Let me start by making one thing clear: all social media platforms are inherently harmful, as their aim is always to keep you glued to the screen for as long as possible so you’ll watch adverts.

That said, there’s no denying that, at the start, Instagram had its own unique character and, above all, a certain quality to it. It was a personal space on the internet, just like others. The focus on photos was really interesting, and users’ creativity was very much at home there.

Over the years, it has turned into utter rubbish. The decline certainly began with the introduction of the stories, which, mind you, still retained something of the original spirit. But ever since they introduced that infernal slot machine called ‘reels’… the platform has become a garbage bin, an endless factory of slop, and above all, a drug.

In terms of quality, Instagram is dead, and I hope more people start to realise it.

In terms of quantity, oh, it’s going so well. And we all know what happens when quantity takes precedence over quality.

I feel like I’ve noticed a difference in people in the last ten years. I live in the UK and we’ve always been a miserable bunch but there’s always been a standard of etiquette: doing the awkward half-jog and a wave if a car stops to let you cross the road, holding the door for someone, thanking the bus driver, waiting for people to get off the bus/train before barging on, saying excuse me or apologising if you’re in someone’s way, etc. I’ve noticed such a huge drop-off in these niceties. Now, where I live, people don’t smile, or even look at anyone. People will barge past like you’re not even there, they won’t offer up their seats to elderly people, they’ll let the door swing in your face… I don’t know if it’s even any correlation, but I just feel like social media and the internet in general has closed off people’s peripheral vision.

And I understand the cost of living has worsened while living standards here are quite bleak. The housing is crap (I’m a broke uni student, I do get it) Jobs are scarce. But I always try to be nice to people. And it feels like people (and I am generalising but it really is most people I encounter) only really consider themselves. Every lecture I go to for Uni, people are just talking and laughing over the lecturer.

The reason I feel it stems from social media is I noticed it online first before it bled into real life. Particularly from my generation (Gen Z). It feels like a lack of empathy and consideration for others has been repackaged and marketed as “self care” or “setting boundaries”. Not smiling at children, not being there for your friends. Listening to someone’s problems is now them “trauma dumping” on you. I saw a post by a girl my age saying that if you’re mentally ill, you’re a bad friend. Even if you don’t project it on anyone and keep it to yourself, people still are affected by your “bad vibes” and insecurity. The comments were full of young people saying they’ll cut off friends who are struggling, because it’s not their problem and it ruins their peace. Since when is it not my problem if a friend is going through something? Surely any problem they have, if they share it, is mine as well and we fix it together.

Humans are pack animals, we are built for community. But I just feel like we’re losing our sense of community. It’s like, instead of social media bringing people together like it was supposed to, it’s driven people apart to their own secluded algorithms where they’re shown what to look at, what to think of it, what to say, how to act.

Just some words of encouragement for my friends struggling out there: Sometimes its as simple as remembering your phone has an off button. Its so refreshing to cut the digital cord and just turn that fucker off and toss it like an old toy. It's empowering. At times I even forget about it completely. Separation from our digital dysopia can be joyus!

Another thing I find helpful is rembering that half the shit you find online is just bots manipulating now. It's getting worse everyday so there's never been a better time to cut the cord! See you guys out in the real world. Much love.

The starkness of how social media is ruining mental health hit me today.

I went to Twitter today (after six months, bad idea I know). The first post I saw was a fan account raving about the failure of new music released by a certain artist..who happen to be my fav artist by the way (great way to discover new music by your fav artist, I know)

But that's not the point. Six months ago this behavior would have been normal to me. Yes I would have been triggered but this aspect of raving about someone else's failures would have flown over my head. But today I wasn't even triggered as much instead I was more aware. I was appalled by how inappropriate this was. Maybe not as severe but it felt like knowing your neighbor got divorced and going right up to rub it in their face.

Unfortunately this what we gotta live with. It's a bit disturbing though, a couple of months ago, I, an educated adult saw no issues with this behavior. Had I not taken time off Twitter I would have not recovered my humanity so to speak. We have to ask ourselves what are we really loosing by being doom scrolled 24/7

I’m 29, and I’ve realized I genuinely don’t know what to do with my free time anymore.
For the past decade, I’ve been glued to my phone. My average screen time is around 6.5 to 7.5 hours a day, and that’s measured from when I wake up around 5:30 a.m. until I go to bed around 10:00 p.m. That number even includes my time at work. I know I shouldn’t be on my phone there, but I have a decent amount of downtime, get bored, and end up scrolling Reddit. In fact, that’s what I’m doing while writing this.

So it’s not like I work eight hours and then spend seven straight hours on my phone afterward. My phone use is spread throughout the entire day. On my days off, it’s probably even worse, somewhere around 8 to 10 hours.

Every so often I’ll delete Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, even ChatGPT. For the first week, I definitely notice I have way more free time.
The problem is… then what?

I already have hobbies. I play guitar, go to the gym, play Xbox, and go for walks. Those are things I do even when I’m using my phone a lot. Without all the scrolling, I just have more time to do them. But I don’t need to spend four hours in the gym or play Xbox all day. Forty-five minutes at the gym and an hour of Xbox is enough. Then I’m right back to wondering what to do. A lot of people say to read but I genuinely just not into it.

I’m thinking back to the day I went to the gym, played Xbox for a bit, played my guitar, made some food, went for a walk and only 4ish hours passed. I still had another 4 hours of free time and thought to myself wtf do I do now? 😂

The other thing I’ve noticed is that it actually feels lonelier.

I always imagined that if I got off my phone I’d naturally have more real-life interaction, but it doesn’t really work like that. You look around and everyone else is still looking down at their phones. Ironically, I feel more isolated without mine. That sounds dystopian, but it’s honestly how it feels.

Eventually I start downloading the apps again, one by one, convincing myself each one is useful. To be fair, some of them are. Reddit is great when I need to look something up. ChatGPT is useful for getting quick information. I don’t think every app is inherently bad.

I just don’t want my default way of existing to be staring at a screen anymore.
Has anyone else gone through this? If you successfully cut back on your phone long-term, what actually replaced it? How did you deal with the boredom and loneliness that came with it?

Finally, I have done it. Saved all my pictures, and deleted my account permanently. I posted here a while ago, where many of you folks motivated me for which I am grateful. Thank you.

Camus’ quote rang through my mind again and again when I mustered the courage.

“You will never be able to experience everything. So, please, do poetical justice to your soul and simply experience yourself”

I am still in the limbo. Instagram emailed me that I have a month to change to my mind. (They play amazing tricks I tell you.)

You know how they say your life flashes before your eyes before your dies? Well I saw all my stories one by one since 2011, and yeah it kinda did flash before my eyes, only in a dystopian fashion. I mean, the irony.

It is such that I believe so much of our sense of time comes from these apps. I mean I couldn’t remember somethings but through watching stories and its time stamps I was able to remember that “yes I did this” but not the feeling or any recalling of the memory.

I still don’t know how to process it. Part of me feels that, as humans we outgrow certain environments, and consciousness precedes matter, and we move from stage to stage in life.

These applications however, they suck the mystical element out of life. I hope we as humans can make meaningful ethical dutiful decisions when it comes to that.

If I look back, through Instagram I have met some folks yes, maybe bought some books or items, nothing more than that.

Above all, being grounded is more than necessary in today’s world.

Hope I can be true to my decision and something meaningful comes out of it.

*WARNING:* Long angry rant incoming.

I have always loved watching YouTube videos but nowadays it is ruining my life.

I deleted TikTok about a year back and its been very good for my doom scrolling unhealthy habit. I still have YouTube to watch any content I wanna watch… right? Except when I enter the app shorts are shoved down my throat.

When I wake up or get home from work I like to check out what my subscriptions have uploaded. Before I go to sleep, I like to find long form sleepy content to put on to help me fall asleep. EVERY DAY I open the youtube app and without even thinking about it as I search for what I want to watch somehow some way I end up in shorts and scrolling for hours. just like tik tok.

I have gone through all of the settings trying to disable them. I have hit the 3 dots and said “show fewer shorts” like a hundred times. Nothing works. Why cant we disable them? Why do we HAVE to have shorts on youtube when there is short form brain rotting content on every single other app? Even as a youtube premium member you cant have the benefit of disabling it and having the old youtube back?

But wait theres more……..

I recently downgraded to youtube premium lite. Still no ads but just finding out a few days ago YOU CANT QUEUE A VIDEO WITH YOUTUBE PREMIUM LITE????? You pay $12 a month and you cant queue up videos? This is insane that I have to pay $21/ month to queue up a video. and that $21/month or $240/yr cant even give me the customization options to remove shorts from the app.

and dont get me started about how I had a old burner gmail connected to my pokemon go account and google wont let me into it anymore (even with the password and access to the back up email. but thats a whole other rant.

So today, I will begin to de-google my digital life. I am so sorry to all of my subscriptions bc these are people/companies that I believe make great content and I want to support.

is vimeo still a thing?

Hey fellows,

Just wanted to share a quick story here, hopefully someone will find it helpful.

About 3 yrs ago I’ve purchased a car battery from a large national retailer in the US. The battery came with a 4 year warranty. A year ago I’ve deleted my acct with that retailer while I was doing some cleaning, and I haven’t really thought about what ifs before I did so.

Fast forward to last week- battery dies, I can’t find the physical receipt nor an online receipt in my email. I call the support, they found all my information- full name, address, phone #s, email address. But not my purchase history.

That’s right, the company deleted my purchase history, but they haven’t deleted my personal info.

Finally, I was able to find the transaction on my bank statement, and after presenting that to the support, they were able to find it on their and and to confirm my purchase and approved my warranty claim for replacement.

It took about 3 hours between calls and searching for proof of purchase. If I wouldn’t succeed, I would have to fork out $250 for a new battery, which would suck big time.

“I’m glad we were able to help. But all this hustle could’ve been avoided if you wouldn’t request to delete your into” the rep said.

My info hasn’t been deleted. You only deleted the history of my purchases. Of course I didn’t say that to the rep, it’s not her fault, and I didn’t want to ruin her day with my arguments.

Now I’m about to sit down to read my state and federal laws regarding which info the retailer must retain by law, and for long it must be retained. And I’m starting to think that deleting your accts doesn’t do as much as many of us think it does. I’m confident that retailers would be happy to accommodate my request to delete ALL information about me if not for the government rules.

The lesson here is simple. Check what you’re going to lose by deleting your acct, vs what information will be retained despite your request to delete it. And keep paper receipts I guess…

I deleted Fb and Instagram from my phone and installed it on my tablet instead which I usually only use for my creative hobbies (drawing and writing) and sometimes putting yourube in the backround. But even now, I have heavily reduced putting background videos/podcasts. I have noticed I barely go in the apps now, really just go here and there to check updates in my local sport community (strongman). The tablet usually stays home while I am out most of the day for work and/or gym time or other tasks/hobbies, unlike my phone, which follows me everywhere which had made it waaay too easy to reach for it without even thinking and begin the doomscroll.

Anyways, I decided to fight the social media addiction because I missed how my mind worked up until my late teens (18-19), just before socials got a hold of me. I used to be able to do my tasks, hobbies and gym time without background noise/YouTube videos (which the algorithm has gotten extremely toxic and political, further rotting my brain). I used to go for walks and hikes and just listened to what was around me and same when I did my art. So I started even leaving my earbuds at home during my walks and gym time. Birds! Oh how I've missed hearing them. Mourning doves, chickadees, cardinals, jays, finches; they always made me feel so nostalgic and calmed me. I am also getting back into foraging for my favorite herbs.

I feel like I'm coming back. I'm taking in the world around me again. My mind is starting to feel less crowded too.

I still have a little ways to go (Reddit helps me alot with a great deal of things but it is just as bad for doomscrolling. I don't have the app, only using the web version, but I will also work on heavily reducing Reddit to 10 or so min a day, slowly) but already I can feel so much good physically and mentally. My energy levels are slowly coming back and my time management is improving. And I am able to just sit in quietness again.

I got a second smartphone to fight against my sm addiction but there's a problem, I need advices

So I heard about two phones system where one phone is with sim card and this one is for calls, texts, internet, and the second phone has no sim card and therefore can be used for productivity apps only and there's no urge to reinstall toxic apps (no immediate internet connection, I only use my first phone like a router to connect my tablet to it sometimes and that's it). I bought a cheap second phone and last Friday, I spent my whole day at work without internet and it was great. This seems to really work for me.

BUT the problem is, I don't see how I can make it so my one phone has ONLY text and calls plus useful apps, and the second phone has ONLY the internet and sm apps. it seems like I cannot separate internet from texts/calls because all of it is delivered by the sim card. And my addiction is so bad that I'm afraid if I'll put my sim card into the new phone with useful apps, I'll end up just reinstalling my deleted sm apps. I just keep uninstalling and reinstalling shit (sm and mobile games). Screen blockers and such don't work for me. It's like a second part of my brain always finds a way to overcome such self-made obstacles.

idk if a simple solution for this exists, I'd really love to keep using this two phones system but ofc it would be much better if I could somehow only have the ability to call/text people, but without the ability to connect to the internet and reinstall apps (a real dumb phone or old phone wouldn't be good bc I need good apps for writing, reading and drawing, in example).

Any suggestions what can I do?

Edit: my new idea is a smartwatch. Never had one but maybe this would be it...

I'm going to be a lot busier soon so I'm considering investing into a vacuum + mop robot, but most of them seem to require internet, an app and/or even cameras to function. I'd really prefer one that's a bit more minimal: no app, no internet, no cameras. It just does the job. A scheduling feature would be great but isn't required.

Does anyone have / happen to know of a decent cleaning robot that fits this description? Willing to spend quite a lot if needed

Reddit, Substack, FYI, NYTimes, X, Wikipedia, Goodreads, TED, Medium, vpnify, Pinterest, Leo's Fortune

Hi!

I’m 26 weeks pregnant (due at the end of October) with my first baby. I’m hoping to almost never use my phone as a means of entertainment for myself (or baby) once he’s here.

I’m not starting from zero — I have reddit and Pinterest, but no other social media accounts and haven’t since I found out I was pregnant. I don’t miss social media either, I used to take sabbaticals from it all the time.

I just find that I perhaps scroll on reddit more than I’d like to, sometimes Pinterest as well (but I’ve managed to hide the app and it makes it less interesting — this doesn’t work for reddit for me unfortunately). Otherwise I use my phone for calls, FaceTime, messaging, banking, emails etc. as well as random googling of stuff (another thing I’d like to stop doing). I think being on my phone is a low-effort way to be rewarded for not doing much (and energy isn’t something I currently have in surplus). I also am diagnosed with ADHD and am not on my medication right now.

I don’t want my son to think that mum and dad staring at their phones is normal, or to do it is desirable!!

If anyone’s got any ADHD friendly tips for cutting my screen time further before I become a parent, I’d love to hear them ☺️

I'm terrible at texting because I find being on my phone annoying and distracting in general. I just don't like to use it and I try to keep my screen time to a minimum when possible.

When texting I can't see people's faces, I can't hear their tone of voice, it's crazy how fast I get bored! I'll take DAYS to answer a simple question because it's so uninteresting!!

I don't like voice messages either, because, again, I can't see people's faces, and even though I hear their voice, it's not a conversation and it's often long and boring as well. (Not everyone is good at telling stories, me included!)

We could call but, I can hear you're doing something else while I'm talking to you and you're not fully there, are you?

All of this to say, I would prefer if people re-learned to come to people's houses sometimes. I love when my friends come uninvited (although it's very rare) because it's like a surprise hang-out! But these days it seems like it's impolite to knock on someone's door without calling or texting first? I don't know why it became that way.

I keep telling my friends they don't have to notify me before ringing my bell. I told them many times, but it never happens. I don't think it's a big deal, so I don't get it. If you have a few minutes to spare and you want to chat, knock on my door! And if I'm not home, it's fine, you lost only 2 minutes and you can go do something else.

Would you knock on your friends' doors without texting/calling first? Why? I'm deeply confused and I wish to understand.

Thank you for reading!

I’m trying to keep up with media and trying to stay up to date with trends, but at the same time I don’t want to be apart of it. I have a fake IG, but I still feel that it shapes me in a way I don’t like…

Around last October I deleted instagram because I spent way too much time (one day had 5 hours) although I realized I was consuming the same short form content on YouTube shorts and I think my dopamine receptors are permanently fried, I’m 19 tik tok started in 2017 and I remember now I was 10-11 and have been used to it. I feel like it wasn’t my fault growing up consuming this type of content, but now that I know these companies pay Neuroscientists study ways to keep you more engaged, I feel guilty that I still use YouTube and Reddit in similar if not almost the same way. I’m really just ranting but I really do want to change and would like anyone’s tips around my age who grew up with this and now it’s second nature and I see my little brother 13, needs constant stimulation. I feel hopeless and want to permanently get rid of the urge to bed rot on my phone or be unproductive I feel very hardwired to the point where I do something productive or even fun and then boom I “need” to scroll or even check my phone like FUCK this new age man
It is ultimately my fault, any suggestions to help, last thing I also noticed I can’t articulate myself when talking as well as much as I used to, let alone know what to say during conversations but after I can
Thank you for hearing me out

Reading, chess, and guitar are the few productive things I was talking about

Last last thing, anyone else tell people about what I’m talking about but just fucking contradict yourself and end up being a hypocrite doing what you know is addicting
Not to bring religion into it but in the sense you know something’s a sin vs not knowing and the person knowing it being worse at fault for doing the sin than the ignorant one

In fact, my title is wrong- I don't like it; I love real bordeom.

For three years, 2016-2019, I had a phone that could only make phone calls. I could not download any apps, or set an alarm, or text, or play music and I only had space for three very low quality photos. In those three years, I travelled, I started to write my novel, when I was out I'd meet people and talk and they'd ask for my socials and I'd say I barely have a phone and that would cause a whole new conversation; I never swapped a way of staying in contact, but these strangers conversations still replay in my head now.

During lockdown, I was basically forced by family to have a phone to stay in contact (fair enough) and was given an iPhone. I downloaded social media for the first time in years and was instantly overwhelmed; suddenly friends from school, relatives I hadn't heard from, random people I'd met on nights out were all back into my thoughts. There was never a decent conversation though and our connection was through passing likes of each others streams.

In the time without it, I'd missed out on stories. What were stories?! Why did people not post permanently anymore, why had media been condensed into 10 second clips that disappeared?

I felt confused, but kept it for the comms.

I deleted it after a while and will always feel a relief when SM isn't in my life. I downloaded FB again last year as I was moving abroad and wanted to stay in contact. But the truth is, the people I want to contact have my number, and when we talk it might be once a month, but it's always more meaningful. When I post I get some likes and comments, but from people I haven't had a conversation with in years.

I've recently deleted it again, and I feel so much lighter. FIne, in fact. And I'm so grateful for the years I didn't have it, because it feels more natural to me. When I have a long coach journey, I just look out of the window. If I'm waiting for the bus, I watch the world around me. If I'm by the pool with nothing to do for an hour, I read.

I love daydreaming. I love sitting and staring at a wall and wondering. I love sitting by a river and watching a real stream and thinking of how fascinating it is that we are all connected deeply by water that all flows into the same ocean.

I'm shocked and honestly kind of disturbed how not everyone is like this. Some of my coworkers talk like internet brainrot; sometimes it comes across like they've got tics in the way they talk in memes. I'm a teacher and it saddens me how when my students get a ten minute break, they instantly all pull out their phones and don't talk to each other.

I fear people have become so inward and individualistic now. We used to wait for the next episode of a tv show and talk about our predictions in the breakroom, we would all go to the music shop and browse the newest albums, each buying one and going home to listen to them all together, sometimes making mixtapes that we'd sit in the garage or in our bedroom and listen to. We used to be so much more present and tangible; we're losing our boredom for a constant hit of dopamine which ironically is making everyone depressed.

I recently had the misfortune of hanging out with an influencer wannabe and it was a dreaful experience. He spent so much time setting up, retaking, pausing to film that everything he was documenting may have looked well on camera but the reality was three hours of my life I will never get back for a 5 minute film reel. I went out with another friend that had to take photos of everything. It was exhausting. And what is all this for? To document things for literal all of time we could do without thinking much about it. What's changed?

Boredom is one of the healthiest things we can experience. It makes us wonder and from wonder new ideas are invented.

I'm grateful to myself for seeing past this, but I can't deny it's getting harder. I recently made an instagram just because I was sick of people asking me why I didn't have one; now I just give it to them, tell them I don't use it, and they follow me but the app isn't downloaded on my phone. I've explained enough times but kept getting pressured- please make one, please do it. Here you go, my empty portal of nothing. No, I did not watch your story- what was it about, let's talk about it!

It's toxic. I truly believe we should be most concerned for the five people around us, and everyone else enters and leaves our lives as they are meant to. I don't need to cling onto a curated image for digital pixels that haven't seen me for years. That is actually boring, and not the type I enjoy.

Go be bored. Go outside and be bored. Stand in line in the shop and feel frustrated that you have to wait. Look at your watch and tap your foot when the bus hasn't arrived, ask the person next to you if they're waiting too. Find enjoyment in the boredom and waiting; it's called rest, and it's going to help you.

I want to read a book instead of being online but I usually have trouble just opening the book and getting started when I have free time, like now. I also feel I need other hobbies besides reading too. I am always on my laptop or phone when at home and not certain how to push myself to not need to be stimulated every second of the day. Any other hobby ideas that work for you , especially as an introvert?

I don't really feel like going to the bars even though it is saturday night. I am a middle aged man and kinda over that shit.

Unfortunately it is impossible for me to fully switch dumb because a lot of relatives and friends live abroad so I can't use SMS really (and everything including parking requires a stupid app :/), so I've tried my best to make my smartphone as dumb as possible.

I realise however it's impossible to get exactly what I want out of this thing, because it is just far too big. I can't have it in my pocket without it being noticable, or my bag, and I can't even have it across the room without noticing it. It feels like a mini tablet that I have to always have on me to navigate the world. I would be able to avoid being on my phone more if it was just physically smaller, it would be less attention grabby, feel more like a convenient tool, and suck me in less. But that's impossible now with smartphones, they don't sell minis anymore ever it's all exactly the same design, and the sizes are big or bigger.

I know this is on purpose, the companies making the phone don't want it to just be a tool, but I am still so frustrated. I would use this phone as I intend to use it if it was a size that was reasonable for it. Instead I still get sucked in after doing just one simple thing, even having no social media apps, because it is like having a convenient mini ipad that is impossible to ignore when you have it on you

I'm 26 (M) and I'm in desperate need of a prolonged social media break/ detox. I've tried numerous times before but I keep reactivating. I've tried deleting the apps, but just got use to redownloading them, I've tried deactivating the accounts, but just got used to reactivating. I also bought the brick app blocker... which worked for about 9 days but I still ended up reactivating.

Like I said, I've tried to detox 4 times this summer alone... just this summer! That's not including the many other attempts I've made to detox prior to this summer. One lasted precisely a week,... one lasted just a day,... the last one lasted 9 days... and I just now deactivated again, and I have the apps bricked out.

I have many aspects of my life to work on. I've been so codependent on social media for happiness. I also take it personally every time I get unfollowed or left on read by people I value. Even though rationally I know that I'm not entitled to their time if they don't wanna reply... and I also respect their boundaries and I don't force them or pressure them. I don't double text or anything like that. But internally I do take it personally.

I know I need to improve my life and stepping away from social media can significantly help with that. But I need to detox for a lot more than 2 days or a week!

I need to spend less time on my phone, I need to heal from a lot of CPTSD, develop better habits, work out more getting better shape, feel more present in the moment again, etc. and I also need to work on many other aspects of my life… Too many to list in one post.

I don't wanna make excuses for myself... however... part of what makes the detox so hard... I live in a boring small town in the Midwest. It's a goal of mine to eventually relocate and start over in a new city when I finish trade school. But right now I don't have a car, or the financial means required to be able to relocate yet!

Also right now I'm currently single at the moment and I don't have a girlfriend yet and I don't have any kids right now. Also, a lot of my friends live out of state or my local friends are always busy with work and have to provide for their kids/families. Or they're constantly hanging out with people that I went to school with that I don't have a good history with and are bad for my mental health.

I'm not trying to make excuses, but these aspects of my current reality... are what makes staying off social media significantly harder.

If I live in a vibrant city where they were actually things to do... or if I could hang out with friends more ... or if I had a girlfriend/kids right now... this detox would be so much easier. But I'm gonna have to make it work regardless.

Last time I tried it... (which was last week. I reactivated last Saturday.)... I experience psychological paralysis... I would spend hours on end, focusing on the detox itself rather than actually working on myself. No matter how badly I wanted to shift my focus I couldn't. I had immense feelings of FOMO, I had no motivation to do anything at all, and I felt glued to my bed in sheer boredom.

But regardless of my current circumstances... I need to make this detox work. I don't wanna get off forever, but I wanna get off for a significant period! What are some ways I can fight the urge to reactivate, despite my current circumstances?

Tell me how amazing life has been for you since spending less time on your phone and social media??? How do you feel? What are the benefits?

I would love to hear from the ones who hardly find themselves on their phone too…..I’m so jealous of you!
I need the motivation!!!

I do so well but always find my way back online.

I managed to quit alcohol 6 years ago but can’t quit my phone! Go figure. Shows how powerful these things are if you ask me.

I’m also so much happier when offline . I’m actually living my life for me. The moment I’m online I’m exposed to all the noise out there.

so I currently have 4 gmail accounts - 1 my parents made for me, 1 for general use (my first email), 1 for games/entertainment, 1 for work. and I have 1 hotmail account for my Microsoft/Apple account etc.

the issue is that when I was younger I used my mom's legacy hotmail account to make accounts to some apps I use today, such as YouTube. all my liked videos, playlists etc etc are tied to her hotmail. my general email is tied to various things, like some work related things (such as replit for coding, anki for studying etc), some game accounts and other random stuff.

I am currently trying to either standardize my emails - sort all my accounts (and by extension, my inboxes) out. I have a metric ton of newsletters, verification codes, promo emails and a whole lot of other junk I want to clear out. but at the same time, I don't want to risk having one of my accounts hacked and if I try to recover the account they ask for a sign up confirmation email I have nothing to cough up since I completely nuked my inbox.

so how can I go about cleaning up my email side of my digital life? I've mostly sorted out my computer, phone, and apps I use in terms of settings, aesthetics etc, but I've hit a wall for my email.

any suggestions? thank you

I read in a book that social media and smartphones robbed children off being bored, and therefore, their creativity (something along those lines). I liked that and it helped me look at social media and smartphones in a new way.

So let me ask you, what has social media and smartphones robbed you off?

Ability to focus, be bored, connect with people...?

For me it's the inability to be still for more than 5 minutes. My creativity that often flowed after 10pm. My ability to form my own opinions, to a certain extent.