Free
Screen Time and Digital Wellbeing
Why it is good: free, already installed, no setup, no purchase.
Why it failed: the grey box has a button on it that says Ignore Limit. Pressing it costs half a second, nobody sees you do it, and there is no consequence. Within a week you are pressing it without even reading the box. Within two you have forgotten the limit exists.
Free or paid
Blocker apps
Why it is good: plenty of options, some are clever, a few are genuinely well made.
Why it failed: it lives on the same phone as the problem. There is a password, and you are the one who chose it, which means you can always give yourself permission. Most of them also charge you every month for the privilege of that permission.
Free
Deleting the app
Why it is good: it actually works, and it is free. This is the strongest free option there is.
Why it failed: reinstalling takes forty seconds, and your account, your chats and your feed are all exactly where you left them. It holds beautifully until the first genuinely bad evening, which is the one evening you needed it to hold.
Free
Phone in another room
Why it is good: it is the closest thing to Mohar, and it costs nothing. We recommend trying this first.
Why it failed: you cannot take a call, so you start making exceptions, and exceptions are how every rule dies. Most people last two or three days before the phone has quietly found its way back onto the desk.
Expensive
A second basic phone
Why it is good: proper separation. Nothing to argue with.
Why it failed: two numbers, two chargers, two things to carry and to charge, and everyone who actually matters to you is on the other one. It is an enormous amount of friction to buy a small amount of focus.
₹1,499 once
Mohar
Why it works: the switch is not on your phone. It is an object on your table.
What it costs you: ₹1,499 once, and the walk to wherever you left it. That walk is not a side effect, it is the point. It turns a reflex into a decision, and you win far more decisions than you think.