirty minutes a day adds up to 42 hours over twelve weeks.

You can choose a small beginning and give it a meaningful purpose.

Psalm 90:12 has guided our Unplugged journey:

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
— Psalm 90:12, KJV

That is my prayer as I learn to redeem my time.

I want wisdom for the ordinary decisions that shape my days. And one thing I want those days to include again is reading with enough attention to enjoy it.

Books That Have Encouraged Me To Break My Phone Addiction

I have already shared how Hands Free Mama helped me recognize the cost of distraction. Last month I read Digital Minimalism which brought me more conviction about breaking up with my phone addiction.

This week I’ve been reading Reconnected by Carlos Whittaker and feeling so inspired by his experiment of spending seven weeks screen-free with monks and Amish farmers.

Finding another person describing seven hours a day on his phone certainly caught my attention! I found the book inspiring and convicting during my own Unplugged journey.

Books can help us reflect on our habits and imagine different ways to live. Then we need room to practice what we are learning.

If I want my children to learn attention, I need to keep practicing it myself.

That is one reason our Unplugged reading list includes books about both digital habits and the life we want to cultivate beyond our screens.

Our Unplugged Book List for a Richer Life Beyond Our Screens

These books explore phone addiction, attention, faith, relationships, rest, and meaningful life offline.

These are the books I recommend to our Unplugged Mamas. There is not way to read all of them so choose one that speaks to your season to start.

Phone Habits and Digital Distraction

Family Connection and Thoughtful Technology Use

Faith, Rest, and Home Rhythms

Enjoying Life and Working With Greater Intention

There is so much information and encouragement available to us. But I also know how easy it is to gather ideas and struggle to put them into practice.

I wanted something that would help me bring those intentions into my actual week. That desire helped shape Unplugged.

How Unplugged Helps You Put Your Intentions Into Practice

I created The Unplugged Homeschool Mama because I needed a practical way to work on these things alongside other moms.

The 12-week Guide and Companion Planner give us space for Scripture, reflection, planning, and small changes we can practice at home.

The guide’s four rhythms are simple:

  • Read. Open Scripture and make room to listen.
  • Respond. Reflect and choose a practical offline invitation.
  • Return. When you miss a day, begin again without creating a backlog.
  • Connect. Find encouragement through meaningful relationships and prayer.

The planner helps us consider where those intentions fit in our actual days.

The mentorship goes further, with short weekly teachings, optional live gatherings, book discussions, prayer, encouragement, and accountability.

As I explained in my launch emails:

“Our goal is to give you MORE time, not take it away.”

I don’t want you spending hours trying to keep up online when you joined because you wanted more room for life offline!

And if a live group does not fit your season, the standalone Guide + Planner offers a self-guided way to begin. That bundle is separate from mentorship and community access.

Whichever way a mom begins, I want her to understand what this can look like in everyday life.

Questions Moms Asked About Breaking Phone Addiction

Do I Have to Give Up My Smartphone?

No. Living without one was part of my story, but you can begin by changing how you use yours.

Keep the tools your family needs and reconsider the distractions that consume your attention.

What If I Work Online?

You can establish boundaries around necessary work, designate time for it, and consider which tasks belong at your computer.

I am working through this, too.

What If I Have Older Children?

This matters with teenagers and young adults, too!

Being present may look like listening when they want to talk, sharing an interest, or making room for time together as they become more independent.

Unplugged speaks to mothers in different seasons of homeschooling.

What If I Fall Behind?

Return.

Choose your next step without making yourself complete everything you missed first.

I want these resources to serve your family in the life you have.

Why Twelve Weeks?

Twelve weeks gives us room to practice, notice challenges, adjust, and keep returning.

It is the structure of our journey, rather than a promise that every habit will be settled by a particular date.

And while we are giving ourselves time to practice, we can also notice and celebrate the changes that begin along the way.

That is exactly what has encouraged me in my own home.

My Screen Time Dropped 77%—Here Is What Changed at Home

After beginning to put these Unplugged practices into action, I shared an update in my newsletter:

My daily average screen time had dropped 77%!

Halleluyah!

After struggling with seven hours a day on my phone, seeing that change felt HUGE.

But what excited me most was the difference I was experiencing with my family.

I felt calmer and more focused. I felt more fun to be around and more loving toward my husband—yes, that was a win for him, too! 😂

The kids and I had been playing games in the evenings.

Those were actual moments together around the table, enjoying one another’s company. The kind of family time I had been wanting more room for.

My phone was no longer beside my bed every night, and I was sleeping better. I could go to sleep without having a sermon, audiobook, or podcast playing in my headphones.

I also stopped running to my phone first thing in the morning.

These were early changes in my own experience. I am still practicing, and I know I will need to keep paying attention to my habits.

But I could see the practical difference in our days.

The things I had been writing about—family connection, greater focus, rest, and more intentional choices—were becoming experiences I could enjoy.

That encouraged me to keep going.

I created Unplugged because I needed it, and putting it into practice has helped me begin reclaiming the time and attention I wanted to give my family.

Moms, Let’s Break Free From Phone Addiction and Redeem Our Time

When I think about those early victories, I think about my children.

They are growing.

They are studying, working, serving, and becoming more independent. I am thankful for the fruit we are beginning to see after years of homeschooling.

And I want to enjoy being their mom in this season.

I want to hear their stories, know what interests them, and have room for conversations that take longer than expected.

I want to enjoy my marriage, nurture friendships, care for my home, and make time for the things that nourish my soul.

That is the life I am working toward as I address phone addiction.

My year without a smartphone showed me that change was possible. Our five weeks on the road reminded me how precious family connection is. And these recent changes are helping me make room for that connection in ordinary life at home.

I cannot go back and relive those two years of school.

But I can make choices about today.

I can put my phone away. I can turn toward my children and listen. I can open my Bible, call a friend, bake bread, or join my family around the table.

Come explore The Unplugged Homeschool Mama and begin making room for less scrolling and a richer life.

I would love to walk alongside you.

And whether you join us or begin with one small change on your own, I hope you will take this question seriously:

If you could reclaim ten hours every week, what would you do with them?

Tell me in the comments, friend. I would love to hear what you want to make room for.

To less scrolling, more living and a richer life beyond our screens!

Ana.

I’m Ready to Unplug!

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About Ana Willis

Ana is the unhurried homeschool mom of 3, wife, and homeschool blogger. She loves to encourage, inspire and empower moms to go from stressed to blessed by providing them with the tips, strategies, and resources they need to succeed. Ana is the founder of They Call Me Blessed and the creator of: Hebrew for Homeschoolers, Charlotte Mason Online Conference, The Homeschool Sisterhood, and the Beyond Blessed Life Planner. She leads a vibrant free community for homeschool moms on Facebook and you can connect with her at www.facebook.com/theycallmeblessedblog.