How to not use phone
How to not use phone
The other day my phone wasn't charging for some reason and I had it off all day. I felt better and got more done and spent time with my family. No joke.
All I use it for is scrolling reddit, scrolling hexbear, listening to podcasts, and occasionally getting a text or phone call. Scrolling reddit in partucular is bad because i pretty much hate everything i see there, I dont know whats wrong with me. I can't just get rid of it because I like podcasts and need to get phone calls.
What do?
Some suggestions:
Make use of app timers if your phone has them.
Alternatively, uninstall the apps. Reddit sucks on mobile browser; you'll naturally use it less.
Set your phone to grayscale if you can. Still perfectly functional but way less appealing to use because no pretty colours.I already just go to reddit.com on my browser and scroll, lol. I can't get rid of the browser app because graphineOS doesn't allow you to get rid of it, so I can't use a browser that can block sites or whatever, and yeah, I do have the occasional thing I do actually want to use a browser for. The greyscale thing is interesting tho, I'm gonna look into that. Could be a nice constant reminder that I'm only sucking the colour out of my life when I use it.
If you're on graphene, it's in Settings -> Accessibility -> Color and motion -> color correction
You could try a fliphone, they can receive calls and might theoretically play podcasts.
Sounds like the main thing you want to do is read Reddit less. Basically you just need to break a habit. If you use an app, you could uninstall it. If you use a browser, you could use one of those habit-changer apps to remind you to not use Reddit every, set to 15 minutes or something, so that if you catch yourself using it you can stop.
Im waiting on getting diagnoses and medication for add, I really just use it to push back my thoughts and feelings for a while. So I wouldn't say I'm addicted to reddit and hexbear specifically, but its definitely addiction to something. I'm also only 7 months alcohol free so there's displacement from the thing I used to do to push down my brain. At the very least its not AS bad a coping mechanism than alcohol. 7 months seems like a long time but its still generally considered early sobriety, and it was my go to self medication for like 12 years.
Looking at your phone is definitely healthier than alcohol! ADD/ADHD dovetails with constant phone checking, that would be super typical. Also it makes the habit changing I described more difficult because the brain actually gets something out of it that it otherwise wouldn't - to be sustainable it may take much more time than seems reasonable, it may work better with a substitute, or it may be a time to tackle a "root cause" via a approach recommended by a pro, which might be medication or might be trying out behavioral practices until you find one that works (e.g. silent fidget device or something). Trying to not to be overly prescriptive, I just know that workarounds and actually lifehacks can work for many folks for many situations.
What's the main goal you have? What things would you like to do less or more of?
Over a year ago I was trying to pare down my mobile tabs to reduce my orientation to the phone.
Scrolling Hexbear has only made the tabs proliferate.
If you're reading reddit a lot make sure you turn off suggested/algorithmic feed so that the home page only shows subscribed subreddits.
You could also try something like redreader.
Your phone probably has a way to limit the amount of time used for an app. This generally helps.
I stopped using reddit apps or having an account years ago. Now I just go to reddit.com and scrolllll like its slowly pushing down a syringe full of undifferentiated "information" into my eyes. Honestly hexbear feels similar because I've just seen it all before, the users are actually good but it kind of still becomes just thick content paste I'm barely thinking about except gradually I'm more lathargic and depressed, weighed down by the misery of other people and my own hopelessness.
You have a dopamine deficiency that might be tied to an underlying psychiatric condition
Its ADD lol, im seeing a new doctor about it soon (i got the forms from my old doctor then procrastinated on doing them so long that she retired haha)
Seriously what's with the damn forms
My provider was like the office will get in touch about setting up a test and they send over like 15 sheets my brother in Christ I have executive dysfunction
"We see your leg is broken, please run the 40 yard dash so we can be sure"
Luckily I procrastinated them so much that eventually my provider was like fuck it lets try you on adderall
Concerta now but it's made a huge difference. I had been wanting to get into woodworking my whole life and have finally built a workbench and gotten tools together and stuff. It's been great at work too, much more confident. The incessant scrolling basically stopped
I gotta up my dose though I notice I have been posting too much
I'd consider repurposing an old phone and making that your podcast/music player-only device. That way you have separation and you aren't getting sucked into endless scrolling and perpetual notifications. You could go one step further and buy a cheap brick phone. Use that for calls and texts.
If you separate out your media device from your mainstream communication device from your algo-entertainment device you'll probably manage things better, especially if you keep your entertainment device powered down when you aren't using it. You could go a step further and use tablet for your entertainment device, locking down your current phone to only specific functions and apps.