You check your phone constantly even when nothing's there

This is worth seeing plainly, without judgment. The checking has become a tic, not a need — you look for no reason, the hand rising and eyes turning out of pure habit worn so deep it fires without cause, so name it as the empty automatic motion it is rather than a meaningful act. Catch the reach as it rises — bring the beneath-thought motion into awareness, noticing here is the reach again and there is nothing there, for a habit seen loses the automatic power it had unseen, and you need not always stop it, only watch it, until the choice returns. And add friction, and let the reflex fade — keep the phone in a bag or another room, face down and across the table, so the reach meets a small resistance and a moment for awareness, and over time the reflex fades for lack of feeding. You need not great willpower against a tic, only to arrange things so the mindless reach meets a little resistance. How often do you catch yourself checking with nothing there?