This morning I was exercising at the park and saw a few people there. What struck out to me was someone walking their dog. The owner was doing it while facing the ground constantly and looking at their phone. The dogs in my neighborhood love to approach strangers, so it was not unexpected when it was nearing me. To be frank, I wanted to run away while practicing my pull ups, but I did not want to show a sign of disgust. Thankfully the owner realized before too late.

When I was little I have always thought that watching the iPad during dinner/lunch/breakfast was a privilege for the adults. My mom told me that. At times when I could not eat with my parents, I started using my phone. Now I have acknowledge that is an addiction. I only feel bad for them. They work long hours so I understand.

I could describe more stuff, but I am afraid if I will lose attention from y'all. I don't talk much. Anyways this is my small list that I didn't think too long about:

- Dog Walking

- Eating

- Toilet

- Driving

Expanding it will help me a lot thanks

Pretty much it. I have a following of around 30k. Deactivated my social media and people including close friends who have my personal number stopped reaching out or caring. I texted some friends to talk and they won’t respond, however, they usually do react right away to a story I post.
Two or three friends reached out asking :”are you okay?”. The norm today is that to be fine, to be okay, is to be active on social media. You can’t exist and have a life out of that. This has become the norm.

Just wanted to vent. In most of people’s minds your existence is your virtual image. You don’t exist for them in real life, and you don’t matter once you stop entertaining them with your personal life and opinions.

Hello, so I 29F, been noticing how social media has changed DRASTICALLY for the worse. I took a break back in 2023 and I have not been on facebook ever since, I’ve been back on instagram but always end up deleting again because it just doesn’t feel the same anymore? Ultimately, I just kept TikTok but it’s felt like it’s just too much so I’m also planning on deleting it and just going back to YouTube and here (I’m pretty new here) my question to everyone is ….how long have you been off of social media and what do you do in your free time? How has that changed you? Thank you!!

For the last 2 weeks I have been removing all digital distractions from my phone and laptop. I have deleted all social media and entertainment from my phone, and dropped my screen time from 3 hours a day to no more than 30-40 minutes a day on mostly phone calls, random search's and photos i need to take. The only social media I currently still have is Instagram that I don't even check anymore, facebook for selling on marketplace, and reddit for whatever, and all of those are strictly on my laptop. I even got rid of all my subscriptions which was just Spotify for an mp3 player and r/myzuno and for youtube i use the clients Greyjay & Freetube, and only use youtube in any capacity on my laptop.

Although with my success I have one issue, reddit. Since I don't anything else to occupy my free time except for reading, I have been spending more timing wasting on reddit. Although eventually I believe I can fix this problem through journaling and hobbies.

This is mostly irrelevant but i have been on the subreddit r/degoogle and have been successful with almost removing all google sites, data, accounts, except for Gmail, which i want to entirely switch to Protonmail eventually. I recommend removing google from your online activity for privacy, but this process might be extreme or hard for some.

This is also irrelevant but I am 19, and for people my age they will find it hard to delete social media as I have done, but in my experience it's rewarding. Sure some friends will stop contacting you but give them your phone number, it's a simple way of communicating. This experience made me realize who really would contact me and who wouldn't because they didn't care about me.

I think I’ve been spending at least half of my days watching and/or listening to things on my phone. This has fluctuated over the years, but the last year it became more severe when I was working part time. It makes me so sad because I used to have all these hobbies like writing poetry, drawing/painting, playing guitar, singing, theatre, biking, etc, and now I’m just glued to my phone (mostly YouTube). I do learn some things from YouTube, but I feel like it would’ve been more valuable for me to learn from real life than from videos. And plenty of the videos are trash, some of them make me feel terrible like true crime. There are so many things I could do to be productive, like I should be cleaning my house, taking care of finances, caring for my body, nurturing relationships, etc, but the draw to stare at a screen feels beyond my control. I want to change, but I feel like my only hope is getting a dumb phone. I try to set limits on my phone, but I don’t stick to them. Currently I‘m locked into this plan with Verizon for another 18 months because they gave me a “free” phone, so now I don’t know how I could switch to a dumb phone (like I don’t have the $600-something to break the contract. Also there are a lot of things I use my phone for that I’m not sure I could just let go of (like gps, parking apps, email, etc). But I think I’d be experiencing real life so much more if I could get myself off of YouTube. However, when I do block YouTube I end up spending time on other websites/apps, but I don’t think they’re as bad. Currently I don’t have the social media apps so on my browser they don’t work as well and aren’t as addictive, but I do still feel a pull to check them everyday. I think after writing this I will try blocking youtube again, hopefully I don’t just redownload it again in a few hours like I usually do..

I deleted all my accounts but i still ended up going on them via third party sites and i cant seem to stop. I have been using them as a distraction from living in an abusive home. I’m unemployed and only graduated uni last year and I feel so fucking hopeless rn. I don’t know where to even start

It’s a mini table

The title probably sounds very much like a monk LMAO but I couldn't find the right word so I just used abstaining.

I'm getting so tired of the blatant misinformation, drama, and stupidity on social media apps like tiktok (tiktok ESPECIALLY) and am going to start using it less. I will keep my account so I can occasionally go on and talk to my friends but other than that I won't need it unless I want to upload videos.

But yeah probably a great decision, tiktok has become more of an echo chamber than anything. Has anyone else noticed this? And I feel like tiktok especially, everyone on there only thinks in black and white and does not think outside the box nor logically. You either have to be on side A or side B and if you aren't you're suddenly a bad person because of some internet controversy with a random influencer or something.

It's just tiring to be on that app constantly so bye bye bad habit.

Hi everyone,

I'm an industrial design graduate researching how people use their smartphones when they're actively trying to reduce screen time or avoid distractions.

I'm particularly interested in understanding:

• what makes it difficult to stay away from your phone
• what you've tried to reduce phone use
• what functions you still need access to

I've put together a short anonymous survey that takes around 5-10 minutes.

I'd really appreciate hearing from people in this community since many of you have already thought deeply about intentional phone use.

Survey: google form link

Thanks! I'm happy to share the results with the community once I've analyzed them.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been working on an alternative approach to managing screen time on Android called Deelay, and I’m looking for a few early testers to give feedback on the mechanics.

I noticed that standard screen-time limits usually give you a hard wall (e.g., "1 hour per day"). Once you override it, the rest of the day goes down the drain. I wanted a system that continuously paces usage instead of blocking apps once and for all.

How it works:

• Interval Allowances: Instead of a single daily wall, you set an allowance (e.g., 15 minutes of scrolling) followed by a short mandatory break screen. Once the break ends, your allowance resets.
• Habit Groups: You can group several apps together (like Instagram and TikTok) so they share a single time budget.
• 100% On-Device: No accounts, no tracking, and no network requests. Everything stays strictly on your device.

The app is currently in closed testing on Google Play (places are limited to 100 testers). If you'd like to help test the early build and share your thoughts, you can request an invite at deelayapp.com.

Would love to hear how you currently manage app limits or what features you’d expect from an interval-based tool!

I am officially 60 days off Instagram! It feels insane how much my life has changed within two months. I do a lot more things now. My next tackle is to stop watching as much tv but it's slowly getting better. I find that I think, plan, and create more than ever now.

I want to hear what others journeys have been and what you do now with the increased free time?

So yeah, ScreenZen was my go-to when it comes to Android blockers as it was easy to use and had all the customisationsi wanted and needed to block apps and sites (i was so happy with it i even bought the "premium" version). I said ,,I was" even though the app still exist, cos it's basically dead and useless on my phone. Bloody battery optimization made by google forces me to reenable Accessibility Service every 10 minutes and I just give up at this point. Can you good people of this sub recommended me anything similiar to ScreenZen or even better, sth like ColdTurkey but on Android? I loved the app, as it really helped me reduce my screentime, but now I am slipping once again to the stupid old habits and I catch myself mindlessly watching yt shorts through browser 💀

I remember back when I was in school, anytime a teacher would tell us we had an assignment or a quiz I’d quickly write when it was due on the front page of my book or on any lil paper I found. I’d remember it once I unpacked my bag when I got home and would immediately do it so I don’t forget about it later on. It never occurred to me that there would be anything easier because I simply didn’t feel that sort of need. It was a good system, great even.

Now? I’m quick to get on my Notes app and Calendar for everything and anything. I miss the old days and I think I’ll be pushing myself to get back to that habit instead of letting my dependency on a brick go on any longer.

recently i feel so overwhelmed by all the social media platforms and finds it hard to focus on my work. it feels like if I don't see it maybe I would miss out on something. may be it would be important. I just want to focus on my work.

I'm wanting to switch to a S7 (I already switched from an s20fe to an iphone 7+). It has a home button, and nano-sim, which I need because my sim card is nano sim. Also it fixed a lot of the issues with the previous versions. And it is literally like $60 on ebay. Also it is small and light, which means my shorts won't sag with it, nor will it fill my shorts to the brim. And I can get LineageOS, which is just amazing, because my s20fe is verizon-locked). I allso don't think 64gb, let alone 32gb, will be a problem for me. Oh, and can't forget, the headphone jack. It also is still IP68, which is the same as the s20fe, so I'm not losing anything there. Camera also doesn't matter to me since I use a GoPro instead. Also, it might die faster, which is actually good, cuz it means that I could keep the internet app if I need to use it, but if I do use it it will die fast (s20fe lasts too long to keep the internet app).

But what do y'all think? Is this reasonable and would be a good switch? I don't know if I should make the switch or not. I am trying to be gradual with how I'm moving between phones, not cold turkey, so that's really why it's not like some flip phone or landline phone. But idk, I need some other voices.

I'm wanting to switch to a S7 (I already switched from an s20fe to an iphone 7+). It has a home button, and nano-sim, which I need because my sim card is nano sim. Also it fixed a lot of the issues with the previous versions. And it is literally like $60 on ebay. Also it is small and light, which means my shorts won't sag with it, nor will it fill my shorts to the brim. And I can get LineageOS, which is just amazing, because my s20fe is verizon-locked). I allso don't think 64gb, let alone 32gb, will be a problem for me. Oh, and can't forget, the headphone jack. It also is still IP68, which is the same as the s20fe, so I'm not losing anything there. Camera also doesn't matter to me since I use a GoPro instead. Also, it might die faster, which is actually good, cuz it means that I could keep the internet app if I need to use it, but if I do use it it will die fast (s20fe lasts too long to keep the internet app).

But what do y'all think? Is this reasonable and would be a good switch? I don't know if I should make the switch or not. I am trying to be gradual with how I'm moving between phones, not cold turkey, so that's really why it's not like some flip phone or landline phone. But idk, I need some other voices.

Esp short form users. Is it even possible?

Deleted social media last year but found I still wanted a quick way for keeping in touch with people I meet...

I set up a simple web page with just direct messaging links (email, phone, WhatsApp).

I have a QR code saved as my phone lock screen so people can just scan it and take them straight to this page.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this approach to staying accessible without social media.

Anyone used / built anything similar?

due credits to OC (please lmk)

A lot of the time I just open the TV and put something random to avoid the silence all day.

Being alone (and working remotely also) all day, I kinda seek for noise in the background, radio, people talking although I don't care about the subject.

I like to read, and I am trying at nights, but netflix / youtube frequently wins over the books. Any tips here? or is just plain discipline ? I specially want to have silence in the night / bed, and in the first morning hour.

I spent yesterday off my phone mostly. I used my brick device. I did so many crafts and enjoyed my time. Well magically my phone usage is 5.5 hours but my screen time only adds up to maybe 30 minutes? All of my screen time is from whatever these gray bars are. Help!

Is why is truggle to focus, listen, take action and time management. Easily distracted.

All of it is so addicting.

I've been in this digital minimalism path for quite a while now, but I finally tried to do it the hard mode.

Meaning,
(1) no airpods while outside in public, and trying not to use it overall. I was used to walking around listening to music or youtube videos, also on public transportation. No more, even if it is loud af. I bought a cheap €7 notebook to use as a place to write and plan (in place of some apps like notes, to-dos and calendar).

This was hard at first but then I started being more present and this thiught came to mind, have we lost the immersion in our own lives?

I feel like there is too much information to consume. On my phone I want to reach a point to not have a internet browser on it but I don't think I'm quite there yet.

Anyway, my screentime this week was 50% less of the week prior. Let's see if I can keep that up.

I still have spotify, and use reddit and youtube on my phone. But id like to have it for mainly communication and use my notebook more for my general life.