What are your screen habits when you wake up? Do you pick up your iPhone before you get out of bed? How close to your eyes do you hold it? How bright is the screen and how bright is your room?

There are a number of reasons to consider not sleeping next to your cellphone, waiting until you’re more awake to look at it, and/or keeping it a safe distance from your face during use. If you wish, iPhone can also restrict your access depending on these variables.

Screen Addiction

Staring at a screen can easily eliminate your attention span for external stimuli, including memory of others speaking and capacity to respond to them. It’s uncanny how much I’m aware of this from observations of myself and of others.

And yet, I regularly allow my screen addiction to take over so I can check Facebook notifications, play Scrabble turns, attend to client correspondence, and more. Even keeping the iPhone color temperature on the warmer side doesn’t seem to reduce this tendency.

Screen Distance

For iPhones with Face ID, iOS 17 includes optional Screen Distance protection, first mentioned in iOS 17 Hot Tips #1. This encourages you to keep your iPhone at least 12 inches from your eyes. Visit Settings > Screen Time > Screen Distance to toggle the feature.

As long as your eyes are visible to the True Depth camera, using the iPhone at a close distance will cause Screen Distance to take over the display until you move the device far enough away. Tap Continue to return to your regularly scheduled program.

I find Screen Distance useful, however I also cheat in bed. My iPhone sits on a stand atop my nightstand next to my bed. I angle the iPhone away from my eyes so it isn’t shining directly at me. This way, I can play Wordle first thing in the morning — which is sometimes right before I go to sleep — without disturbing my brainwaves too much.

Screen Time

iOS also offers a number of ways to restrict screen time, including specifying general periods of downtime and setting time limits for apps, websites, or content categories. You can explore these options in Settings > Screen Time.

Screen Time may be most useful for parents to issue or revoke privileges with their kids. However, even if you don’t fully restrict yourself from certain activities, Screen Time has the potential to encourage you to reduce exposure through the extra steps you must take to request more time — if you take these obstacles seriously.

Learn more in Stop Staring.

I keep my iPhone in Airplane Mode while I sleep, providing me convenience of access when I’m still in bed while protecting me from a bit of radiation to keep my dream state pure. At least that’s what I tell myself.

Additionally, I don’t hold the device really close to my eyes, so the bright surface also doesn’t vibrate and distract me too much — or give me a headache. I left this behavior behind over a decade ago when I discovered the efficiency of getting up to use my Mac instead of staying in bed with my iPad.

Am I any better off? What methods do you use to reduce screen exposure for yourself or others? Are you any less addicted than your peers? And what do you do to soften your gaze toward your Mac and promote better sleep?