The world is bad at times, but if you can’t stop staring closely at the deep by all consumption, the 6-inch screen of your smartphone, you’ll feel even worse if you can’t chase you through space and time. It untook you with a compact light build that is compact enough to slip into your pocket and take it anywhere, but for some reason, its siren call is so strong that we can’t sleep on the nightstand without a phone.
If we get through the fears around us, if you don’t pick up your phone dozens of times a day, it may happen to you that you feel more calm, attentive and balanced. You can play around with our brains and get a glimpse into our day in the most extreme engagement baits of Tiktok.
Like other bad habits, Doomscrolling is hard to kick. But it’s not hopeless – or at least hopefully it isn’t. So how do you stop DoomScrolling? It’s not that easy, but at least there are some ideas on how to set yourself up for success.
Understand that this is not your fault
First of all, you don’t matter. The problem is that our lives are very deeply intertwined with high-tech companies that are trying to capture as much time as possible. If you use your Apple Watch to track your workouts, you will see a text message appear while you try to hold your breath after running up a steep hill. If you go to Spotify to listen to a particular album, open the app and immediately check out podcasts and audiobook recommendations that you’re not interested in right away. Alternatively, if your friend downloads Snapchat only to group chats to send photos of your pets, each pet photo comes with ads, external push notifications, or an AR marketing filter. It’s no wonder our mobile phones make us crazy.
I don’t think Mark Zuckerberg is sitting in his hideout – perhaps in his “metaverse” – dreaming of ways to make my life worse personally. But that is the inherent nature of consumer tech companies. Our attention continues to float them, and the more we pay attention to them, the happiest their investors and the stock price rises. Even knowing how these companies operate, it is still difficult to break our bad habits. I still open my Instagram account and see what my friend sent me, but after 10 minutes I regained consciousness after looking at dozens of reels.
Set screen time limits and take them seriously
In the first few years since Apple introduced the screen time feature on the iPhone, I deliberately chose not to turn it on – I was afraid I might learn about myself. But the fear itself told me that it had a problem with me. Knowledge is power, and knowing which apps suck most of the time can help keep you from spending just how much time you spend on them.
Here’s how to set screen time limits for a specific app on iOS:
Open the Settings app. Scroll down to the screen time indicated by the hourglass icon. Here we look at the average screen time each day, set the guardrail and hopefully lower that average. Limited usage has several different ways to reduce screen time: downtime and app limits. Downtime sets the schedule that allows specific apps to be used. Maybe you might set downtime for your normal bedtime or create a more customizable daily schedule. If you notice that you’ve gone too far on Instagram during class, it may be time to set limits. Instead of selecting apps to limit during downtime, set apps to allow. This can also be accessed through the Restricted Use menu. For example, if you have friends or family abroad, you probably want to have access to WhatsApp at any time. Or, if you’re like me and need an audiobook to fall asleep from time to time, I might allow unlimited Libby access. App limits are where you can set the amount of time you want to spend on a particular app per day. You can also set individual limits for specific apps, or set app categories together (such as Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Tiktok, X), or set the overall time limit for those apps.
Apple’s built-in Screen Time tool works, but it’s a little easier to avoid. If you see a great tiktok and suddenly get a pop-up that says you’ll be getting longer, you can tap the button to give you another 15 minutes…and after another 15 minutes you can do the same.
Some people motivate you to use third-party apps to reduce screen time. This allows you to address the potential pitfalls of Apple’s existing features.
Below is an app designed to limit screen time:
Available on iOS and Android, Screenzen allows you to create pop-ups that appear before opening a particular app. For example, before opening Instagram, you might see a 10-second popup with the words “Is this important?” You can also ask the app to take a deep breath before opening it. It also achieves success with a sub-time limit. My friend currently works at Streak for 144 days. They refuse to sacrifice for one quick shock of erroneous dopamine in timing. Available on iOS, Android and The Web, Opal focuses specifically on increasing productivity at work and school. This app is more customizable to limit screen time than Apple’s built-in features. You can focus not only on the time, but also on how often you open the app (for example, you might want to open the Instagram app only three times a day). The roots available on iOS focus on not only the time spent on your phone, but also the quality of that time. Some users particularly like the “Monk mode” app. This can be activated to make it impossible to bypass app limits, even if you want to remove app limits. But if you’re really diligent at your limits, you can unlock “Cheat Days.”
We’ve put together a list of physical devices that will help you stop looking at the screen too much.
So I opened Tiktok and denied access to the screen time limit, but now I don’t know what to do. Maybe you need to line up at a coffee shop and be a distraction. And certainly, in an ideal world, we can get bored without spontaneous burning, but this is not an ideal world.
Here’s what you can do with other mobile phones that do not involve social media:
Please read the book. No, really. Apps like iBooks and Kindle allow you to change settings to scroll to read books rather than flipping them over from page to page. You are literally scrolling, but instead you may learn something. Don’t you want to buy a book? You don’t need to! Libby connects to your library cards and allows you to access e-books and audiobooks from your mobile phone. Don’t know what to read? We’re sorry, but you may need to know about it on BookTok. Play the game. Certainly, games can be addictive too, but at least the game won’t let you know that the world has collapsed in new, unexpected ways. All apps copy all other apps, but for bite-sized once a day game, this is a good thing. The New York Times Games app allows you to play quick games such as Wordle, Strands, Mini Crossword, and more, even if you’re not a subscriber. However, the gray women’s game is so successful that other apps are baiting. Please listen. LinkedIn games are actually really fun. Certainly, you may get jump scares by posts from your old, bad bosses, but tango in particular is worth the risk.
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