Obsessively checking Instagram or Twitter might seem like an addiction but another perspective is that it has now become a habitual routine for many of us. Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit, tells us that habits are so powerful because they create neurological cravings but with time and effort "almost any habit can be reshaped".
If you’re looking to break bad tech habits perhaps Productive will help. This iOS app makes it easy to set up and track habits you would like to make (or break) by prompting you to set goals under six overarching categories – health, fitness, home, hobbies, social, efficiency – or giving you the option of creating your own, eg “no checking my smartphone after 10pm”.
There are scores of habit-tracking apps out there but Productive is perhaps the most flexible in that you can set goals for specific times of the day and set them to recur daily, once a week or less frequently. Once they’re set up you swipe right to indicate a completed habit or left to skip it.
