Like most commenters here, I've found a happy medium (when I activate it). I'm no good at cold turkey and being without this amazing device is just impractical, but airplaning the phone routinely throughout the day really helps to cut down on "notification checking" and that constant background mental polling that this article talks about. I still like to have music (audiobooks actually) and navigation on hand, but knowing I have no notifications and knowing that there is just a tiny bit of effort involved in getting them seems to be my effective compromise.
I don't know if you'd be interested, but I used to have exactly that kind of behavior--almost reflexively checking my phone at the first sense of downtime. I got an Apple Watch when it first came out and it has helped curb that behavior dramatically.
I can see at a glance of my wrist that I have no notifications, and it'll tap my wrist if I do, so I almost never need to pull out my phone. I'm still just as "connected," but it really did cut down use of my phone to clear tasks and extended boredom.
For me, airplaning would add stress in that I'd have that nagging feeling that I'm missing something important.
When I need a break from social networks, I just log out of the app/sites on my phone. Since most of my passwords are unmemorizable (and stored in a password manager), it's quite a bit of work to get logged in again. It's enough work that I'll put it off for a week at least.
Depends on your family situation but android/ios phones shuold all have a DND mode that you can put on a schedule and allow exclusions for "favorites" or something of the sort. I have mine on DND from bed time through end of work day with only the wife and immediate family excluded. leave it in a bag or out of site and only check it at defined breaks. strikes the balance for me.
