Related Recs

📱

making my phone “dumb”

as a side effect of my job (and being me): I am chronically online and trying to fix that. this is my new home screen on my iPhone 15 Pro. I installed an app blocker so that when I shift into my custom minimal focus, only the default apps and what is on my home screen function. its only been a few days but this paired with journaling when I’m “bored” instead of endlessly scrolling has already had a positive effect on my mental health. I can still freely browse on my desktop, but my phone is slowly turning into less and less of a dopamine sink and I think I’m gonna stick with it!!

@matmcdonut

Feb 8, 2024

📴

Dumbing down your smart phone

i have been on a journey to untangle my tasks from my iPhone. i'd be out in the world someplace, pull out my phone for something as menial as checking the time, or as well intentioned as capturing the moment in a pic, and immediately get sucked into texts and instagram™️ and all the virtual things happening in this tiny lil demon light box. the goal: pull my phone out of my bag ONLY for phone things. that's texting, calling, and apps that can't be replaced the solutions so far: 🕰️ i started with a watch (shoutout Casio) and i wear it every day. once I broke the habit of checking my phone for the time, I felt legitimately freed from something Major 📷 I bought a small digital camera to leave in my bag. the pics look better and I don’t get distracted by the virtual world when I'm trying to capture something in the now 📚 I bought a kindle. It fits in my jacket pocket (literally) and gives me something to do when I'm on the train or waiting for an appointment that isn't scrolling I just realized so much of the time I spent on my phone was not intentional. It was a thing I was doing in between Other intentional moments. my screen time is still several hours a day (don’t get me wrong) but I think my brain has healed at least 3%. welcoming other ideas as well💡

@carbo

Sep 24, 2024

📵

no Phone #offthegrid

two weeks ago my iPhone decided she would no longer turn on, and as the broke young adult I am I said fuck it what if I went off the grid? Mind you I have been ADDICTED to short-form content and social media for years. I tried the time limits thingy but like any addict I just completely ignored it. there was a withdrawal period, sure, but my god. I have so many thoughts. So many ideas. So much more patience. I have read more, created more art, and spent some of the best times with my friends. I have sent letters and receive emails. We are not meant to be reached 24/7. I am intentional with my news intake, and I am even more informed because I make an active decision to read and watch the news when my nervous system is regulated and with all this free time I have the space to process what I am consuming. I truly do not see myself ever going back. With no google maps to rely on I am experiencing my surroundings - paying attention to the small stuff. I live in a fucking beautiful place. I am surrounded by beautiful people. I have an interesting mind capable of beautiful thoughts. mom was right!!! it is the damn phone!!!!

@crabbyblabbyabby

Jun 15, 2025

Top Recs from @pratibha

🌀

we all come back to ourselves eventually

the comfort in the ebb and flow, the cyclical nature of it all

@pratibha

Mar 5, 2024

🌚

the peace found in not encapsulating the moon

i love that our seemingly high-tech phones still cannot do the job of capturing the moon‘s ethereal essence. it’s so humbling and vulnerable to attempt to take a photo of her and have it come out all ugly and orb-like. it’s literally none of ur business to see what she looks like anytime apart from the present moment! (and please don’t tell me if samsung or google pixel have invented technology to do a better job of this. it wouldn’t sit right with me… like trying to sneakily undress a woman without her consent when she has explicitly stated she’d rather remain demurely clothed and mysterious)

@pratibha

Mar 17, 2024

🪄

digitally bumping into each other in earnest

it's like.... kind of insane that we (not me, of course) made the internet to be any other way. imagine if the real world were algorithmic... how kooky would that be?? you'd only ever talk to people who've already gotten a thumbs up from 10,000 other people that they're cool and worthy of being heard and it would be super weird and parasocial bc everybody else would be trying to get their attention too. and maybe you'd only be able to see people like in that episode of Black Mirror w Jon Hamm where some ppl are crystal clear in color and others are blurred out and grey and inaccessible to you. well, that's what an algorithmic internet feels like!!!! and it's terrible! i like being able to post on here whenever a thought softly lands in my head and know whoever happens to refresh their page or hop onto the app when i hit SHARE will be able to see it right away... it's the beauty of your words being seen at the right time with no filters or algorithms shoving u into a corner.....and being able to see others in the same way <3

@pratibha

Feb 6, 2024