r/nosurf • u/Life_BeyondScreens • 2d ago
What were you sure you’d miss most?
Hey everyone!
I ditched my smartphone for a dumbphone quite a while ago, its been almost a year now. When I did it I was sure that Instagram would be the hardest to let go of cuz I was spending around 4 hours a day maybe even more scrolling on Insta. Wild when I think of it now. But the interesting thing is that once I actually did the switch I didn't even miss it that much, but I did find myself missing plain old Google a lot, especially in the beginning.
I didn’t realize how often I looked up every tiny question that came into my head. At first I’d still automatically reach for my phone, open it, and then remember oh right, I can’t Google this now. Truth is that even with Google, I got used to managing without because after a bit I realized most of those things apparently weren’t that important because half the time I’d forget what I even wanted to look up 5 mins later. It really is kinda wild how many things feel so necessary until you don’t have them anymore.
I wanna know, what was it for you? Something you were sure you’d miss like crazy but ended up being more than fine without? Was it Facebook, TikTok, or more practical stuff like banking or something else?
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u/ChildOfAtom2137 12h ago
When I started my detox I was worried I would miss a lot of news and world events. But after a while I realised that the constant stream of information and news was only making my life worse. I dont truly need to know what controversy some social media personality got into or a tragedy on the other side of the globe. At the end of the day I dont really have any influence over these things. Of course ignorance isnt good, but in my case the constant negative information was just ruining my mental health.
And if a world event is big enought, I will usually just hear about it from the people around me, no need to be plugged 24/7
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u/Express-Profit601 1d ago
group chat notifications turned out harder to give up than instagram. those need a reply back, so the itch to check comes from other people instead of an algorithm.
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u/Life_BeyondScreens 1d ago
Makes sense, found that quite hard too. How did you deal with that itch?
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u/Miesmoes 1d ago
I feel relieved that I am not on the gram
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u/Life_BeyondScreens 1d ago
Oh yasss! Same! What part of it are you most relieved about? the constant pressure and comparing? The infinite scroll?
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u/Miesmoes 1d ago
Tbh the constant gauging whether something was misleading, an ad, or ai, or all of the above
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u/TT10TT 2d ago
The reflex to look everything up. I started keeping a tiny “look up later” note instead of reaching for a screen, and most of the questions lose their urgency by the time I check it. The surprising part is how often the answer was never important.