The book "quit like a woman" had a similar quote about how alcohol is having a cigarette moment, which I think is sort of happening but I don't think has sunk in for phones just yet...at least for me. I had a nice phone free day yesterday which felt good!
I think it's so wild that you've gone to all those measures to make your phone unappealing yet you still gravitate to it. I wonder what that says about our brains? Why are we like that? I did a social media break a few years ago and ended up texting my family a lot, checking the weather a lot, and going on youtube on my laptop...
Social media is how I promote my projects/businesses, so I feel I can never get away. But it's not like I minimize/mitigate. I recently discovered TikTok and find it 1000x more addictive than IG. I never scrolled or looked at discover on IG for wahterver reason, but tiktok hooked me. I am getting my NEWS on there! I do *like* that content creators are so diverse. That diversity feels enriching to me.
I wonder about the 10 years thing. That can sound dramatic. But it's like... and not to defend social media because I agree with you, but often it's in in between moments that can't be effectively used for much esle, or it's a passive brain break. But yes, 10 years is intense.
2 hours/day is really good. that's about as low as I ever got on my social media break.
Something I have not yet tried is 24 hours without any devices. Why does that seem so impossible?
Youtube was another app I used to replace social media. I never used to care about it until I took the others away. Yeah IG feels gross and so full of ads now, tiktok seems like it is much more appealing! I think those in between moments shouldn't be used for much else! that's the dead time I miss. I can't sit with myself during the small monotonous moments. why do those have to be effectively used? also phone time feels like a brain break but it's not actually which is the scary part. I didn't use my phone from 10:30am-7pm yesterday which felt good! I was bored during the small moments and twitchy a lot! when I did my 10 day meditation retreat, the phone was like sensory overload, I couldn't look at it for a few hours once I got it back! I think regular 24 hour breaks would be beneficial.
You're right, those in-between moments become uncomfortable when we are used to filling them with highly stimulating screens. This is a difference from when we would entertain ourselves before we ever had phones. Congrats on your long break yesterday! That's so insightful about the sensory overload after the retreat. It goes to show how conditioned we become to these things. What to do!?
It’s our generation’s greatest addiction :/ and such a hard one to break! I just saw this quote:
“I hope we look at social media one day as we look at cigarettes now: "You still scroll? Really??
Like... don't you know how bad it is for you?"”
We know! But it doesn’t change the behavior automatically.
You’re on the right track with everything you’re trying — and two hours a day is great! For perspective, that’s 22 hours without your phone 🙃
The book "quit like a woman" had a similar quote about how alcohol is having a cigarette moment, which I think is sort of happening but I don't think has sunk in for phones just yet...at least for me. I had a nice phone free day yesterday which felt good!
So much here.
I think it's so wild that you've gone to all those measures to make your phone unappealing yet you still gravitate to it. I wonder what that says about our brains? Why are we like that? I did a social media break a few years ago and ended up texting my family a lot, checking the weather a lot, and going on youtube on my laptop...
Social media is how I promote my projects/businesses, so I feel I can never get away. But it's not like I minimize/mitigate. I recently discovered TikTok and find it 1000x more addictive than IG. I never scrolled or looked at discover on IG for wahterver reason, but tiktok hooked me. I am getting my NEWS on there! I do *like* that content creators are so diverse. That diversity feels enriching to me.
I wonder about the 10 years thing. That can sound dramatic. But it's like... and not to defend social media because I agree with you, but often it's in in between moments that can't be effectively used for much esle, or it's a passive brain break. But yes, 10 years is intense.
2 hours/day is really good. that's about as low as I ever got on my social media break.
Something I have not yet tried is 24 hours without any devices. Why does that seem so impossible?
Youtube was another app I used to replace social media. I never used to care about it until I took the others away. Yeah IG feels gross and so full of ads now, tiktok seems like it is much more appealing! I think those in between moments shouldn't be used for much else! that's the dead time I miss. I can't sit with myself during the small monotonous moments. why do those have to be effectively used? also phone time feels like a brain break but it's not actually which is the scary part. I didn't use my phone from 10:30am-7pm yesterday which felt good! I was bored during the small moments and twitchy a lot! when I did my 10 day meditation retreat, the phone was like sensory overload, I couldn't look at it for a few hours once I got it back! I think regular 24 hour breaks would be beneficial.
You're right, those in-between moments become uncomfortable when we are used to filling them with highly stimulating screens. This is a difference from when we would entertain ourselves before we ever had phones. Congrats on your long break yesterday! That's so insightful about the sensory overload after the retreat. It goes to show how conditioned we become to these things. What to do!?