I see friends, family, strangers, subconsciously go for their phones during thoughtless times daily. Have a moment to think… Scroll. Showering with their phone propped up watching a video. First wake up and spend an hour or two frying the mind.
It has gotten so bad in my friend group and close family I swear they could not function emotionally without consuming content. When you bring it up or any negative about it. Anger, distasteful emotions. How do you talk, convince, gain real traction towards slowing or decreasing time spent. Once or twice a day could be ok. These people do it for sometimes hours daily. It’s sickening. Advice?
I’ve struggled with this myself but I’ve gotten a lot better. I kept deleting the Instagram app so the temptation wasn’t there to scroll reels, but then I’d redownload to post a story and fall right back into the same trap. Well I have a tablet that I only use for reading manga, watching movies/tv/anime via plex, and sometimes stream games from Steam via my desktop as a host client.
I’m renovating my kitchen which is down to the studs currently so the temptation to post is real, but I just do it from my tablet now instead. For whatever reason I view it as a tool to do only those three things so I don’t get sucked into the same loop now. And I really need to work on getting our house to not be a construction zone so I have better things to do than scroll videos that I will forget what I even watched within minutes.
That was the biggest revelation how much of a time waste it really is. If I can’t even remember what I watched it was that insignificant then there’s no point. Sure maybe I’d show my husband something funny, but that’s about as far as it goes. Truly feels like brain rot in real time
But mobilek is my best friend. You shouldn’t put your best friend down.
I would focus on what you can control. I think you could politely mention that you think they are on the phone too much and you feel it is an unhealthy habit. I would say that’s about the most I would intervene. It gets them thinking about the amount of time they are on the phone/internet and leaves it in their hands to make a change.
Anything more than that will be seen as pushy and overstepping, which will just give them a reason to dismiss you. The main thing I’ll say here is that it’s not your responsibility to “save” the people you care about in your life. The biggest impact you can have is focusing on yourself and setting a positive example for those around you.
It’s digital heroin. We who are still awake must legislate a law against it or humanity is doomed.
Center your activities either around things that need both hands (sports, creative hobbies) or in remote location with no cell service.
Maybe board game night specifically without cellphones.
If you want to stop their use in day to day life, it sucks but it’s an addiction that is completely socially acceptable. Be prepared to get some flak for frustrating their dopamine rush. The options are limited and you won’t come off as helping to say the least.
I think phone use is tied to boredom personally, so if you notice someone falling into an hour long loop, invite them to do something I guess.
Make anti-social media and doomscrolling propaganda posters /hj.
Do they have a reason not to?
I invite friends and family members on walks but tell them no phones are allowed. If they need to bring it in casenof emergency, they have to turn it on silent
Would be interesting to say, phones allowed. To subtly indicate this is generally a no phone activity. And they may challenge themselves to not use it on their own.
