How to cope with discomfort when breaking bad habits?

[Waterdrinker]

I would like you to tell me about any success stories of overcoming bad habits or addictions.

I spend a lot of time on my phone, mainly instagram. Scrolling and scrolling. I am unemployed now. So, that could be the reason. I uninstalled instagram, then installed it back again.

I also installed apps to block instagram and facebook on certain days - I uninstalled those apps as well.

I am actively looking for jobs and applying for everything where I meet 80-90% of the essential criteria.

I do volunteer for a charity twice a week.

Some days, I feel so overwhelmed by the amount of time I spend on my phone.

I would like to know how to develop self-control and discipline? How do I say no to myself?

I heard 2 people say apps like Instagram and Facebook are bad for you because they show videos/reels/posts that doesn't have consistent themes- one minute you are watching a funny video, the next you are watching a video that makes you sad/angry. So, this is not good for your brain.

It doesn't have to be phone addiction tips that you share. Maybe you have experience of giving up an unhealthy diet or experience giving up alcohol or maybe you know someone who recovered from these areas- please share some motivation or tips?

I want to be okay with being bored - but, I don't know how to do this.

Please help and thank you in advance.

X

I find leaving the phone in a different room helps. I'm too lazy to fetch it.

Think of it as a muscle - dont expect to ibe ron man in one go, you'll need to build up to it. Try for an hour at a time.

What are you avoiding? If it's just "being bored" then find something else to do. But is there anything else?

Life admin? Just do five minutes work on it every day. When you get started hopefully you will enjoy the relief of stopping avoiding it and carry on longer.

Health worries? Just focus on taking the first step and get an appointment in your diary.

Housework? Five minutes of housework every hour and then you can have your phone back (or keep going if you enjoy it).

Sometimes you have to be a bit of a detective and ask yourself: why don't I want to stop scrolling and get up off the sofa? I sometimes find its because I don't want to get cold moving about. So it turns out the problem isn't my phone but the lack of a jumper!

Short answer: make yourself stop for five minutes every hour and do something else. Increase to ten minutes next week, etc.

Distraction. Do something else that occupies your hands like knitting, crochet, painting. Set a time limit and stick to it. Go out for a walk and put the phone in a bag or pocket if you want it with you for personal safety.

And always have a positive alternative. "Phone" versus "no phone" is too hard, because, as you say, you don't want to be bored . So frame the choice as "Phone" versus "A healthy 10 minute walk, enjoying looking at other people's gardens/cars/front rooms/trees/whatever".

This. Choose to do something rather than just trying not to do something else.

And I agree with a pp — my therapist always says, about displacement activities,’What would you be doing if you weren’t comfort eating/doom scrolling/whatever?’ What is it that is causing the discomfort you’re trying to avoid?

I listen to a lot of stuff on BBC sounds.
Crime. T
Real life stories .
Masses on their.
It is still using the phone but it distracts me when doing stuff I don't want to do - cleaning, walking etc.