A month without the phone on the nightstand
In mid-July I moved the phone charger from the bedroom to the hallway. That was the whole experiment. The phone sleeps in the hall now and I sleep in the bedroom, and we meet again in the morning.
The first problem was the alarm. I had not owned a separate alarm clock since school. I found a small battery one with hands and a bell that sounds like a bicycle, and it is far more effective than any ringtone, because to turn it off I have to get up and find it on the shelf.
The first week was uncomfortable in a way that was a bit embarrassing to notice. I reached for the nightstand several times every evening. Not to do anything in particular, just to check. There was nothing to check. After about five days the reaching stopped.
What filled the gap was mostly reading, and some evenings just lying there thinking, which I had apparently forgotten how to do. I fall asleep earlier. I am not sure I sleep better in any measurable way, but I wake up less groggy, and the first half hour of the day is no longer spent scrolling through things that happened overnight to people I do not know.
There have been small costs. Twice I missed a late message from a friend that I would have liked to answer that evening. Both times it was fine to answer in the morning. Nothing has ever been urgent enough at midnight to matter, which is a slightly humbling thing to learn.
I am keeping it. The charger stays in the hall.