Strategies for spending less time idly scrolling

Here’s the crux of the problem:
I carry my phone around with me, and too often instintively pull it out, either to do something I want to (e.g. check the weather) or just because I feel the need to fill a few minutes (e.g. while having breakfast), and end up going down a rabbit hole (e.g. reading a thread on here).

Part of this is social media, but I’ve largely managed to kick that habit – deleted Instagram, got rid of Facebook app, and signed out of it on Chrome. But like a smoker who needs something to do with their hands, I end up on here, reading the news, or even doing something semi-useful (e.g. trying to find a bike part I need), when I should really be doing something else.

Sometimes I just want to throw my phone across the room/in the bin. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

BUT

I realise how incredibly useful phones are… having the whole internet there to look stuff up, Youtube for how to fix just about anything, and for exercise videos that I try and do daily, having a calendar to hand to organise stuff, maps, a camera for both memories and useful stuff like how that thing I’m taking apart should go back together, the Screwfix AND Toolstation catalogues with stock info AND not having to guess how much everything’s going up since I last got a paper catalogue (🙄)… and a billion other things.

So as tempting as getting rid of the smart phone is, it’s probably going to negatively impact my life overall.

I’ve considered a second device (yes, I genuinely think the answer to too much phone might be more phone… hear me out) which is more restricted in its use. I’ve tried a couple of apps for restricting time on certain apps, and just getting rid of some, but in the end, I know how to get round it, and eventually probably will. I think it needs a physically solution.

Anyone got any thoughts on this?

Keep a good book to hand?
Delete all the apps off your phone and just use them on a laptop? (you probably won’t miss them).

Ask yourself why you’re opening an app. If you’re looking for something specific, fine. If not you’re just giving your time to the app and feeding it. Your time is worth more than that?

I would really love the answer to this

Rather than reduction, replace it with something? Like, stick a book in your pocket? I used to carry a Rubik’s Cube.

I like being on here. There’s some interesting topics, some of which I can contribute to and others I just like reading and from that broaden my knowledge. I can make a reasonably conscious decision, about which to follow and which to avoid.

Increasingly there’s a few posters to avoid too. Not just the trolls, where I am trying just to ignore; there’s a few that seem to take over threads just saying the same thing over and over again and/or using word count to wear you down. Unfortunately when that coincides with a thread that is / was interesting, it then ruins the thread for me.

So to the OP – set a conscious target to only read stuff that interests you and not everything……

Have you considered taking up smoking?

Delete your internet browsers from your phone.

I generally have books and magazines around, and I always think I should pick on of them up instead of my phone. There’s two problems: 1. I think I’m only going to look at my phone for a minute, which seems barely worth opening a book and remembering exactly what was happening when I left it. 2. It’s much mre difficult to do other stuff (eating breakfast, cleaning your teeth) than with a phone.

I think the main “problem” app, having got rid of Facebook and Instagram, is Chrome, but I would genuinely find it frustrating not having access to the internet for genuine practical stuff.

Ask yourself why you’re opening an app.

I do, but it’s like asking a smoker why they’re smoking.

Rather than reduction, replace it with something

I think this is the key… I’m not going to start carrying a book around with me though (back in the day, when I was pretentious and refused to get a smart phone, I used to carry a notebook around with me 😄).

Maybe an ebook reader is the answer?

Have you considered taking up smoking?

Not a bad suggestion. LOL!

I don’t understand why people read on their mobile tbh, I only used mine for listening to music or sometimes reading in toilet. Nothing beyond that. It is WIFI connected but since I am using PAYG, my data allowances are expensive if I use it beyond my WIFI range so it becomes a normal phone unless I turn on the 4/5G network.

Take a bit of time to think about how boring it all really is. Unless you are actually researching something that you need to know, the internet is all a bit dull.

It did take me a long time to work this out.

Podacasts have become my thing, at least with a podacst I can do something useful at the same time.

As for STW, I love reading some of the threads on here, you just have to tune out the people theotherjohnv refers to and take away the good stuff.

Best of luck, it ain’t easy but it sounds like you are halfway there already.

Bookmarked! If you find the answer to this it could be worth millions!

Been pondering this question over there Xmas break, my current method is a mix of cold turkey, leaving my phone in the kitchen or away from me and also Kindle app (other e reader apps are available, apparently), chipping away at a book, nothing too heavy but a page or two just to get a ‘fix’.

Podcasts and audio books are also creeping in, but I find i can’t concentrate on two things at the same time so either lose my place or stop what I’m doing.

Have you considered taking up smoking?

🤣 missed that before, crossed posts. It has crossed my mind. Not seriously!

I’m definitely not giving up STW, there’s loads of genuinely useful and interesting discussion… which is part of a the problem! I sit down for a coffee and before I know it I’ve read an interesting (for me 😄) discussion about, I dunno, servicing dropper posts, or air source heat pumps, or torque wrenches.

set a conscious target to only read stuff that interests you and not everything…

Definitely been trying to do that recently… another what tyre? thread with 37 replies already: probably doesn’t need my input. I’ve always actively avoided overly political threads. One thing I know I really can live without is arguing with strangers on the internet.

Try turning off the mobile data when you are out of your house.

The answer ultimately is self discipline. Of which I have little, but am working on it. It’s something I’ve battled with myself.

What I found is: You can’t just opt out anymore, like carrying an old Nokia or something. (I’ve tried). The bad stuff is lumped in with the good stuff that we need and is woven into our lives now. Online banking, maps especially. I was in London recently and had left my phone somewhere. Driving around looking for it with no google maps and no way to pay for parking, or avoid/pay the congestion charge was an absolute ‘kin nightmare.

So once you accept that we must have the black rectangle with us, you’re into self discipline combined with little tricks to help or break the habit of instinctively reaching for it when you’ve not been occupied for 0.34s.

One thing that helped me for a while, was thinking like a parent, pretending my phone was a child’s phone and limiting access. I remember I used to leave it in the car after work overnight. If you have an iPhone you can set up restrictions, or ‘screen time’ as I think it’s now called. You can say allow ten minutes per day for apps like Safari, Instagram etc. You will need to lock these settings down with a pin which you will then need to hide from yourself without losing it. I actually wrote it on a post-it and stuck it on my gran’s fridge 100 miles away (I’m not joking). Eventually though, like a child I found ways around it before turning it all off again and we’re back to self discipline.

Best of luck.

I used to carry a notebook around with me

Why not do that, then?

Seriously, just have something else. Clip out a crossword. If you must poke at a screen, get a game or a podcast.

Maybe a bit of pocket billiards?

That encourages screen time surely?

This was an interesting read that relates to this dilemma. It might make you feel less bad about your screen time if nothing else.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jan/01/is-modern-life-ruining-our-powers-of-concentration

Try turning off the mobile data when you are out of your house.

It’s not when I’m out of the house that’s the problem.

@jambourgie yeah a lot of that resonates. I’ve tried the brick phone too, but as we’ve both found, smart phones are just too useful, even necessary.

I try and leave my phone out of reach. At work I leave it in my pannier, and tend to quickly forget about it. At home I try and leave it in another room, though I so often then need to go and fetch it (to look at a recipe, order a part, etc. etc.).

Why not do that, then?

It’s just not that practical. And people assume you’re some kind of psycho. Imagine pulling out a notebook while you wait for a friend to meet you in the pub these days… You’d probably get kicked out 😅
But seriously… You reach for your phone when you need to take your mind elsewhere for a minute, and writing/drawing something requires you to think about it.

Maybe a bit of pocket billiards?

🤣

@myti interesting article, thanks. Recognise a lot of that. Re. the prof who flew to the states to write a proposal, I’ve done work on the train before and genuinely thought “why don’t I just go on a long train journey next time I have some written work that really needs doing?”

The conclusion I’ve come to, which that article seems to support without quite saying it, is that you need a bit of distraction, but the key is finding a distraction that doesn’t hook you in too deeply.

Anyway, I’m meant to be in the garage working on a bike 😆

I’ve been struggling with the same. I’m considering one of these

Will still allow you to take or make calls in an emergency and you can charge it while it’s locked away

I’ve been resurrecting my O Level French by doing Duolingo for 10-15 mins every day. This has replaced quite a bit of my time wasting on the internet and I feel like I’m doing something beneficial for my old brain.

basically you need something more interesting than your phone to do.

as teh weather has been disgusting over xmas and i’ve not had much bike time i have been on my phone more and as such i made a few models i had kicking about and started playing (hah!) guitar again to divert my attention. I could have cleaned/organised the garage i suppose but i’m not totally mad.

guitar’s a bigger waste of time for me than STW (particularly looking up tabs for stuff I then still can’t play)

I do, but it’s like asking a smoker why they’re smoking.

It is, 100%. Both are an addiction. Willpower and/or replacement beats addictions, I know it’s not easy though.

Have you considered running your phone in a kiosk mode, so you can only access certain apps/websites?

I would like the answer to this too.
Im really aware of it, and try my hardest not to get sucked into the bright lights of doom scrolling.

Breaks my heart when my kids are going “mummy, mummy, mummy look, look mummy, look what i did mummy” and its going right past her while shes grinning inanely at some **** on instagram (that is invariably and ironically some “super mum” bollocks about wooden toys and baby slings.

Its designed that way though. a lorra lorra money is being made by keeping your screen on. Harvesting what you look at and what your interests are.

it IS addictive.
it is DESIGNED to be addictive.

I wonder if one day the social/societal impact will be weighed up against the economnic benefit (to private business) and it will be subject to rules and restrictions, much like cigarettes.

I feel your pain OP!

One thing that helped me, is having the Kindle app on the front page of my phone. And putting the other apps and chrome on other pages. This way I’m more tempted to hit the Kindle app and read two or three pages of my book. However this only works if you’ve got a good book on the go!

As per RichT, Duolingo has replaced a lot of my random screen time. Whereas previously i may have a quick round of Sudoku or Wordle etc, now i’ll grab a quick 5-10mins learning Portuguese, so at least it’s something productive.

suggestion, as someone who struggles concentrating on basically anything.
I find my concentration problems are fixed if i listen to music.
It occupies the corner of my brain that gets bored to the main bit can get on an do stuff.
Perhaps invest in some headphones or earbuds (or aftershox bone conduction jobbers), and when you end up with the temptation to look at the phone, listen to something instead?
get into podcasts?

Get a Nokia 8210 to take and about with you and keep a tablet at home for easy access to STW and YouTube when you’re at home and need it?

I’m a massive hypocrite btw, also get frustrated by how much time I waste yet here I am whilst I eat my lunch!

Not binned IG altogether, but set as many restrictions as possible, turned off all notifications and removed it from my home screen. Find review how much time I waste after those changes.

Lots of people will tell you what you need to do, but they’re still on here rather than having done it themselves. Me included (and I’ve worked in app design and behaviour change).

Try a short “reset” of a few days or a week where you put your phone out of reach and maintain discipline?

I carry a Kindle with me (still a screen I know) and I have slashed my 380 subscribed channels on YouTube to 80 so I get a lot less temptation, I actually have to search for stuff.
I also have started listeing to music on my phone rather than trawling the web.
its a start.

I’m in the same boat. Instead of looking at it negatively though – ‘why am I wasting time on here’ – I’m going to try to see it differently.

I’m going to track my time doing the things I like and actively want to do – and challenge myself to do more of that. eg the guy on the new year’s resolution thread who wants to spend 1000 hours outdoors, I want to spend x hours doing y or z. I can’t do that if I’m faffing on my phone, so my focus is on positively doing what I want. If I’ve got 5 mins waiting for a train, then I’ll scroll or do duolingo. But not when I can choose to do other stuff.

Train your brain to relax and be idle.

Why do you constantly need to be focussed on ready, listening to music, making notes etc.

Stop, listen to what is happening around you. Really listen. Can you hear a bird, can you hear a train etc
Now stop listening and think what a bird/train etc sounds like. Really think about it, how the sound feels in your mind.
Now stop thinking about a specific sound and think how thoughts feel in your mind. How they wander and morph as they drift in and out of focus.
Now stop thinking about how these thoughts travel and just lets them float around.

You need to be careful doing this or you will miss your train stop / crash your car, get hit by a bus etc but it is incredibly relaxing and refreshing during busy days and may only take e few moments with practice

I think your second phone idea is a good one BUT a phone is too easy to carry so make it an ipad or similar.

I have a work phone that i am allowed limited internet / app access and calls on. So i have that with me all the time. But for social media and general internet duties i used an iPad. I cant carry the ipad around with me so by virtue of its size it limits my scrolling to only when at home and sat on the sofa.

Its designed that way though. a lorra lorra money is being made by keeping your screen on. Harvesting what you look at and what your interests are.

it IS addictive.
it is DESIGNED to be addictive.

I wonder if one day the social/societal impact will be weighed up against the economnic benefit (to private business) and it will be subject to rules and restrictions, much like cigarettes.

Precisely this. And it isn’t all that unrealistic to restrict it. Suppose there was a law to say that any social media app is required a provide an option whereby ads or curated content are static only with no videos or autoscroll, and not take up more than half of the page. Sure, Facebook would not like it, but it wouldn’t completely destroy the business model and would be so good for society.

http://minimizedistraction.com/
It doesn’t have the answers but it articulates the problem.

Written by Tristan Harris while employed by Google.

10 years ago.

Thanks for all the input. Good to know I’m not alone in this, as I suspected.

Have you considered running your phone in a kiosk mode, so you can only access certain apps/websites?

Yes, but don’t know how to do it… Haven’t researched to be fair. Had a look at one app (forget the name) but it was paid for (fine) and they wanted payment details for the free trial (not fine). Any recs welcome.

One thing that helped me, is having the Kindle app on the front page of my phone. And putting the other apps and chrome on other pages. This way I’m more tempted to hit the Kindle app and read two or three pages of my book. However this only works if you’ve got a good book on the go!

I don’t do ebooks, but thinking maybe I should start for this reason. Hadn’t even realised you could use an app rather than a separate device 🤦‍♂️ (though that would have advantages too).

I used to have Facebook/Instagram hidden away on the last page of apps… Took about two days before opening up that page was automatic 😆

Get a Nokia 8210 to take and about with you and keep a tablet at home for easy access to STW and YouTube when you’re at home and need it?

I think your second phone idea is a good one BUT a phone is too easy to carry so make it an ipad or similar.

I’ve got a Nokia dumbphone I bought for taking on remote bike trips as an emergency phone. It feels freeing when I use that instead of the smart phone, but texting the old school way quickly gets frustrating, and I might as well be dead to my friends without WhatsApp.
Tablet could work for home, it’s crossed my mind before.

@WorldClassAccident I hear you. I’m not really wired to be idle. I always like to be doing something. Rubbish at sitting still. Which is why some of the suggestions like Duolingo aren’t going to work for me – I need to do something NON-productive to give my brain a break. But also NON-addictive. Meditation/mindfulness, which I think is basically what you’re suggesting, is as good an answer as any.

It’s quite easy to practice while riding a bike, but not without danger as you say 😆

http://minimizedistraction.com/
It doesn’t have the answers but it articulates the problem.

Written by Tristan Harris while employed by Google.

10 years ago.

Interesting… I think notifications are a bit of a red herring though. I turn all mine off, apart from WhatsApp messages. It’s true if I get a notification I’m more likely to look at the message, then go off and do something distracting, but I’m perfectly capable of distracting myself without the assistance of a notification 😕