a cure is what the head wants. a cue is what the body uses. the body knows where my hand is going before the head knows it's reaching. the body has been picking up the phone for years; the head learned about it last tuesday.
willpower works on the head. willpower says: be more disciplined. remember not to scroll. put the phone down. and then the body picks the phone up because the body wasn't listening.
a cue works on the body. it's a thing in the world that the body meets before the head catches up. a texture under the fingers. a word at the place the eyes go when the phone is in the way. it doesn't tell anyone anything. it interrupts.
the cue can't be a thought. thoughts arrive a second too late. it can't be an alarm or a notification. the device i'm trying to interrupt is the device making the alarm. and it can't be in another room. by the time i remember the room, i already left it.
the cue has to be on me. on my body. where the reflex lives.