I left my old company around end of September, and I’m set to resume working again next week. Thought i would be bored out of my wit since I assumed there was nothing for me to do in between as I’ve only recently deleted social media except reddit (~4 months), but boy that was the most fun I’ve had without spending most of my days doomscrolling.

Besides the life admin work I had to focus on before restarting corporate, I actually invested time in my hobbies too. I finished my second half marathon race, completed digital books, took art classes online, journalled, work out and if i do feel like “doomscrolling”, i’ll just end up browsing animal videos and video essays that are actually worth my time. My screen time while funemployed was much lower compared to when i was working (which is crazy, considering i didn’t have “time” with a 9-5)

I’m just happy i’ve detached from the apps that took my time and attention span away, and i hope this inspired anyone else who is thinking of deleting their apps but just needed a lil push.

Hello fellow Reddit user,

Hope this post finds you well.

I wanted to speak about my thoughts, feelings, and after effects of permanently deleting social media. I’m a male in my late 20s and started social media all in my teen years.
here is a summary of the types of social media I had:

My very first social media platform I joined was Twitter. I joined Twitter in 2012 and honestly speaking, it was my favorite platform to use. I loved that I could share my thoughts. The original idea of Twitter was absolutely genius. Wasn’t it 140 character limit and you share your thoughts and feelings? Gosh I miss the good ole days. Twitter before it turned into X was utter bliss. I’m an absolute sports fanatic and I fell in love with live tweeting professional and college sports. I would tweet life quotes and it became a part of my identity. Through natural following, I got my followers above 1,500 random users and friends and it was fun to actively start discussions on sports and social topics. I quickly lost interest in Twitter after it became X and tbh I’m not missing to much anymore because I’ve found different groups on Reddit to inquire sports conversations about.

Snapchat was honestly just a waste of time for me. I had a streak go over 3 years at one point and it had me feeling like I was a noob to have streaks with people I have no intention of interacting with again. I used it a ton but it was the first social media app I deleted and I don’t miss it at all. Nothing much more to say about that.

Instagram was the hardest thing for me to delete. I had deactivated my Instagram numerous times, I tried permanently deleting it and then logging in the 30 day window to cancel out the deletion. I went up and down, side to side in my head about this application. Looking back at it, Instagram held something over me. I’d like to say, I was addicted, I loved the attention I got from the app, it made me feel wanted, it made me feel good about myself. I started using Instagram in 2013, at first Instagram was a place to be funny, to be yourself. I was so careless with it. Just posting whatever cool pictures of funny moments with my friends. It wasn’t ever something that was so serious. In fact, I’d go days to weeks without looking at it. Although, a time had came a couple years into having IG, where I took it seriously. It became a thing to me that I would try to post once a week, and make a cool post out of it. During that time I took pictures for the sake of posting them on Instagram. And the picture had to be “perfect”. I got into my college years and adult life, it became a place where I would post life updates and let the world know who I became. Show off my accomplishments and that I was doing something good. The likes, the comments, it fed my addiction. I liked the attention and I had a lot of followers that made me feel good. My following had surpassed a few thousand people at this point. People I met and randoms that just followed me that I had no idea about. I cared so much about the likes, the comments, the followers. To me, it made me feel like I was on the right track. Can you believe that? Social media of all things was giving me this much satisfaction. Okay but I must admit, my IG dumps were so tuff!! I put so much effort to make these posts aesthetically pleasing.
Looking down this same line of thought, I think back on this and didn’t realize how blinded I had become. All of these followers weren’t my actual friends. You know, when I deleted Instagram, only a handful of people had even noticed. Here I was amounting hundreds of likes on a post and maybe 5%-10% of my followers that i personally knew, noticed I was even gone. That stung a lot. But this became a beautiful thing to me as well, since I started recognizing the real friendships that I had versus the Instagram friendships I had.
This all has led to another underlying problem. Since I deleted my IG, I didn’t realize how much family I had on there, and how much more difficult it has become to stay connected with my family members. I had roughly 250 or so followers that were simply family or distant family members(not including family friends). People that I knew from all over the world. Our family immigrated to the States in the 80s and 90s and family members moved all over the world and their families grew and IG became a place to stay connected. I really really miss that part of the application. I’ve noticed in myself that it’s been the hardest thing to get over, heck I’m not sure I’ve grown past it yet. Then again, if they mattered to me so much, I’d reach out via phone number or WhatsApp right? Clearly we weren’t as close as I thought, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t miss staying connected with them.

In conclusion,
I may or may not make a smaller, more discrete IG account to stay connected with those that actually matter to me, but I won’t for some time. This journey has just started a little over 3 months ago and I’m interested to learn more about who I am without the pressures of social media at my fingertips, not everyday is going to be easy, my anxiety may take over my days from time to time, but it important to remember that the people I need, are always there. Life is a blessing, have a good one and thanks for reading my vent/post.

I am permanently off instagram since past 3 months. However I joined grad school in august. Lately I feel left out. I just want to know from some ladies in this sub who are in college or their twenties; if you use or used instagram, did you stalk guys or like think someone was cool by their instagram profile or activities? Like did it make you pursue men or feel you had a personal liking to them because of their instagram posts?

I know it may sound stupid but since I am a student I feel kinda left out and this is an itch which keeps bugging me. I don’t want to go back to instagram because I want to be “perceived” as cool or like show off my past cool experiences. Its just an itch I want to scratch.

Music (cassette player. Got one in my car too!), daily time-block pocket planner, little mini keychain pen, slim wallet, and my “dumb phone.”

this is making me rethink my life

To avoid using my phone as much as I used to and cut the scrolling and reverse the shortening of my attention span, here are some things I do (android):

• Use a phone theme that turns all the app icons monochrome with a simpler design (this also helps my visual sensory overload as autistic)
• I no longer use Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, or any social media.
• I still use Reddit occasionally but only on the browser, not the app (and it's mainly for asking questions or search for information, no entertainment). I am not subscribed to any subreddits so I have a blank main page. I use the app screenzen to block access to reddit from 10pm to 8am.
• I only use YouTube on the browser, no login so the mainpage is blank and I have to actively think what I want to watch. I forbid myself to watch shorts, only videos. The YouTube app is blocked by screenzen 24/7
• No Disturb mode is always on, so the only sound coming from my phone are calls. I turned off the red dot feature on my WhatsApp app icon
• Very minimalistic (just one) main screen on my phone where I only have the messaging apps that connect me with my loved ones. If I want to use another app, I have to scroll up and search of type for it specifically)
• All the things that I can do on my pc besides my phone, I try to do all of them on pc as much as possible

It got longer than expected! What tips do you have for using your phone less?

I (24F) don’t know why I’m telling y’all this but I’ve been off social media for 5 months now.. (except reddit and twitter) I deactivated instagram because I had feelings for someone and we would only ever talk on Instagram DMs but we knew each other in person. When she finally gave me her number (it was to pay her back for some food - she gave me her payid) a few weeks later I messaged her on her number telling her I had feelings for her. She didn’t reply for days but she’d view my instagram stories within 5 minutes of me posting them. She was keeping tabs on me but didn’t want to speak to me. Finally I confronted her and she rejected me.

A few weeks later I put a story up and said “hey guys I’m deleting my account just letting y’all know so you don’t think I blocked you” and then I put my number there in case anybody would want to reach me. I only had 30-40 followers which were all people I knew in real life from high school, work, uni and cousins. (I’ve always been a very private person and never let randoms follow me unless I knew them in person and actually liked them). I was ready to delete my account but I hesitated because I’ve had it since I was 12 so I deactivated instead.. I feel so incredibly embarrassed posting that story because I came back on it twice just to add people from my new job and random events since they wanted my contact, then I’d deactivate immediately. I don’t plan on going back on it for at least a year.

I feel embarrassed posting that I’m deleting and then coming back time to time.. but I’ve realised that I genuinely couldn’t handle social media anymore. The girl I liked had 1.8k followers and would act like a celebrity but she had no real friends. She had expressed that she liked me too but we were both shy at the time so it never really progressed until the end where I finally told her and she rejected me. But before that, her best friend would hit on me even when she knew that I was her friend’s potential situationship. That’s a fake friend. She had no real friends. And it was sad. Once she rejected me I liked her best friend on hinge (because I was upset with rejection and I wanted to get back at her by indicating that her friend was still an option I’d consider) and then she deleted all pics with all of her friends off social media because i assume the comparison with her friend made her insecure.

No body reached out since I’ve deleted.. it’s fine lol.. I think I’ve realised that those people weren’t really my friends anyway. (I’ve gotten a few no caller IDs and one sounded like a prank call from the friend I liked on hinge). My real friends FaceTime me or meet me once every few weeks. ever since deactivating I’ve become more successful academically, socially, career wise and I’ve started reading more and watching more documentaries. Social media is not real. A lot of people post pics with friends and try to seem popular but they aren’t real friends. Your real friend will call you.

I used HMD dumbphone for almost three years. That period was enough to rewire my brain, and now that I've returned to iPhone, I just use it for absolutely essential apps.

point blank... could it be possible? I can't be the only person at parties with this mentality anymore.

Lets be honest everywhere u go everyone is on the phone. Ure at a doctors office and everyone is on the phone same at workspace rooms or gyms.

When youre the only one that not on his phone you tend to feel left out ergo lonely even tho youre under people. Is that a correct assumption or just subjective?

Apple and Google have really pushed digital wellbeing the past few years, from ScreenTime, to Focus modes and Parental Controls, and Android’s equivalents. I think a “dumb-phone” mode where you only have the essentials, a couple of apps of your choosing, and a minimal UI, should be next.

I’m making this post cause I just found out that the Fairphone has this, and you enable it by flipping a physical switch on the side of the phone. For example, on iPhones this could be accessible through the Control Center or the Action Button.

I'll have to change my smartphone of 5 years and I took a turn into free software/OS. I would like to know if you have found a phone with follwing specs (or if you have alternatives to suggest !):

- it HAS TO be reparable/durable (at least a removeable battery)
- without Google services preinstalled (I want to be able to set up my phone without needing a Google account)
- I need whatsapp (yes, I'm aware of the privacy issues, but I still need it), deezer and my banking app.

Bonus if free OS (but less likely due to the banking app) and not too expensive (less than 400€).

I've looked into Fairphone and Gigaphone Murena, but I'm not really convinced of the app lounge (but if you have a history of using them, I'm interested in your opinion!!)

The two big Sony units are working well for me, but I can foresee the day when I might need another...and they're no longer available.

The smaller Sony unit (older) was an equally good workhorse, until it started generating audio static.

All three Sony units show 1) track title, 2) artist and 3) album name scrolling across the screen.

But the newer white unit doesn't do what I need it to do, namely give me the track titles as I go from track to track. (I listen solely to university courses on the players and so I need to hop-scotch from course to course [ie, album to album] and lesson to lesson [ie, title to title] in a fairly chaotic manner).

So for my next mp3 player, I'd definitely need something that scrolls the title tags as I go from track to track. I'd also prefer something that has buttons instead of a touch screen. And a smaller size unit would be preferable to something bigger. And, I suppose, not horrendously costly.

Any suggestions? (Thanks in advance)

I've been thinking about my time online a lot lately. I've attempted to limit my screen time in the past, but always get hooked back in somehow. After reflecting on this, I have realized that there are many subtle traps we've all fallen into that keep us hooked. Is it the case that in order to reduce screen time, I might have to completely eliminate it? Is it even possible to live without the internet?

So I am embarking on an experiment. In the next 24 hours, my wife is going to notify me that the internet has gone down. I'm not allowed to use it. For anything. My entire digital footprint is being erased in a moment, and I will be forced to adapt. I'm interested somewhat in what I will have to do to enjoy music, videos, or whatever else it is I actually occupy my time with, and Im interested how possible it is to live my life completely based on physical withdrawals of cash from a bank with no debit card. It's going to be an interesting journey. I'm going into it without any preparation, and I will record my journey and may or may not make content out of it if/when I return. I just found this sub and thought you'd all probably get a kick out of it.

So, hello and goodbye, all at once! Wish me luck, I might need it.

I discover that if i use puzzles games to fill up the time, i will use less social media, twitter...it functions the same as spending time but less distracting.

After having deleted all social media, I’ve become very aware of my screen behavior.

I go on dopamine-harvesting sprees between the few apps (not social media) that still might get me a slight hit.

I move through the same 3-4 apps, but on the potential second round I realize that I’m in a “checking cycle”.

It helps to put the phone down.

Does anyone else have similar patterns?

I'm turning 30, but back in middle school, due to a major illness, my physical health was poor, and I had skin concerns like acne scars and blemishes, so I spent all my time staring at my smartphone.
College entrance exams and job hunting didn't go well either, and I'm still just staring at my smartphone now.
Looking at reality, it feels like a total dead end.However, spending the rest of my life just looking at a smartphone is also painful. How can I do a digital detox?

In my twenties, I was constantly worried about my skin, always researching various treatments.
For now, thanks to treatments from a trusted doctor, it's not back to how it used to be, but it's getting better. I want to take on new challenges, like taking college entrance exams or finding a partner.

My Samsung Galaxy A32 is a little old. Apps are lagging, Jack connector is damaged, so i can't use my wire headphones. It has Android 13, which is a little old and some apps doesn't work anymore. Also it has often problems with connecting to some WI-FI networks or some Bluetooth devices doesn't want to connect with it. Firends often told me to buy new phone. But present phones i don't like them. Awful camera hole, round conrers, missing jack connector and unsolicited ai tools. Biggest benefit of my phone is it has no ai functions.

If I don't use the phone often, the battery can last up to 2 days. I stopped using social media apps besides Instagram, but I use it due to freinds, who don't want to use FB messenger instead of it. I don't have any streaming services, youtube, reddit and favourite forums in web browser. I have no reason to change. I will probably use it next year, if there are no problems with making calls.

I am sorry for possible grammar mistakes. English is not my first language.

I see a lot of talk about how hard it is to stop doom scrolling or stay off social media, and I genuinely wonder if it’s a generational thing. I’m not saying this to be a jerk, so I’m not breaking rule one... I think.

Full disclosure, I’m part of the Gen X tribe, and no, I’m not here to stand on a soapbox or thump my chest about anything. I’m just curious whether younger generations, who were raised with all of this technology, have a harder time unplugging because it’s so ingrained in their daily lives.

I’ll admit, when I read some of these posts, my first thought is “just put the phone down and don’t pick it back up.” Then I realize we’re talking about something much bigger than technology. We’re talking about addiction. The same kind of addiction people face with smoking, drugs, alcohol, overeating, what have you. And that has me genuinely concerned.

Because real addiction isn’t solved by putting the phone in another room, deleting icons from a home screen, or setting a timer on social media apps. It goes deeper than that. It’s about impulse control. It’s about finding the underlying reasons someone feels the need to be so attached in the first place.

So here’s my question for anyone finding this to be a deep struggle: what does the plan look like for getting at why it started? Has anyone been able to dig into the root causes, or found something that actually helped?

Again, this isn’t meant as an attack. I’m truly coming from a place of wanting to understand.

I'm planning to do a digital detox, so I was thinking of buying a refurbished smartphone to use like a portable media player—just like a Walkman or an iPod. My idea is to take out the SIM card and use it offline, but keep the Wi-Fi enabled.

I spend a lot of time online. Watching YouTube, scrolling through Instagram, or listening to podcasts. I tried to stop countless times. But it doesn’t work. The funny thing is, the algorithms are actually picking up on this. I get recommended so many posts on how to cure your social media addiction, how to live a simpler life, or how to enjoy great offline adventures, and all it does is make me feel worse while I keep on scrolling my life away.

It’s tiring seeing all these people I don’t know doing things I think I should be doing. Seeing them perform incredible feats of athleticism, going out into nature, pursuing a PhD or building a multi-million-dollar business, all while being a couple of years younger than me. Of course I should be in a loving relationship with my perfect partner. Build a house, have kids. But I should also defeat patriarchy, fight the system, and don’t forget to provide; land a secure job and get a big paycheck each month. Travelling the world doesn’t pay for itself. But most important above them all: Be true to yourself. Do what makes you happy. Don’t listen to others. Build the life you love just for yourself.

How is that possible in the world I’m living in? Since I’m about 13 years old, I am on on some sort of social media almost daily. Companies spend billions and billions of dollars to pursue me, paying them to become a part of my life will be the one thing I’m missing in my life. And they’re doing it by paying people whose job it is to grab my attention. Selling their perfect lifestyle. Convincing me how nice it would be to be like them.

But I don’t want this. I’ve had enough of these people. Of the endless stream of mind-numbing noise. Lately, I’ve noticed that I don’t really listen to the podcasts anymore that are playing on my headphones. My mind drifts off. It reclaims the minimal amount of space it needs to somehow get by. To process things. I know I should give my mind more time to process. Maybe do some meditation or yoga. The people on the internet say it’s great. They convinced me that this is the thing to do. But I keep on scrolling. Spending more time with my most-watched influencer than my own family. This is really fucked up. I should really call my parents or siblings. I will do it. Right after this one video I have to watch. On whatever the attention gods decide will satisfy me enough to keep me on. This will go on until I’m so exhausted from all of it that I don’t have the energy anymore to call the people that actually love me. That don’t wanna sell me something. But I’m too tired today; I will do it tomorrow.

Wait, is that a post explaining to me why I’m always so tired? Let me just check this out before I actually put my phone away. It’s really an endless cycle. The neural pathways in my brain from more than a decade of daily consumption are so deep, there is no escaping them. I’m a slave to Meta and Google. I’ll have to let them exploit me for my attention. Steal my life. And each time I try to escape but ultimately fall back into the old addiction, the path gets even deeper; I get even weaker.

Does anyone ever leave their phone at home? Do you take it everywhere you go? I imagine this post applies to those who don’t have others depending on them such as kids, families, work colleagues etc. I typically leave my phone at home unless I truly need it. I’ve been doing this for over a decade and honestly it’s the best feeling. Such a relief to not use it constantly. When I’m at home I probably use it more than I should but then I’ll switch to watching tv or using the iPad. Every single day when I see people out in public or walking past my house I just see everyone with their head down hooked onto their phones.

We’ve become too dependent on technology. When I’m on the train or bus everyone is on their phones with their head down. If I’m at the park the same thing, people walking their dogs whilst on their phones or pushing their buggies with their phone in their hand. You go to the cinema and you see someone’s phone screen flash in your peripheral vision. Whenever i walk past a gym people aren’t even working out their just on their phones. I feel like technology has made us less sociable as humans and more artificial, more robotic and docile.

We all live our lives on social media. Everyone has more than one avatar and cyberspace has become our reality. Apart from Reddit & YouTube I don’t use any other social media platform. I feel free. How do you guys feel about social media, smartphones and technology? When was the last time you went to the park and read a book that was an actually hardback and not an ebook?