For over a year I had the "world's tiniest ruggedized phone". I don't remember the brand but I bet you can google it. Regardless, I still found myself using Instagram and Facebook on the tiny little screen 🥲. When they say social media is made to be addictive I fully believe it. App blockers, making my screen grey scale after 6pm, none of it works. I delete the settings, I remove the blocker.
The best things I've done for myself that is SO much easier said than done is 1. remove the thing from your life that you're trying to avoid and/or 2. Embrace the thing you're trying to avoid.
For me 1. Was a terrible job and 2. Was silence and boredom
Sep 30, 2024
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mattshawsome right now I just have a Google pixel 6a, or were you wanting to know what anti phone apps I've used?
preliminary_yellow_yak mostly wondering if you were still using the tiny phone or how you are currently navigating the tech distraction morass.
It’s such a challenge — I’ve tried all sorts of different approaches. Minimal launchers, dumbphones, etc.
Thanks for sharing about your journey.
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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💡
Sep 24, 2024
🔌
I recently quit a drug I was addicted to for years, and soon after started quiting major social media platforms using the same lessons I learned from getting sober!
Your brain is great at eventually returning to a natural baseline. But until that happens, You'll need replacement(s) to tide yourself over
Here are some options that have been helpful for me:
1. Coloring books + music. It might seem very childish, but its super fun and relaxing without putting you at the mercy of the algorithm or ads!
2. Frame reading as a scrolling replacement. Find some breezy, fun reads to start out with. Short story collections are good for this because its more digestable to read 15 stories over 400 pages than 1 story.
3. Going on walks *and leaving your phone at home*. It's exercise(always good), it puts you into the real world, and its an activity that can last pretty long.
4. Accountability to others. Tell your supportive loved ones that you're quiting social media. It gives you purpose, you're now doing it for yourself *and* others.
5. Phone calls. Bored but don't want to scroll? Call someone! Just put them on speaker and pretend they're in the room with you, just chat!
6. Last but not least, physically hang out with people *with your phone turned off*.
Jan 19, 2025
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I LOVE limiting screen time because I become hypersensitive to how used I am to using easy entertainment as a crutch to keep from dealing with my own discomfort. A professor of mine always used to talk about how screens keep us from reaching rock bottom of our souls. From really knowing ourselves, our minds, and most of all Boredom. And I think there’s a ton of merit to that thought.
it made me focus on letting myself get real bored by not being on screens. ive found it opens up the door to my own thoughts and creativity, but also lets me fill that time with other things. Looking around, going on walks, reading books, writing. Things that might be distractions, but they fill my soul up instead of draining it.
ideas emerge from my mind much easier, or maybe it is just easier to pull them out of my mind without the yucky film screens wrap all my thoughts in.
One thing I recommend doing is turning phone grayscale on by turning color filters on and reducing white point. You can make it an accessibility shortcut so it’s easy to switch between color and b&w screen but it makes my phone in general feel much less like a weapon against my eyes and brain. And, frankly, it makes scrolling less beautiful than the real world. Like I could either look at this sad little light box fake world or THIS ONE IM LIVING IN.
I also just can't overstate how much I love being off instagram. I get to ask friends who I really care about what theyre up to, they tell me real things about their lives instead of the polished version, I share the same back. I don't feel like I have to keep up or worry if I dont want to.
And I honestly feel happy to not be faced with a divisive algorithm and stupid reels sucking me in.
It just feels like the kind thing to do for my mind. I know this is a dissertation but I’m really passionate about this initiative LOL.
Jun 1, 2024
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Told my dad another van repair caused our plans to change. We wouldn't be going to Maine. It's too close to winter to be going up North. Instead we'll be staying a few months in Texas on a horse farm.
"Y'all need to just settle down somewhere"
Nearly four years ago I told him our plans to live in a van and travel to different farms for work exchange.
"Now's the time to do it while you're young"
Well it's been a little past three years. The first van kept having issues and we were in an unhealthy living arrangement. Months turned into a year and we weren't welcome anymore. My nesting partner and I were glad the old van even made it three states over to another family member's house.
A few repairs and a second dog later we decided we needed to upsize. This van is also old and needed repairs too but what really kept us here longer was meeting one person that could have made a sad town worth staying in. However, that wasn't in the cards either.
So we're almost four years in to this dream to travel. We've already done a bit of travel if you think about it.
I told my dad "why would I give up on something just cause it's taking longer than I thought it would?"
"You need to put down roots"
I asked what that meant to him.
"Get a home"
Ah, well the van is my home.
If there's one thing I've learned over these last few years, my family is living miserably, going to jobs they only tolerate, to the point of exhaustion, to then sit in an expensive house and watch TV every evening. They have no connection to their community.
I want to see different towns, meet people, get an idea of the community I would be living in long term. I want to be intentional with where I put my roots.
So however long it takes, home is where I am and it's where I'll be in the end.
Sep 30, 2024
😃
I actually posted about this site a week ago. It's a master list of every obscure music genre. Some have linked playlists
Oct 9, 2024
🤢
I get that "neurodivergent" is a long word but I feel like the community could have come up with something more creative that doesn't feel like my disability is just a little quirk 🙄
Oct 2, 2024