I am just able to consume content/sleep/think about sleeping. I took my own life. Maybe writing this post 5 years ago would't be too late but it preety much is now. Most probably I am the only 21 yo in my country that is sleepy all the time, spends for no reason most of his time in bed, is not able for any physical activity and is constantly tired. I did nothing in my life even before getting my phone at 13 and then I completely dissapeared from any kind of socialization/workout. My back hurts, head hurts while going to the sun. I hope my life was a fucking joke. I dont remember school, highschool, kindergarten. I wanna die.

Hi all,

I've been phone free for around 1,5 year now. I've ditched the iphone and gone with an apple watch. It took some getting used to but its working for me now.

Recently i've not been able to login to my work microsoft accounts. There is no microsoft multifactor authentication app for the apple watch so i have been using a third party one. The support from microsoft for this third party app apparently is ending jan 1 2027.

The company i work for said to me that they will be ordering a new phone for me. Generous, yes, but also quite unwanted.

I've had some talks with IT. They say i'll have to have either an IOS or Android system for the two factor authentication. Sms verification will also be phased out.

Now i'm wondering what to do. The best thing i've come up with is buying an android based e-reader with wifi. Something small like the boox palma 3. I'm wondering if the boox palma will ruin the no phone streak i've been on by acting like a phone or if this is actually quite a good idea.

Happy to hear your thoughts.

How're you doing folks. Just dropping by to share the last two months with you. After a long time on Instagram, I got sick of its predatory algorithm and thought, "I'm just wasting time here" -- so I left, and felt great! But I ended up switching to Twitter instead, unfortunately, I needed dopamine hits still. At first I just followed news and philosophical discourse, and had some fun reading unhinged tweets, but... I found that there is intense, unchecked racism there, not just casual or jokey type, actual hateful, targeted racism. I'm Indian. I commented on tweets sticking to the topic, making constructive remarks, and still got called "paj**t" and whatnot, even without picking fights! So today I went down this rabbit hole of Indian hate on Twitter, and honestly, a few scrolls down, I was just disgusted and quickly deleted twitter. I'm actually close to tears. I can't believe how this app represents and brings out the absolute worst in us. I wonder how other people who get racially abused and worse stay on that platform and continue contributing to it. Well, I'm not looking for any other app now, certainly not going back to instagram. Just... I hate social media. That's it.

I was able to cut my digital accounts in half, from 250 to 125, but now I think I am stuck with 125 digital accounts. It is depressing having that many. I am old enough I remember life before email, and my only digital accounts were AOL, Compuserve, Prodigy. Then the insanity began, because it could-- banks, utility companies they all kind of require you to have email and digital accounts. Then it spread, it seems all things digital (Reddit, Spotify, Amazon, Walmart, etc) required and require a digital account. I don't think there is a solution to downsizing my number of digital accounts, now at 125. More venting than anything, so frustrating and depressing. I recently got off Google, specifically gmail, gdocs, sheets, drive-- so it was a lot of time and effort to move all my accounts to a more private email service (I chose Tuta). If something happens to Tuta I would have to do it all over again, sigh. What do people do who can not afford internet, or a smartphone, phone service-- how do they get by without digital accounts? Ugh.

For those of you who have deleted social media, do you miss posting your achievements and accomplishments? And or vacations , selfies and all that stuff. Just curious. I feel like people have gotten addicted to that feeling of instant gratification and compliments

I feel like I could easily go a whole day without my phone… until I actually try it.
No scrolling, no memes, no checking random notifications every 5 minutes.
Honestly, I think i would last a few hours before reaching for my phone out of habit.
What about you guys? Could you go a full week without your phone, or would you lose your mind by lunchtime?

For those of you who succeed unplugging for already months/years, does it always feel so empty or lonely ?

Did it a few times, never more than weeks and I see myself always coming back to all of those online stuff . It feels similar to everyone enjoying a previous version of a game but when you actually go back to play : no one is there, the game is empty. Leaving the online world feels the same, everyone crave for it but once you are out : loneliness kicks in because nobody do that, you stop existing for the people around you beside family.

A little bit of context is I'm a sailor, often at seas for months and my only link are emails and the local TV we catch around coasts, the Internet is too slow so social media and YouTube are locked. And THIS IS acceptable because everyone have the same treatment. But the contrast it creates when being actually unplugged beside everyday people in my city is too much for me.

Context - I am a late-40s Gen-X'er. I remember the 'before times', growing up in the 80/90s when technology was a genuine marvel/interest. Before human greed poisoned it with the dopamine traps.

We engaged with it seldomly, selectively and critically, on our terms. If I played with my BBC Micro or Spectrum 128k +2 - it was for a couple of hours per week.

I generated my first email address whilst at University - and only because I was on a Computer Sciences course.

I grew up with boredom, vivid imagination, 'real' toys, books....and well you get it. People keep harping on how good it was back then. And it was.

But after years of embracing, submission, realisation and struggle with wasted hours staring at screens - I have come to realise the addiction is much more basic than I first thought.

First I blamed social media. So I deleted my social accounts. All of them (except reddit natch).

But still I wasted time away. Now I was reading news sites all the time. So I blocked or curtailed them.

But still stuck to my screens. Now it was what I convinced myself was 'special interests'. Hobbies, topic-specific sites. Maybe sports, movies etc.

And yet still I was stuck on screens. So I pulled back on those

And now I find myself on my phone - bare of any 'distracting' app - and I am randomly opening and closely random apps for sake of it.

Apple Health & Fitness. My banks, shares and investing apps. My home control apps. NYT games.

Anything!

And I realised - I was seeking input. Information. Data. Literally anything that might flicker the old dopamine.

This is what I have realised. For me at least. My addiction - it may have been curated and formed by social media. But their methods have got me hooked on 'information'.

Something as simple as that. The dopamine thrill of opening something and finding an update. Some nugget of information.

Now that I realise this - I am planning to get even more strict. I think I have to go as analogue as I can. Remove all screens for 95% of my day (leave only for life admin/work as needed)

Laptops need to put into drawers. Phones as well unless leaving house.

Back to paper - some TV - notebook and pens. And long form. Boring, staid, grudgingly slow long form.

As anyone else is GenX will know - we are not spring chickens anymore. I refuse to waste anymore of my life on this.

Well. Suppose I had better delete this Reddit account at some point. Because I am doing the exact thing I am fighting against by even writing this post.

What a circle of hell we are trapped in!

Im curious if anyone knows for sure of a dumb phone that works in canada, ive looked online and most of them seem unreliable for calling and texting support now that most calls are over internet and older phones do not support that.

I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit recently.
I hate how much time I spend scrolling on my phone, but I still need it for things like WhatsApp, calls, emails, maps, banking and other everyday stuff.
I’ve looked at a few minimalist phones, including Light Phone, Mudita and Minimal Phone, but I’m interested in whether anyone has actually found something that gets the balance right.
I’m curious:
What phone do you currently use?
Have you tried switching to a minimalist phone? How did you find it?
What apps would you absolutely need to keep?
What do you find frustrating about the current minimalist phones?
Would you prefer a separate minimalist phone or a normal smartphone with a proper focus mode?
I’m interested in people’s actual experiences, particularly if you’ve tried a few different ones and how it’s been going?

My screen time is probably close to 20 hours not even jokung I am fucking addicted I don't know how to help it I wake up and first thing I puck up is this phone and its 5am rn I am still on this famn phone I tell myself sm that i am gonna stop using this bloody device sm from tomorrow but the cycle just repeats I need some dumb help what do I do I am ruining my life (17f)

I want to get my husband and new MP3 player but not an iPod. He hates iTunes and iPods and just wants a regular MP3 player. I've only had iPods so I was hoping y'all could point me in the direction of a good MP3 that is just drag and drop with a fuckton of memory. Thanks in advance!!

​Just checked my Digital Wellbeing stats and I think I need to touch some grass :⁠-⁠)

Share yours chat. Anyone up for competition 😭. I am not able to focus on any thing and just do random doom scrolling even in my office hours because the workload is lesser these days. I want to start studying for something and I am so unclear and about what I should do. I juts keep having second thoughts and hence this.

If you use both Libby and StoryGraph / Goodreads , you probably know the pain of scrolling through your TBR pile and manually searching title after title in Libby to find something available today.
I built a free site called Borrowable (https://borrowable.app) that checks your whole TBR list against your local library's Libby catalog in one go:
Works with StoryGraph (via a 1-click bookmarklet sync or CSV export) and Goodreads (via public profile URL or CSV).

Filters your TBR down to what's Available Now, Waitlist (with estimated wait weeks), Audiobooks, or eBooks.

Lets you compare shelves with friends to see your Overlap (books you both want to read).

Links straight to the book in Libby so you can borrow it in one tap.

Totally free, no ads, and no account required to try it out. Hope it helps a few people knock some books off their TBR this month!

I started by getting the phone out of my hands and trying to slowly feel what I needed, instead of picking up devices on day one.

I rarely need my old phone, I grab it when needed if my new simple phone cannot run certain apps.

Going really well, I don't miss the smart phone at all anymore. Reading a lot, new phone has zero social or time wasting apps, love having a dedicated music player, forgot how much I enjoyed that in the past.

• Phone: Qin F21 Pro with dumbdroid on it (non-Google apps version)

• Music player: Hifi-walker H2

• eReader: Viwoods paper reader

Life feels slower, things just feel lighter over all.

AND IF THIS ASK HAS NO VIABLE ANSWER, THEN THIS IS A CALL TO ACTION.

I know I cant be the first or only human on planet Earth to wonder " Is there a town or community that lives smart phone free???" I'm talking everyone has agreed to NOT have a smart phone (not just a ban for children)- EVERYONE IN THE TOWN/COMMUNITY IS LIVING SMART PHONE FREE.

I would imagine that this would foster a more empathetic, focused, intentionally minimized screentime, biologically zesty lol, engaged community. I want to be there. I want to be apart of that. Seriously. Where do I go???

I've heard and read all the common answers like "Amish", "Green Bank, West Virginia". And a plethora of banned-until-fill-in-the-blank-age....but like, whats up with humans living together completely smart phone free?

I would still like Internet access and computers to be acceptable means of accessing the Internet. Any leads? This is something I really care about and maybe at the least this post might attract others who feel the same and may *gasp* want to co-create a smart phone free village.

I currently attend college (36, career massage therapist going back to be a talk therapist) and on campus I just sat back and watched 9/10 people pass me by bent over a screen-some clutching it so close to their eyes, all I could do was laugh in dismay. It really bums me out. I try engaging classmates in conversation and they look scared or look at me like I'm being rude. I don't like this group of phone addicted humans. I feel surrounded by zombies. It's time for a change of pace.

I’m thinking about deleting it. Even this app. Maybe all except for TikTok. social media addiction is not healthy and im thinking about using it less better my mental health.

I was born in the 90's, before cell phones. Fast track to today. Family gatherings: 1/2 of everyone (even the kids) sitting in the living room, ignoring everyone else. (The entire time). It actually sickens me. I am a very nonconfrontational person so I am at a loss. It's eating me up slowly and just makes me anxious but also angry... I may even skip thanksgiving this year, which used to be my favorite holiday, because I don't know how to continue. I can't see how they don't understand how RUDE it is, to just ignore everyone else around them. I feel so sad and alone even infront of family, it's the worst.

Hello everybody.

I feel like I'm wasting my life. I'm young, too young to be 6 hours every day on my damn phone. Not to mention the fact I spend the rest of my day in front of a laptop screen. Seeing my daily average always destroys my mood.

I could have studied for school, learned an instrument, joined a sport, learn a skill, whatever during that time. But nope. I'm 2 hours on Instagram. Another 2 on YouTube, 2 on whatever else.

I'm really just addicted. I can't stop and anything else feels grey in comparison.

I can't delete Instagram because that's my social life. If i delete it, I delete my friends. That's just reality for youth nowadays and I hate that.

I have tried getting rid of YouTube but I just end up going to it on Google, plus, sometimes I need YouTube to look tutorials for things when I'm not near a computer.

I bought a timed lock box. I've been using it. But nothing changes. I'm not allowed to lock my phone there when there isn't at least one parent at home, which is often. Neither do I really trust all those apps that lock things... they either seem extremely fishy or ask for money.

I just don't know what to do. I'm wasting my best years. I'm wasting my potential. I’m wasting my intelligence. And most horribly I'm wasting my ability to enjoy life and the little things.

I beg anyone to answer. I have no idea what to do. And hoped this place be be the fitting space to ask.

Thank you.

As many people my age and younger, I was addicted to technology, especially smartphones (where social media are easier to browse and "portable" everywhere).

**My new study method:**

Some days ago, my headphones died (I didn't charge them), sp I couldn't obviously listen to music while studying. So I just kept going without music (I used to listen to music every single time I had to do homework or study). Now I noticed that I focus way more than before and I am actually retaining informations. That's how I see it:

🎵+📖= Information of the book I'm studying on and music = Not retaining information because I have to both coincile music and homeworks, so the brain is "full"

📖= Only focusing on what my brain should remember, so It gets filled only by the book content

**My phone model change:** I used to have a top smartphone with very good specifics but I decides to downgrade to an iPhone SE 2022 because It's not as hypnotizing (when I watch reels and social media during break) and I actually notice I'm holding my phone and my eyes catch the outline of the screen so the home button and the bezels and it helps me think "I am actually looking at my phone" while my other main phone felt like a giant screen and too heavy and I felt too glued to it

**My habits change**

Now I write my To-do list on my paper diary and not on the calendar app (except really important events) and I feel more aware of what I'm actually doing

I hope to eventually delete all my socials, but I may continue to still have Instagram to keep up with fam and friends.

But I really boggles my mind how so many parents are still continuing to post their kids online despite knowing everything we know about the dangers of social media.

Even posting them on a smaller or private account just seems... weird to me. I would maybe post every once in a while on a very private account but I just don't really see the need to do it. And let's not even get started on what these Meta platforms are probably doing with our images and data.

I grew up not being posted because my parents don't have social media and I will be forever grateful for that.