Analog Routines: Commitment Devices for Digital Habits

“If I feel bored for just a fraction of a second, I reach for my phone.”

While this is true of, and could have been said by, anyone, in this case it was said by James Clear, in his bestseller Atomic Habits, to illustrate how “commitment devices” work. Which was this: because he couldn’t resist the pull of his phone—distracted from the more important task of writing a book on how to overcome bad habits and create good ones—he had an assistant reset his social media passwords each week. The “commitment device” was making it impossible to check his distraction device.

Clear explains: "When working in your favor, automation can make your good habits inevitable and your bad habits impossible. It is the ultimate way to lock in future behavior rather than relying on willpower in the moment. By utilizing commitment devices, strategic onetime decisions, and technology, you can create an environment of inevitability—a space where good habits are not just an outcome you hope for but an outcome that is virtually guaranteed."

Analog Routines are commitment devices for digital habits.

• They are the pre-scheduled times when you want the digital volume of life turned down. For example at night, during meals, etc.
• They are pre-configured to lock-in your intended behavior. Perhaps at night, for example, you want to limit phone functions to the clock and calling. 
• They are automated, making the routines both inevitable and frictionless. You don't have to rely on in-the-moment willpower to follow-through, and you don't have to go through the daily negotiation with your teenagers about getting off / turning in / turning off their phones, either.

And as Analog Routines are anchored to time and place, they feel natural. They are also rewarding. As Clear said of his experience locking himself out of social media: "One of the biggest surprises was how quickly I adapted. Within the first week of locking myself out of social media, I realized that I didn't need to check it nearly as often as I had been, and I certainly didn't need it each day. It had simply been so easy that it had become the default. Once my bad habit became impossible, I discovered that I did actually have the motivation to work on more meaningful tasks. After I removed the mental candy from my environment, it became much easier to eat the healthy stuff."