What’s within reach gets reached for. If porn is one tap away on the phone beside your bed, you’re relying on willpower every single night. Change the setup, and many of those battles never start.
Here’s a practical checklist.
Your devices
Computer
- Install a blocker that works before pages load. Our guide to blocking porn on Chrome covers it.
- Allow it in incognito, since Chrome skips extensions in private windows by default. Here’s how.
- Protect every browser you use, not just your favourite.
- Pin the blocker to your toolbar so help is one click away.
Phone and tablet
- Turn on SafeSearch in your search apps and browsers.
- Consider a family-filter DNS on your home Wi-Fi or device, which works across apps.
- Review your apps. If an app keeps leading you somewhere you don’t want to go, delete it or move it off your home screen.
Your rooms
- Screens out of the bedroom. Charge your phone and laptop in another room overnight. This one change helps more people than almost anything else.
- Use a simple alarm clock so you don’t need your phone by the bed.
- Work in shared spaces when you can, especially late in the day.
Your routines
- Set a screens-off time an hour before bed, and keep it on weekends too.
- Plan your evenings. Unstructured, solitary time is a common trigger. Our post on late nights has a plan.
- Keep alternatives ready: a book on the nightstand, a podcast queued up, a walking route you like.
Your feeds
- Unfollow accounts that drift towards suggestive content.
- Use your blocklist for feeds or sites you lose hours to, even if they’re not explicit.
- Mute words that pull you in, where your apps allow it.
Do it on a calm day
The best time to set all this up is when you feel fine. You’ll make clearer choices about what to block, and the protection will already be there on the hard days.
Your setup checklist
- Blocker installed and allowed in incognito.
- SafeSearch on.
- Phone charging outside the bedroom.
- Screens-off time decided.
- First move for urges written down.
- One person you can message.
Want to understand why this beats motivation? Read why willpower isn’t the answer.
Safe View is a self-help tool, not a treatment. If porn use is causing you distress, or you’re struggling with your mental health, consider talking to a doctor or a licensed therapist.
