To wonder what the best way of reducing scrolling and time on social media is

[Fl100p555]

The default way seems to be to go cold turkey and just delete apps however there are good parts of SM I wish to keep and I think deleting isn’t necessarily realistic. Or is it?

I want to reduce my hours on it and scrolling hugely though.

Would setting a time and limits work? Has anybody got any suggestions or found anything that works? What is the ideal amount of time to allow in a day? I was thinking of maybe an hour.

There's a book about this. How to break up with your phone. Highly recommend.

@Gruffling I never had or needed a phone in the bedroom before mobiles became a thing. I certainly don't need one in there now.
I didn't feel the need to have one in my bedroom when the kids were little either.
I don't have a landline no, but like a landline I'm capable of hearing it ringing from wherever I am in the house.

@Browncupboards How do you think we managed pre mobile?
I've never found a need to have my phone with me if I'm in the supermarket or a restaurant etc.

The problem with people is that they think they simply can't manage without a mobile in their hands, whereas they can, just like we did.

I can’t leave it at home. I do all my emails on it and currently have a lot of appointments to attend. I do teams meetings on it too and calls and have 3 teens so often have to pick up messages from them re pick ups or other things. Ditto DH. I work full time and often go from work to shops on the way home.

I always think that's the most ridiculous argument ever, how did we do without supermarkets or cars to get to supermarkets before they were invented? You wouldn't be without them now though would you?

Don't you leave work at work when you finish for the day?
I do.
Once my finish time arrives, I log off and I don't log on until my start time.

I haven’t got Apple Pay but have been under pressure from the family to do that. In London recently everybody went through the tube with their phone. Having a paper ticket was nightmare as everybody else was so quicker. Train tickets go on my phone normally. It’s such a nightmare as it’s so hard for ND people like me to reduce having my phone on me.

A supermarket and a car doesn't interfere with my life or stop me getting things done because I'm sat in them.

It is also not true, as those without smartphones are increasingly locked out of services. Parking for example, and accessing bus passes - these are a right faff in my area without a smartphone.

I go to the supermarket after work. Loyalty card is on there.

Yep parking is often an app too.

@Fl100p555 Then you're using your phone for a specific purpose, rather than just mindless scrolling.
Which was the original question.

Yes but it’s easy to scroll if it’s on and there. I wish I could leave it at home.

I endorse the audio books and podcasts idea. Ghost stories with rain effects too.Try to leave phone if you are going out.

I am completely addicted to my phone to the point it negatively affects every aspect of my life. Like you, I don’t want to cut it out completely but I want to massively reduce the mindless scrolling on things like Instagram, Tiktok, Mumsnet etc. Amy average screen time last week was over 60 hours! 41 hours of that was spent on social media. Daily it was working out around 8 and a half hours a day 😩. I pick my phone up 181 times a day! I’m genuinely wasting my life watching other people live theirs!

I’ve tried to “quit” before by having a screentime limit on my iPhone but I just end up overriding it. I also found that if I couldn’t access my usual apps/websites I would just scroll on whatever I could access - I was even reading the Daily Mail at one point as it was the only thing I could get on 🤮. It’s utterly pathetic but it’s a very real addiction for me. I am also on a waiting list for a possible ADHD diagnosis. I’m going to try and find an app that won’t let me override and will block basically everything bar the minimum after a certain amount of time.

@MessyNDepressy if it negatively affecting your life this much it may be worth looking into https://internetaddictsanonymous.org/
xx

It can be absolutely devastating with ADHD. Basically all the modern addictive apps exploit the reward circuits in the brain, in the same way that addiction does. ADHD disrupts the process of you creating your own reward chemicals, so we're constantly seeking them out from elsewhere. It's exploitative really, even though they don't target us on purpose.

I do think tiktok is the absolute worst so if you can get rid of that one, that may help. While waiting for diagnosis, it might help to try and redirect the hyperfocus onto ADHD related content rather than just any old thing. There is a lot of good stuff on Reddit. Russell Barkley YouTube channel. How to ADHD on YouTube. Do a search on MN for ADHD. Taking a leap from your username, "messy" is an ADHD struggle of mine too. The best thing I've found for this has been A Slob Comes Clean. She just gets it. I find learning more about how my brain works helps me figure out changes.

The only thing that has worked for me is to switch my phone off. I have a rule currently that it has to be switched off for 2 hours every evening (the exact time doesn’t matter). Without this enforced phone-free time I am on it constantly. I really enjoy those 2 hours.

Re: making the phone black and white (on iPhone)

Go in to settings,
accessibility,
Display and Text size
Colour Filters ON

Honestly it is the cure. Your phone is suddenly so boring, you will just stop after a few days.

I do it myself and it really works. Good luck.

@3luckystars thank you so much.
Will be doing that tomorrow

I need to do this, I’m far too addicted. Empty nester, part-time job, chronic illness (so am in support sites on FB). I could otib delete insta as that’s really rubbish but dd posts creative stuff I like to see - otherwise it’s mindless scrolling.
I’m not on Twitter or tiktok.
Will look at some of the ideas here, but I think walking away from
phone/leaving it in other room is good.
ivr hit 2-hour limit on FB but I override it!!

Thanks for all the sensible advice on here, so much of this really speaks to me. It's definitely not simple, I have tried all the blockers and just makes me invest even more time trying to get round them.

Some of these have been previously mentioned and all of these take time

*Turn off all notifications from apps. This will take time to stop checking but if you're not getting notified about a new post or new content/emails then you're not tempted to look.
*Even delete/hide or deactivate apps if you can't stop yourself
*I turn my phone onto silent every night around 9-9.30pm as I prep for the evening, watch an episode on catch up, read, have a shower and don't fully engage with my phone again until 9-9.30am (sit down coffee time) I may glance at messages that I have received but if they are not important they can wait till morning
*Be kind to yourself @Fl100p555 doom scrolling can be therapeutic if you have a lot going on and the fact that you're all ready mindful of the time you are spending scrolling is a great start

For me its either time limited and or subject related eg educational etc

Set timers for maximum time you want to spend on an app.

I did this and was shocked when it popped up to say you have been on here 1 hour. I actually hadn't realised I had. It made me close the app.

What I would love is a chime every 10 or 15 minutes which I can use to trigger a question such as 'do you really want to be doing this?'. I'm fine with spending time on sm but don't notice the hours flying past.

Is there such a thing? Short of setting an alarm every 15 minutes.