You are not distracted. You are on call.
At this score the phone is not the problem. The problem is that you have not been unreachable, properly unreachable, in years, and your attention has reorganised itself around that.
The short answer
A score of 10 to 14 out of 14 means permanent reachability has become the default setting rather than a choice. The pickup is automatic, the day opens on the phone, being alone is uncomfortable, and previous attempts to stop have not held. Screen time limits will not touch this. Removing the option to be reached will.
What this looks like day to day
- You are mentally tired before the day has started.
- You check the phone during conversations and do not notice doing it.
- You cannot remember the last hour nobody could reach you.
- Being alone without a screen feels like something to get through.
The first three moves
One unreachable hour, tonight
Phone in another room, no exceptions, no telling anyone. The instruction is not to relax. It is to notice what you reach for instead, because that is the actual habit underneath the phone.
Tell people the truth once
At this score other people are relying on your instant reply, and that will drag you back faster than any app. One message: I check twice a day now, call if it is urgent. Said once, not negotiated repeatedly.
Book a full offline day
Hour long fixes give you information. A ten hour block gives you a new baseline, because the withdrawal, the boredom and the recovery all happen inside the same day and you feel where each one ends.
The honest read
DEAD AIR is built for exactly this score. Phones sealed at Hour 0, returned at Hour 10, a measured score and a written rule for the Monday after. Cohort 01 seats are limited and the list hears first.
Related questions
Is a high score on a phone addiction test serious?
It is a strong signal, not a diagnosis. What it reliably indicates is that phone use has stopped being a series of decisions. That pattern responds to structure and to removing the option to be reached, not to willpower or to screen time dashboards.
Do screen time limits work at this score?
Rarely. App limits assume the pickup is a decision you can budget. At this score the pickup happens before the decision, so the limit becomes a notification you dismiss. Changing where the phone physically is works far better than changing what it allows.
Where do I start if everything feels like too much?
One hour, unreachable, tonight. Not a week, not an app purge, not deleting accounts. One hour repeated for a fortnight outperforms every dramatic reset, because the dramatic reset ends and this does not.
Apply for the 48 hour offline retreat, or join even hand free with an email and a city.