Where should I keep my phone when I get home?
Why near the door
The door is the one place everyone passes on the way in. If the spot is there, putting the phone down is part of coming home, not an extra decision later on the couch. A spot in the living room or the bedroom keeps the phone in reach and in sight. Research on smartphones suggests that matters: in Ward and colleagues' 2017 study, the mere presence of one's own phone reduced available cognitive capacity, even when people did not use it.
Options, from simplest to most fixed
- A bowl or basket on a shelf by the door. Free, and easy to start tonight. Easy to skip, too.
- A charging spot in the hallway. The phone charges while it waits, which gives you a reason to leave it there. It also means the phone does not charge by the bed.
- A wall mount or magnetic plate on the doorframe or the wall beside it. Fixed at hand height, so the phone has an obvious place. ZUZA is this kind: a magnetic plate for the doorframe, plus an app that counts how long the phone rests there.
Making it stick
- Same spot, every day. A habit needs one place, not three.
- Everyone at home, if they agree. A shared spot turns it from a rule into a family default.
- Keep calls reachable. If you are waiting for a call, leave the ringer on. The point is distance, not missing people.
- Measure. Check your weekly pickups on iPhone or Android before and after.
And at night?
The same idea works for the bedroom: charge the phone outside it and use a separate alarm clock. Beeri Tzori's Intentional Nights questionnaire asks a related question, how many kids slept last night with a phone in the room: beeritzori.com/en/gii/.
More ideas: how to use your phone less at home.
Sources
Last checked: 2026-10-25