Any tips for stopping mindless scrolling?

[Tiedietop]

I've deleted most of the social media apps off my phone which has helped but even when I had everything off my phone I still find myself scrolling mindlessly through the news or my photos or something and once I've started it so hard to stop! Even if I want to do something else!
I can't just leave my phone off or away from unfortunately as I need to be contactable at the moment.
Has anyone else had the same bad habit and what did you find helpful to snap out of it once you found yourself scrolling?

I would love to cut down my doom scrolling too. My hands actually feel like they are twitching if they don't have a phone in them now. How sad is that. I am trying to keep my hands busy with something else like cross stitch or crochet or sudoku so I can't be on my phone.

No idea - I’m doing it right now. Sometimes I try to leave my phone downstairs and read a book or do a puzzle upstairs but then I think ‘oh no, might miss an important message!’. Totally ridiculous. Sometimes I yearn for the days of one landline on the hall table that you weren’t allowed to use until 6pm or whenever it was.

Me too. I pulled into the driveway - had been out for the morning doing chores. Car lovely and warm so i sat and looked at emails, social media, ebay, Mumsnet. 1 hour later - I was like what! It is a bad habit! And here I am again - not good!

Gosh I know what you mean, I nearly missed this as I was gaily scrolling along!

Nope, can't help you sorry . Over 2 hours this morning 😩

Find something else to do instead like read a book or something.

I'm on my phone a lot but put it away and try not to look at it if I'm doing something.
Especially watching something. I used to always reach for my phone when things went a bit quiet or dull but now I try to focus on the film/show.
If I'm cleaning then I'm listening to music or podcast.
If we're eating or watching something together then all our phones are put away.
Then read a book before bed.
I think that gives a better balance.

Have heard good things about the book 'Smart Phone, Dumb Phone's by Allen Carr. It's supposed to help break the addiction to phones. Haven't read it yet but I do intend to!

I have started leaving my phone at home if out and about. Leave my phone in car when at work and not taking upstairs when I go to bed ! Have my iPad so can be contacted by messenger if a problem with my children,all adults now but still worry about them !

I don't do FB, Instagram or X. But I am addicted to Mumsnet and news items. I'm also aware that I cannot watch TV any more without having my phone in my hand to constantly look up things.
I now have a trapped nerve which is agony due to scrolling, and am seeing a private physio.
My concentration level is zero and I can't read anything my lengthy any more without reading the same line over and over again. I'm aware it's probably down to continual reading in short bursts on my phone.
I never thought I'd end up like this and I hate it. I want to go back to a life before the internet, where I loved reading and looking up info in an encyclopaedia or a book.

I'm the same I've been trying to have actively less screen time & I def find the only way to do it is to distract myself with something else, a puzzle, a book, exercise ,cleaning out the kitchen cupboards anything that's not in front of a screen

Switch your phone off and leave it in another room.

I’m like this at the moment and I don’t know how to stop. I’m thinking about buying actual newspapers so I can read the news there instead of on my phone because at least you can finish a newspaper and that’s it.

Like a pp my concentration is totally shot, I used to be able to read entire books! Now I keep stopping after about a page to look at something else.

Stroke the inside of one of my little fingers with the thumb of the same hand. It’s just enough physical stimulation to break the mind loop.

I always scroll/read nonsense when I’m trying to sleep. I know on paper screens are the worst thing for sleep but I find I can’t sleep without it now or my thoughts just start racing. I will go through phases where I try and build better habits but as soon as I have a bad day I give up in a sulk and then it takes me a bit to get motivated again.

It’s literally cold Turkey (I’ve done it but back hooked at the mo!). I used to just make sure I had a newspaper/ magazine in the house and I’d go outside and just close my eyes for a while (kind of like meditation I suppose?). Nighttime read a book. It’s so hard but for weeks I only used my phone for good old fashioned phone stuff and definitely my head felt clearer eyes felt better and I got better sleep

I have made a start buy purchasing an alarm clock. No phones/ devices in bedroom

Think about what you'd do with a teenager, who claims "they have to be contactable".

There's plenty of solutions.

It's incredibly unlikely you need to respond IMMEDIATELY. Can you respond within moments? So you could have the phone in the kitchen on loud and move to it when you hear it. Or you could have a smart watch that pings the message, so you can respond

Basically. PUT THE PHONE DOWN.

Read a book, go for a walk, bake... anything.

I've got an iDiskk phone lock box with timer from Amazon. It's a clear box so you can see the phone but you set a timer and it locks the phone in the box until the alarm goes off.

I bought it a couple of years ago for one of my kids but use it myself if I want to give myself a break and not be tempted to pick it up.

If you have an iPhone you can set screen limits for apps and once you've hit the limit, it tells you. There is the option to 'ignore' unfortunately so it's not fool proof but it makes you more consciously aware of amount of time spent scrolling.

Listen to a podcast. Something a bit mindless like Friends with Friends so you don't have to concentrate on it, I found that helped me, you could focus on the voices instead of whatever is making your mind race. And then just set the timer for it to stop after x episodes/minutes.

Train yourself again. Get some really easy to read books from the library... just crappy literature, short chapters, or a diary style book. And read a bit.

So read 1 diary entry in day 1...... And maybe 2 the next day etc.

thank you for the suggestion but I need silence to sleep. I could fall asleep with all the lights on but a ticking clock would drive me mad.

I’ve set myself a target to read 10,000 pages in a year. I log it using story graph app. If I I am behind in my target I force myself to read 30 pages at night even if I’m not really feeling it. I go up and down in how much I read but I’ve read 13 books so far this year compared with probably 1 last year! I think you just need to push yourself at the start.

I have a watch that alerts me when my phone rings so I can put my phone away. Still addicted though!