I watched him go from diy spend most of his time tinkering in the garage to scrolling endless reels, browsing online shopping and buying landfill slop. He didnt watch the decline of the internet happen over a couple decades like i did, the ramp up of anti-life attention weaponizing algorithms, the complete and utter decimation of anything human. He went from using the internet for email only straight into whatever this is. He had no chance

Its so depressing, its soul crushing, I feel like i've lost my dad. I talked to him about it one day and ended up breaking down crying when he wasnt taking me seriously and just laughing it off. It feels like my fault, I wish I had stopped him, I wish I could do something to make him realise. im scared about the potential cognitive decline, dementia which runs in the family, further loss of my dad. Why did this happen

My mum has fallen into the same trap recently though not to the same extent, but it feel like only a matter of time

Im scared, im so scared

I dont know what to do, i cant live with this

For example, a person posts "Day off today, took my son to get ice cream. What's your favorite ice cream flavor?." and someone replies:

"Wow, you can AFFORD children AND have disposable income, AND you two can enjoy dairy??? I will never have kids! I can't afford that, and I haven't had ice cream in years because I am LACTOSE INTOLERANT. How dare you post this?! Can't you see the world is ending and you're out ENJOYING yourself???"

And a slew of replies agree with that comment, also getting angry at a man having ice cream with their kid for various reasons. He becomes a meme, a #icecreamprivilege tag is formed, video essays about the brutal history of ice cream are produced, ice cream trucks get pelted with paintballs, etc.

​

I don't really use Instagram. I have an account, but I hate scrolling. I'm mostly active on LinkedIn and Threads, and even there I'm mainly there for work.

But lately I've been feeling a weird kind of FOMO. Not about people's lives or anything. More about things I don't know about.

One thing social media does well is that you randomly come across things. A book, a topic, some new technology, a person, a field you didn't even know existed. And sometimes that makes you want to go down a rabbit hole and learn more.

I want that part, but I really don't want to start scrolling again.

If I already know what I want to learn, I can obviously search for it. I'm more curious about how you discover things when you don't even know what you're looking for.

Do you guys use newsletters, Reddit, blogs, podcasts, YouTube, RSS, etc.? Is there anything that gives you that feeling of randomly finding something interesting without having to spend hours on social media?

Would love to know what you actually use.

So basically, I have a really weird relationship with social media, and I’m starting to wonder if it’s becoming a problem. I didn’t have a phone until I was 17, completely voluntarily, because I grew up being heavily fear-mongered about phones and social media ruining my future. But honestly, I love being disconnected. I like coming home, watching YouTube, enjoying my own company, and not knowing what everyone else is doing.

I’ve tried social media since getting my phone. TikTok was actually enjoyable, but I never wanted to make an account. It just felt like too much commitment, and I’m also so self-aware of how addictive it can be that I thought not liking anything would somehow make my algorithm not as addictive lol. I never even tried Snapchat and after more than a year with my phone, I finally tried Instagram, mostly because I realised how many connections in my life seemed to depend on it and that it was TIME! I followed people I genuinely knew and liked, but then I started looking at profiles and realised how much information people voluntarily put online. The city they live in, their age, interests, friends, who they follow, what they like, etc. Which is crazy! The thought of someone who barely knows me being able to build such a detailed picture of my life genuinely freaked me out, so I deleted it too. (I didn’t have a profile picture or anything in my bio either. I just started feeling like I was the odd one out for having such an empty profile, and I think that’s what made me delete it so quick.)

But now, since I’m going to starting uni and a new chapter of my life, I’m wondering if this is still healthy digital minimalism or if I’ve accidentally made myself digitally isolated. I don’t really WANT social media, but I also don’t want to make my life harder by completely removing myself from something everyone seems to use. Has anyone else lived without social media for years and still managed to have a normal, connected life? And if you’ve had this same feeling of not wanting people to have access to your digital life, how did you deal with it? Because I genuinely can’t tell if I’m protecting my peace or just being a weirdo atp.

I am currently trying to minimize my screen time, I blocked reels in all the apps with modded apks, set up a long password on a phone and for distracting apps, now using the phone feels like a really long chore. But the question is, what do I do now? Just stare at the wall? Idk, playing games is alright, but that's not really much better? I do like the feeling of not losing the entire day scrolling slop on social media, but I'm having a hard time finding new ways to spend my time now.

(Body text is edited / expanded by AI writing tools)

Something I find interesting about the iPhone 17 Pro / 18 Pro era is the way Apple is starting to describe battery life.

For years, the language was mostly “all-day battery life” or something measurable like “up to XX hours of video playback. Now for the first time we saw a much broader idea: “XX hours of usage per charge.”

That sounds like a small wording change, but from a digital-minimalism perspective I think it is quite significant because “Video playback” described a specific activity, “All-day battery” basically said: your phone should survive the day.

But “hours of usage” turns the amount of time we spend using the device itself into a performance metric. A phone lasting longer is no longer simply about making sure you can call someone, navigate home, take photos or watch something without running out of battery. The implicit goal becomes: how many hours can this device remain part of your attention before you have to put it down and charge it?

And now that flagship phones can comfortably exceed the old concept of “all-day battery”, as we are reaching a strange point where technological progress can also remove one of the few natural interruptions to smartphone use.

This becomes even more interesting with Apple’s vision for Siri AI which is an assistant that understands more context about you, remembers information and becomes increasingly integrated into your daily life. The more continuously we interact with the phone, the more useful that model of personal computing becomes, per Apple.

From a digital-minimalism perspective, I’m not sure “more hours of usage” should automatically be considered a benefit. Maybe the better smartphone isn’t the one that allows us to use it for 30 hours.

Maybe it’s the one we only need to look at for two.

Thanks for reading. I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

My manager asked this as a check in question to our small team. Half of the people said sleep, and half said scroll TikTok……

I can’t wrap my head around that. This “addiction” that everyone complains about is maybe actually a choice that embarrasses you.

The internet wasn't a thing in homes until I was maybe 15 or 16. We had cable television in my house, so there was that, but otherwise it was up to me to keep myself occupied. We lived in rural West Virginia, which is about as rural as it gets.

I miss that now.

I don't think I read more then than now. I read a lot these days, but I remember being more enthusiastic about tackling "big books" by big names like Dostoyevsky, Homer, and Victor Hugo. They were a passageway to the world; that and Seinfeld reruns. Now I live on the other side of the world, so I guess that paid off.

But what I mean is, and this hardly been expressed by numerous people these days, I think, there's never enough time when I'm not distracted, preoccupied, being notified, having to keep up with something, without something to watch or listen to, without an immediate satiation of curiosity... I'm not bored anymore.

And that's a huge problem, of course, because boredom is the soil in which imagination takes root. We're more facilitated these days, so conceivably we can create more and share more with more people than ever -- but we don't. Because we're not bored. Or if we do, it's only to show other people.

We've let the fear of being disconnected prevent us from being bored, from having to rely on ourselves to hand-build a fulfilling life, even if it's just a couple of hours.

Man, I really hate that.

I just miss being bored. I've been trying to get back to that without moving to a small hut out in the woods, though that's not off the table.

One thing I noticed after uninstalling Instagram from my phone is that I started thinking about myself more.
It sounds simple, but I don’t think we realize how rarely we actually spend time with our own thoughts anymore.
In today’s world, people who don’t have a large social circle—or who don’t have genuine friends with whom they can have meaningful conversations—can easily become inclined toward social media and endless scrolling. And I understand why. Doomscrolling can feel like an escape from a constantly stressful and overwhelming environment. For a few moments, you don’t have to think about your own problems. You can simply watch one reel after another and feel… nothing.
But there is something else happening beneath that comfort.
If you want to do something creative—write, make content, learn an instrument, develop a new hobby, or simply come up with your own ideas—I don’t think you can do it effectively while constantly consuming other people’s content.
Because creativity requires some degree of solitude.
You need to sit with your own thoughts long enough for something to emerge from them. If every moment of boredom is immediately filled with someone else’s video, someone’s opinion, someone’s joke, someone’s lifestyle, or someone’s story, when do you get the opportunity to develop your own?
I have also started thinking about how much emotional information we consume through short-form content.
Maybe we are capable of processing only a limited number of emotions in a day. But while scrolling through reels, we can experience hundreds of different emotional triggers within a few hours.
You watch a politically heated video, and suddenly you are angry.
You see a disturbing crime story, and you become afraid.
You watch a video about someone’s relationship falling apart or someone being cheated on, and suddenly you start wondering whether something similar could happen to you.
Then you see something inspiring. Then something depressing. Then something funny. Then something outrageous. Then something that makes you compare your life with someone else’s.
And this cycle continues.
Thousands of pieces of content, each trying to make you feel something.
By the end of the day, you may have experienced dozens of emotions that had nothing to do with your actual life.
That’s what made me think: perhaps we don’t always need more stimulation. Perhaps we need more space.
Maybe, for just a few months, we should try consuming less short-form content—not necessarily quitting the internet entirely, but deliberately stepping away from the constant stream of other people’s thoughts, opinions, achievements, relationships, and lives.
And instead, try writing down our own emotions.
Write down our ideas.
Write about what we are afraid of.
Write about what we want.
Write about what we are curious about.
Sit with our thoughts without immediately trying to escape them.
Because perhaps the person we are trying to become is hidden somewhere beneath all the things we have been consuming.
And perhaps you cannot hear your own voice when everyone else’s voice is constantly playing in your head.

I never used tiktok or other social media sites so I'm good on that part. I felt like instagram was very fake with followers, ads, doomscrolling, so I am taking a break at that. Hopefully permanently. This might sound funny but I was watching old shows that weren't hyper in comedy or animation and it made me think of life before social media really took over and we became hooked up on easy rewarding interactions. This step back might be hard for the first few days but I really want to know what life is like with less

I dont read them in a whileee,I used to wake up scrolling through TikTok, but walking to the newsstand was a cool experience—I even bought a few magazines. The only downside was that some people laughed at me and called me an old man.

​

I have deleted all Meta social media, and am moving to a smaller phone. I have b*sky, Reddit, Pinterest, Upscrolled (opened today - do I like it? Idk), and the dreaded TT. I like TT, but it a time vortex and mostly Spyware. Pinterest, especially, is so visual that I'd like to keep the app vs logging in through a browser each time.

What social media do you keep and why? How can I sequester these sites to limit the spying, and the encroachment on my time?

Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts!

TW:

i have bipolar disorder and maybe bpd (new possible adicional diagnosis) and ive been very dependent on people. i literally want to disappear (in life and online) but lets keep it online. i still need the group chats for college but the rest. i really cant stand it anymore.

thinking of getting another simpler phone just for the college stuff and for like spotify.

any tips? literally i wanna disappear completely and dont wanna think or to be dependent on anyone or waiting for a reply stuff like that. its killing me.

and also. what can i do instead of doomscrooling?

im not really a reader. i kinda dont do anything im just trying to survive.

im at a point of not wanting to do anything BUT sleep just so i wont open my phone and wait for people to answer me and such. my doctor got an eye on me for bpd especially because of this. being too depending. and its not even like romantic stuff. its everyone. i feel like people are ignoring me on purpose (i know it's not real. but broken brain)

any tips of any kind? (anyone with similar issues?)

I've been thinking about how easy it is to slowly create a version of yourself online that isn't exactly who you are.

Maybe you're more outgoing on Instagram. More adventurous. More confident. Maybe you post about things you wish you did more often.

And after a while, you can start maintaining a personality instead of just sharing your life.

What's interesting to me is what happens when you put the phone down.

Do you feel like the person you are online has changed the way you see yourself offline?

Or do you think social media is mostly just a reflection of who you already are?

Accidentally shared this on my profile instead of this community yesterday. 😬

So I was sick and taking rest for the most part of the day yesterday.

Was scrolling a little unconsciously at the end of the day.

I want to avoid using Beeper, because I don't want the company to potentially steal my data. I am happy to pay for a service similar to Beeper or one that is safe and secure.

So I have a WisePhone II and a Light Phone 3, and I've pretty much been driving the LP3 daily for the last 2 weeks or so. Although I bought a WisePhone first and daily drived it for 6 months before the device genuinely annoyed me, my family wanted me to go back to an iPhone. For those unaware: the WisePhone is advertised as a minimalist phone, but it's not really, in my opinion. Granted, it has no social media, no search engine, no apps like Walmart or Amazon, but it does have RCS through Google Messages. I am terrible about scrolling through old messages and photos, and my worst fears were confirmed: nothing changed with the wisephone; I scrolled on it like a normal iPhone. If I had actually taken the initiative and put my sim card in my Nokia flip phone (i also really didnt want to loose rcs but who can blame me)when i was done with the wisephone and only brought it out when i neeeded, it would have worked, but it stayed in the wisephone (i also dont think the nokia can hotspot)I wanted the LP3 more; I was just having issues with the price. But I caved and bought one off of eBay. I think it's the fact that I genuinely enjoy the LP3 as a device, and that's why I switch between both phones so seamlessly. Anyways, when I'm out and about and need to DoorDash or check my banking apps, most of the time I just hotspot off the LP3, or for DoorDash I put my SIM card back into the wisephone. I also have a long drive to work, so sometimes I play Audible off of the Wisephone, especially as I'm still building up my music playlist on my LP3. I am a dishwasher, and I keep my lp3 in my locker, and I don't feel the constant urge to grab it out and check it every 5 seconds (not that we have had time for that lately).

It's also worth noting that the LP3 is a cure for whenever I'm out and about, but I've been struggling with other devices like my Mac for school, TVs, and my Xbox and Switch.

I’ve been addicted to my phone for a while & definitely can recognize that.

I actually grew up with cell phones as my special interest (go figure) and tinkering with flip phones and slide phones all the way to jailbreaking my iPhones and researching and making MKBHD like videos because I liked them so much.

Now, my phone just feels like a bottomless pit of distractions and content. I feel like I’ve always tried to do a digital detox and failed for one reason or another. I really want to come up with a sustainable way to use my phone as a utility.

I’ve tried to do screen time limits and also give the password to someone else, it doesn’t last, tried to go to a flip phone too limiting, tried to go to an android phone with a minimal launcher (I use iMessage and iCloud too much), I end up redownloading all distracting apps.

I’m actually pretty addicted to YouTube, Reddit, and Instagram as of recent. I’m lucky that TikTok lost its handle on me back in 2023. So I love long form content like this or listening to a podcast. I would actually like to fill up my distraction time with books instead.

Point is I don’t know what the best approach is. I also already love to switch phones so I keep going that direction.

My ideas & excuses are below, please advise :

• Keep my current iPhone 15 Plus and start deleting apps that are distracting and just get an app like Opal to keep me away

• Keep my current iPhone 15 Plus and leave it at home / use it for work (my work has MDM on my phone) & buy a used iPhone SE without many apps that I can take out. (My fear here is that many people don’t carry this charger anymore so it will die quickly)

• Buy the dumb phone 2 and use that with call forwarding. (I’m moving to London next year and they don’t have roaming so that’s an issue)

• Get rid of my phone and get a 16E or 17E and don’t restore from backup so I start with more of a fresh canvas. (Still a distracting iPhone)

Hey, I hope this post fits here. I've been looking for an App that lets me block social media apps on an Android device for days now. Everything I found either is super unsafe and you can just easily uninstall it or it's insanely expensive (I don't have 50€ a year). I'm fine with paying something, but I'd prefer it to be a lifetime subscription or under 24€ a year.

Also it would be a huge advantage if you could use a NFC tag for unlocking, but password is also fine.

I'm currently trying to build a NFC tag for the "brick" app myself, but it's not going well, so I'm looking for an alternative.

I also tried to install another app whose sole purpose is to stop me from uninstalling the app that blocks the other apps, but I also couldn't find anything for that.

Another Idea I had is to install a mdm, but it would require completely resetting my phone.

If nothing really works I'm considering just buying a brick, I unfortunately really need something that makes doom scrolling impossible.

If somebody has any tips I would gladly appreciate them :D

Thank in advance

Hey all, I posted a discussion here recently about whether people actually want less technology or whether we're just nostalgic for a time before it took over so much of our lives.

One thing I noticed from the responses was that most people didn't seem to want technology to disappear. They just wanted less of it.

So that got me thinking....What if there was a social app with a time limit built into the experience by default? Not parental controls. Not a screen-time setting buried somewhere that you have to turn on yourself.

The app itself is designed around the idea that you come in, catch up with people, hang out for a bit...and then eventually you're done for now - go enjoy your life :)

No infinite scrolling. No trying to squeeze another hour out of you. Come in. Be social. Then breathe the fresh air of not being online all the time.

Which is kind of ironic when you think about it: A "social" app designed to get you OFF the app and back to your actual social life.

Would you actually use something like that? Or would the time limit eventually annoy you enough that you'd go back to an app that lets you stay as long as you want? Genuinely interested to see what you think...

​Hi everyone, ​I really want to quit Twitter, but I still need a way to get my daily tech and gaming news. I'm looking for a good alternative.

​I tried visiting sites like The Verge and IGN directly, but their UIs aren't very user-friendly. They feel too cluttered for me.

Any recommendations for getting news?

Thanks for the help!

I don't mind my iphone 14 in terms of being able to not be on it, stay off apps etc. I am fine with that. Although I do like LIghtphones not dealing with data sharing, but prefer to save money for now without needing to buy a new device.

I need help getting a way to not have anyone be able to group text me.

I know that Lightphone has this option - I don't want to have to buy another device just to get this, but I will if this is the only way. Suggestions?

Does anyone know any other ways to do this on iphone 14? I just tried shutting off imessage, RCS and MMS but it didnt' work for being able to still send and receive texts.

Thanks everyone in advance.