It’s nauseating, I feel battered by ads in every corner of the internet. I cannot listen to two consecutive songs without having to go through a barrage of ads. None of these ads are particularly enticing either, it’s all gambling, financial services, AI, some online for-profit university, glp-1’s… and on youtube it’s even worse, AI generated videos advertising miracle cures to older demographics, fake podcasts with fictional doctors coming up with brand new (potentially harmful) “medical” advice. It’s gotten to the point where I spend half my time online waiting for ads to end. It’s insidious, they started as a skip-able inconvenience we deemed necessary, and therefore begrudgingly accepted as it got content creators and artists paid. Today, these ads are nested within, prior, and after the videos, they’re 5 minutes long and are not particularly relevant either. They all either have the most obnoxious voice actors, or an AI generated speech. At this point, each time I’m subjected to an ad, I’m on the verge of throwing up.

Sure, you could say that I could spend a few bucks, buy premium subscriptions, and get rid of the ads. For one, I don’t have that kind of disposable income, but even more so I would consider paying for premium an admission of defeat. I would have been (metaphorically) battered into compliance. None of these apps retain any of the characteristics that drew me towards them in the first place, they all so drastically changed (for better or for worse), that I find myself drawn to them solely by habit, paying for them wouldn’t even get me the services I sought in the first place. And even in the case that I find something interesting on these apps, I find that the medium itself often disrupts my appreciation of it.

For now, I’m keeping Reddit because reddit comments make me laugh sometimes and I’ve never felt compulsively drawn to it in the way i’m drawn to Instagram and Youtube. Though, I might delete reddit soon. Another thing I find particularly insidious about these algorithms is how they reinforce familiarity. The same internet that 10 years ago was for me a window onto the rest of the world, has become an echo chamber reinforcing my worldview and seldom ever exposing me to new perspectives. This familiarity is comforting, once you settle into it, it’s kinda hard to expand beyond it, and I’m in need of renewal. I need to play some new music, entertain some new ideas, read new books, cook some new foods, meet new people, ride my bicycle through different paths etc…

i’ve deactivated. i can easily get back in but i don’t want to this time. instagram is poison. i’m so exhausted and tired of worrying about how others will perceive me through a profile picture or my posts or stories im sick of it. my social media presence can never be enough to show who i am to others. it’s endless trying to make sure everyone likes me on social media IT’LL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH. So i give up on instagram.

Goodbye Instagram,
I’ll never miss the anxiety you gave me, the questioning myself and my self worth because someone unfollowed me or didn’t follow me back. The people who didn’t like my story or didn’t like my post even though the other day they liked it which makes me question if it’s actually good enough to post. I’ll never miss the hours you made me spend taking dozens of selfies, adding filters and still feeling like it’s not good enough after i see model after model and influencers with the exact same plastic surgery features. I’ll never miss how you made me feel bad about my face, my body and my lifestyle. And the misinformation, brainrot and time wasting scrolling. You made me try so hard to be PERFECT. But there will never be perfect enough, so why did you expect me to be perfect if that doesn’t exist Instagram? I can’t be perfect. i can only be human, i am not a robot. i am a person with emotions, mistakes, deep feelings, and a desire for love and company. You can no longer mess with my emotions or give me the illusion of friends and company anymore.
Goodbye forever instagram, i’m free from your mind prison.

So I was detoxing from social media for unhealthy reasons. If anybody struggling these are ways that can help you break any addiction you have. Be blessed 🙏🏽

So i’m at what I would say the late end of Gen Z (going based on my understanding of gen Z cutting off in 2010), and I have to say I am quite literally mentally conditioned to be addicted to my screen. I was somewhat of an ipad kid growing up. No kids played anymore, so I joined them in playing together on the ipad. I hate to admit it but I even have to be on the phone in the shower. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t. I’ve been conditioned the majority of my life to always be on youtube or some kind of stimulation. I watch it while I eat, use the bathroom, shower, do laundry, wash the dishes, everything. As i’m becoming an adult and having the freedom to choose what I want to do for myself it’s something ive started to work on fixing but it’s something I realize is genuinely the reality in younger generations. Seriously- people talk about gen alpha brainrot and i’m here to say its ALL TRUE AND REAL. As I come to realize that’s actually not normal at all- everyone around me is like that. Everyone at least under the age of 20 right now is like this. It makes me wonder for the future if the whole new generation is literally conditioned to be addicted to screens & short form content for marketing, how the fuck things are going to go…especially now that tik tok and reels is grasping older generations aswell.

This feels extremely dystopian.

Think about it. If you only had 1 full charge would you doomscroll 7 hrs + play mobile games for 3 hrs? You would be more cautious how you use your phone.

I’m going to start trying this today. I’ll update in a few days .

My Facebook, my instagram , I barely use Snapchat anymore, I deleted tik tok and I’m only on Reddit….mainly because I need to focus and concentrate on my studies and I find social media to be distracting. Plus all I really do is work and study. 📚 like that’s it. I also really have this notion now that my business is private and I don’t like to have a whole whack ton of people in my business. At first it’s very lonely…..but now it’s seemingly being more peaceful than anything 🙂 because my real true friends can still get ahold of me and I can get ahold of them and my family as well, so I mean now I have less fake friends /people Trying to terrorize me!

I never had Instagram but TikTok has been my biggest digital timesuck. I really like the parts of the app that show me educational information, crafting ideas, etc. But the algorithm is designed to keep you scrolling forever and it worked on me. Finally decided it wasn’t worth it. Especially after seeing the increase in videos showing real life graphic deaths - how strange to normalize videos where hundreds of people lost their lives (specifically this was Nepal floods).

The only social media I have now is Facebook which I’m disinclined to delete purely because of Marketplace. I really wish they had a separate app for it the way they do for Messenger. But I guess I could go to craigslist or other buy/sell/trade specific apps.

Reddit is actually new for me and I see myself getting attached but so far it’s much easier to stop than TikTok was and I’m not even close to spending the same amount of time on it.

I am very close to deleting ig. I’ve been seeing so many reels about women/wives “not knowing how to pay the mortgage” because their husband does it, women making reels about how they’re “allergic to 50/50”, and even worse, a couple of my friends are liking these kinds of videos and have guilted their partners into letting them quit paying their portion of the mortgage because of these reels. My husband and I proportionally split our mortgage and bills (he makes almost double what I do), and my friends are flabbergasted that I still help pay for the mortgage and bills. I tell them, I work, why wouldn’t I contribute? I also feel pride in paying for the things I own. They have even sent me reels about how a man should “provide” and if your man “doesn’t provide for you, then you can’t embrace your femininity”, and it’s making me so fucking angry, idek why. But I’m ready to quit.

I recently watched a YouTube video on the negative effects that phones have and I guess what they can cause. I know phones are KNOWN to suck , but just really seeing how they’re changing the world is so scary. I already deleted my socials and everything except this one, but I just wanted more ways I can feel real and like an active person of society instead of someone who just sits in their room all day. I want to have fun hobbies like I used to. I just want to feel realllll again.

With the election cycle fully underway and all the munters having internet access, I found myself stressed out and arguing with people that I honestly couldn't care less about.

A week ago I deleted Facebook. My god, I'm just now noticing how good it's been for my mental health.

If you're struggling with a sence of dread due to the current state of politics, I recommend you do the same.

For context, i am someone that already left social media for a really long time. So maybe this might be my curiosity alone. But with the recent addition of status by WhatsApp to the front page of the app really make me wonder. I never bothered to go to the updates tab because i never watch or post anything but this change make me realize it is an integral part of many people's life. I know many social media had this features and it is popular i assumed.

But my curiosity peaked on the effort people put on it. Everything in their life from food, location, achievement, rage etc (i knew it when people asked didnt i checked their status?). And i think it puts extra burden on everyone. Why do u expect people to check everything u posted? If that matter is something important to be shared with me, you can text and call and we can talk about it. Then there are status for groups, i was like wasnt the purpose of group is to discuss together, why needs a status. Just send and have fun about it.

Then i realized people can even curate who can view it. This really amaze it. You post and you curate who can see or not. Usually u hide from those you dont want to see it or directly negatively impacted by that. I was impressed by the effort they made, to curate the post and to select the view access. And then you have the thing like u watched my status but didnt liked it. Haha even watching become a mental tax, should i watch it or skip it.

It is interesting to see the digital world from the outside. And that does make u feel alien to it but i in a good way. I am happy not knowing all the drama. And if I have something to share i will reach you individually or in our group.

Especially on places like YouTube or TikTok. I must be weird because I prefer to read my stuff rather than have someone sit in front of a microphone while a small corner of their screen is showing the thing they are talking about.

And then how people wanna know everything about them, or say "Yeah I know SoAndSo." No, you don't. You know the curated life they show you.

To me content creation just feels staged, like really fake, and as a kid I used to watch a lot of TV but you knew TV wasn't real, even skit comedy shows, but internet content just feels even more staged, more curated, and I just find that annoyingly unappealing.

Like the "creators" whose content is the same thing every single video. So the guy opens a box, and he tells you what he's gonna show, so why not look that up yourself?

Or like when people share one video from one person and it's somehow gospel. Is it weird to think: This is just one random internet person, giving their opinion on something, it's not fact? An example would be, a guy buys a burger, dislikes it, and suddenly everyone hates burgers, when in reality he's more of a hotdog guy.

Whenever i take a break from instagram for at least a few days i realize how i was taking it WAY too seriously as if it was real life. i would think a profile picture of myself not being super perfect defined my identity to others when it’s actually not THAT deep. i also realize that stories, posting is actually very silly and useless and only messes with your mental health because people barely like posts anymore for no good reason but it messes with your head. Insta is actually stupid and a waste of time and energy when there are so many more fun things in life instead of being drained from this mindless app. i love being off instagram. Whenever i take a break i don’t have the urge to keep opening the app and fixating on how ill be perceived online i realize real life matters so much more💗

I’ve been on Reddit on and off for the last few years. I would use it every once in a while until maybe a couple months ago.

I will spend hours on here commenting on random stuff and replying to others like today I realized I have been on Reddit for 3 hours straight. I have deleted the app a few times but I last maybe 2 days and start thinking about it a lot and download it again.

Nothing drastic has changed in my life within these last couple months except a new job, and 98% of my posts/comments aren’t even about the new job. I get bored of other social media and the games on my phone are only fun for so long lol.

Two days ago I broke my phone, it fall and touch stopped working. At first I was very disappointed, I felt like I was completely out of the world and the first thing I did was ordering a new screen so that I could fix it.

I feel like nowadays phones are extremely useful and are fully part of our society. It was impossible for me to do some things like using gps, paying or simply verifying my identity on LinkedIn. I have to say that I am a huge user since I use it as a wallet carrying my cards and my id. On the other hand I discovered that I didn’t miss, at all, dumb scrolling (actually no body enjoys it) and besides a little look of instagram on my laptop I didn’t feel any urge to update my status or post some stories…. I have to say that I am not completely out of virtual society, social medias and networks, since I have a laptop and an iPad; but without having a phone when I went out I felt like I had to fill my time speaking to people (I had to go to my mechanic to fix some car problems) instead of wasting my time watching useless videos on my feed

My new screen will arrive soon and probably this would be only a “trial experience of less connected life”….(who knows maybe they will start selling this too soon or later) having a phone will probably make me again “addicted” to it.

Phones are like candies they taste good until a dentist as to remove cavities.

I am writing this because I would like to know, from you people, if you experienced something like that, or if you went back to “dump phones” and how was your experience; is it hard to live not according technology imposes us? It’s a laptop enough?

Okay, i'm a teenager, and i'm averaging about 3 hrs per day on my phone. Brave(3h 58m) is my browser which I use to go on reddit (i don't want to have the app) and read manga, as well as look stuff up. On messages(3hr 30m) i'm mainly texting 1-2 people because it's either my family or my only friend🥲. Maps(2h 37m) is.... for maps. Pinterest(2h 10m), i'm consuming funny photos and art from fandoms i'm in. Notes(1h 16m), i'm just writing stuff down that i wanna write. Youtube(1hr 7m), usually don't use it much on my phone but I was watching tutorials for crafts. Deezer(47m) is my music app. Times in parentheses is the total time used throughout the week, not daily average(it wouldnt let me put in multiple photos). I deleted tiktok a few weeks ago, so that took away an hour of my screen time per day. I deleted most of my mobile games besides fnaf and geometry dash because i paid money for those😭 but i don't use them anyway. 3 hours a day isn't a lot, but it comes out to about 1 whole day of my week being continuously on my phone.

I just don't know how to be on my phone less. I feel like I still grab my phone when I feel bored and I don't want to. I have app blocking active for pinterest and a 1hour daily cap, maybe I should bring the cap down to like 15-30 minutes?

I would really like to get better at reading things like my history textbook (36 pages due tomorrow), but it feels like I can't focus and i reread paragraphs over and over because i'm not comprehending them. I want to be able to feel bored again and just think. I've stopped listening to music as much because I found out its still a distraction even if it's not as bad as scrolling. I have youtube on my tv in the background of a lot of my tasks which is dumb. Here I am right now, not doing my homework so that I can write this post.

I feel like I need a total detox and reset from my phone but idk how to do it. It is probably easier since i'm a kid and don't have a lot of adult stuff that requires me to have my phone on me but still not sure how to do it.

ALSO i need a way to find and make friends outside of my phone. I don't really text people unless im close with them, and when i start conversations with random people in attempt to befriend them, the conversation usually falls off and i don't end up getting to know them better. thats probably for a therapist to help me with and not reddit but!

Short ver: screen time is 3 hours per day, i want it to be less but i feel drawn to my phone whenever i am bored.

Hi, I have 2 people in my family that don’t use smartphones (5 others do). We did have a group SMS chat via GroupMe, but I just found out that GroupMe is shifting only to their app. Does anyone know of other similar services we could use for SMS group chats?

If this is the wrong sub to ask, please remove my post.

I live in a dorm with 2 other people and I don't want to disturb them. What are some quiet things I could do instead of watching something on my phone?

The dumbphone answer is clean but it isolates her from how her friends actually organise anything. The other option seems to be a normal phone with most of it switched off, which I worry is just delaying the same outcome. I’d want no social media and no browser rather than time limits on them. Has anyone here gone the restricted-smartphone route with a kid and did it hold?

Discord I see is maybe one of the worse platforms as it's just pointless conversations with online strangers (real life friends >>> online friends). What do you guys think?

As someone born at the end of Gen Z (between 2006-2010 maybe) I feel like I've grown up with the internet and iPads and phones and it's everything we've ever known. We didn't live a wonderful life of the 90s and going to vinyl stores with friends every day and talking and sitting by a radio and etc. We have NEVER lived a life without the internet and the phone. Everything seems reliant on having social media and having a phone.

I quit Instagram and other social media recently and I am so much happier with my life but I do constantly miss it because a lot of the opportunities I've found in my life have been through Instagram and Twitter and other socmed platforms. And I absolutely want to quit the internet and read books for the rest of my life and live that way. Live independent of the internet. Live free.

If anyone has any tips on how I can do that please let me know. I'm sure many Gen Z and Gen Alpha will appreciate it a lot.

Read a bunch of threads and there seems to be hardly any good options. Some people said Garmin, others said Fitbit Inspire 3 (Which needs an app...).

My ideal watch: tracks my steps, can show weekly/monthly step trends, show distance, elevation. Heart rate and sleep quality would be nice but not essential.

I don't want to have to use an app or make an account. Just something that works straight out of the box.

Please hit me with your recs! I know something like this must exist!