A chatbot is only as useful as what you give it. “Help me use my phone less” gets you a list of tips you have already read. “Here is my week, here is what I want instead, make one change I will actually keep” gets you something to do tonight. These thirty prompts are written for the second kind of answer.

They come in three groups. The first twelve are for when you have connected Respite to Claude or to ChatGPT, so the AI reads your usage itself. The next eighteen work with any chatbot and any tracker: you paste the numbers.

What makes a screen time prompt work?

Four things, in this order:

  1. Real numbers. People underestimate their use, so never describe; paste or connect.
  2. A goal that is not “less”. “Be asleep by 11”, “finish the book”, “stop checking at dinner”.
  3. A constraint. “I will not meditate for an hour.” “No lectures.”
  4. One output. Three patterns. One limit per app. A one-week plan. A 40-word message.

And one habit: ask the AI to show the figures it used. If it cannot, it guessed.

Prompts for when Respite is connected (1 to 12)

These use Respite’s read tools (get_usage, get_insights, list_limits, list_events, get_progress). They need Respite Plus. Say “use my Respite data” if the assistant does not reach for the connector on its own.

1. The weekly review

Use my Respite data. Compare this week with last week: total minutes, daily average, and the three apps that changed most. End with one thing that went well and one change to try.

2. Your worst day

Find my busiest day in the last 30 days. Which apps made it busy, and what do the other busy days have in common?

3. Limit check

Did I stay inside my limits this week? For each limit, how many days was I within it, and which day was my worst?

4. The limit you always break

Which of my limits do I break most often? Suggest a more realistic number, and say what you based it on.

5. Walk-aways

When Respite paused me at a limit, how often did I walk away instead of carrying on? Which apps do I give in to most, and is that changing week on week?

6. Time of day

When in the day is my use highest? Show the pattern, and tell me which hours I should protect first. I am in [time zone].

7. Cross-device

Compare my phone and browser usage for the last 14 days. Is one device quietly making up for another when I limit it?

8. Limits audit

List my limits and schedules. Which look too loose compared with what I really do, and which are so tight I always override them?

9. Baseline

How does my daily average this period compare with my first week using Respite? Be honest if the answer is “not much”.

10. Interruptions

Show my last 20 interruptions at a limit and what I chose each time. Is there a pattern in the apps, days or hours?

11. Progress check

Look at my streak, acorns and quests. Which quest is easiest to finish today without using my phone more?

12. The one change

Based on everything you can see in my usage, limits and interruptions, what is the single change most likely to cut my screen time by 20 percent? Explain why, and tell me how sure you are.

If an answer sounds too tidy, ask “which tool results did you use?”. Respite’s answers leave out what a device did not record, so a good assistant says “I do not have that” rather than filling the gap.

Prompts that work with pasted numbers (13 to 30)

Open Screen Time on iPhone (Settings, Screen Time) or Digital Wellbeing on Android (Settings, Digital Wellbeing). Note your daily average, your top four apps with minutes, and the hours you scroll most. Paste them where the brackets are.

Understand it

13. Three patterns

My average screen time last week was [X hours]. Top apps: [paste]. I scroll most between [times]. Without judging me, tell me three patterns and ask up to five questions about what each app does for me.

14. Boredom, comfort or habit?

For each of my top apps ([list]), help me work out whether I use it from boredom, comfort, habit or because I need it. Ask me one question per app, then give your guess.

15. What is it costing?

I spend [X] hours a day on my phone. Convert that to hours per year, and to what I could do with a quarter of it. Keep it factual and kind.

16. Trigger map

Here are the moments I reach for my phone without deciding to: [list]. Group them into triggers and suggest one small, physical change for each.

Set limits

17. Realistic limits

My goal is [goal]. Suggest a daily limit for each app about 25 percent below my current average (not more) and explain why. Then give me a fallback rule for days I miss.

18. Free-up-an-hour

I want to get one hour a day back. Which of my apps should shrink, by how much, and in what order over four weeks?

19. Work-day versus weekend

My weekdays average [X] and weekends [Y]. Suggest different limits for each, and tell me whether the weekend deserves a limit at all.

20. Say no to a limit

Argue against the limit I just set ([app], [minutes]). What would make it fail, and what is a better version?

Handle the moment

21. Pause messages

I usually open [app] when [situation]. Write five reminders, each under 15 words, in a calm, slightly funny tone, to read right before I open it. No guilt.

22. Replacement list

Give me ten things I can do in under five minutes instead of scrolling, that need no equipment and that I can do on a sofa. Rank them by how likely I am to actually do them.

23. Urge script

Write a 30-second script I can say to myself when I feel the urge to open [app]. Base it on delaying, not refusing: “wait ten minutes, then decide”.

24. If-then plans

Turn these triggers into if-then plans: [list]. Format each as “If [trigger], then I will [action]”. Keep them short enough to remember.

Bedtime and mornings

25. Wind-down

Design a 45-minute wind-down that takes my phone off the bed. I wake at [time]. I tend to scroll [what]. Make it realistic: I will not meditate for an hour.

26. Morning

I check my phone within a minute of waking. Design a first 30 minutes that delays it, using what I already do (coffee, shower, commute).

27. Doomscrolling at night

I doomscroll [app] after [time]. Give me a 7-day experiment, one change per day, that I can stop at any point without feeling I failed.

Review and keep going

28. Review the week

Here is how my week went against the plan: [paste numbers and notes]. What worked, what did not, and what is one change for next week? Three bullets.

29. Bad day

I went way over yesterday. Without a lecture, help me reset: what is the smallest next step, and how should I treat the streak?

30. Quit-or-keep

Here are my top apps and what I get from each: [list]. Which should I keep, which should I limit, and which should I let go? Be honest about the ones I am rationalising.

How do I turn answers into changes?

A prompt makes a plan; only something in the moment changes behaviour. Take the limits from prompts 4, 17 or 18 and enter them in your app the same day. Turn the messages from prompt 21 into reminders on your lock screen or notes. If you use Respite, set the limits in the app, put the pause in front of the apps you named, and run prompt 1 again next Sunday. For a longer walk-through of using a chatbot for the thinking part, see can ChatGPT help you reduce screen time?

If your phone use is tied up with anxiety, low mood or something that feels out of your control, a chatbot is not the right support. See phone addiction help and talk to a professional.

Next step

Copy prompt 13 or, if you are connected, prompt 1, and run it today. Not connected yet? Start with how to connect Claude or ChatGPT, or see the whole idea at AI and screen time. New to Respite? Download it.