Ten minutes outside without a screen can reset a whole afternoon.

Attention gets stuck in a loop, and once it is stuck, more effort on the same screen makes it worse instead of better. What breaks the loop is a change of input: daylight, movement, a horizon further away than arm’s length, and a few minutes in which nothing is requesting anything from you. There is nothing mystical about it. The system needs different signals.

Use it at a hinge in the day, the gap between school and a shift, or right before homework starts. Leave the phone behind on purpose, since taking it means taking the loop along with you.