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My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

allthatjazz.me

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Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#181

Post by pesus »

jhot wrote: post #163
PhunkyPhil wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That counts as doom scrolling to me. If while I'm watching short form content like Reels or YT shorts etc, I realize that if you asked me what I watched 2 scrolls ago and I couldn't tell you- I'm doom scrolling. This is the case almost every time I open instagram.

I don't have any social media and don't travel that often. When I went on a trip this past fall and saw a very high percentage of people sucked in to these short form videos at any idle moment at the airport and out at public events, I definitely felt existential doom. Couldn't help but look at everyone the same as all the people on the space ships in Wall-E.

Yeah, it's pretty depressing. It also adds another layer of difficulty to stopping your own doom scrolling/excessive internet usage - with so many people ignoring reality in favor of whatever the algorithm serves them up on their phone, there are far fewer chances to socialize in real life, social skills atrophy, and the cycle continues. It seems like it takes even more concerted effort than ever before just to have a real social life.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#182

Post by nicholassmith »

boomskats wrote: post #56

A little over a year ago I gave away my flagship samsung phablet and bought one of their flip phones, in an attempt to change my habits by consciously making myself doubtful/anxious about the longevity of the flip phone's infamous hinge. The idea was that the little front screen would do everything that a semi-dumb phone replacement could (notifications, camera, calls, timers, calculator, calendar), but I'd also have…

I do the same thing (Motorola Razr rather than Samsung), and I've found that working on the smaller screen means I don't get sucked into things as it's useful for quickly checking on a limited set of apps but doesn't lend itself to a "open app => consume => next app" cycle.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#183

Post by thesuitonym »

jhot wrote: post #163
PhunkyPhil wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That counts as doom scrolling to me. If while I'm watching short form content like Reels or YT shorts etc, I realize that if you asked me what I watched 2 scrolls ago and I couldn't tell you- I'm doom scrolling. This is the case almost every time I open instagram.

I don't have any social media and don't travel that often. When I went on a trip this past fall and saw a very high percentage of people sucked in to these short form videos at any idle moment at the airport and out at public events, I definitely felt existential doom. Couldn't help but look at everyone the same as all the people on the space ships in Wall-E.

I know exactly how you feel, 20 years ago I went on a trip and saw almost everybody utterly absorbed in a newspaper, or magazine. Some even had books. I couldn't believe all these people were wasting their precious time entertaining themselves instead of staring blankly at the wall!

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#184

Post by nozzlegear »

brushfoot wrote: post #123

Apps to fight apps has never worked for me. When I'm bored/tired enough, it becomes a game to disable my own restrictions. What works for me is removing the antecedent completely by charging my phone in another room at night. Now the battle is easier: Decide once a day to put it there, and track how many days you succeed. For me that's a lot easier than having it in my pocket, where the Internet is always a couple la…

This is the only thing that worked for me as well. Installing browser extensions and distraction-blocking apps helps for a couple days, but ultimately I'd start cheating and would uninstall them.

Leaving my phone on the charger in the bedroom after 5pm completely removes the temptation. If somebody needs to reach me, they can call my wife or just leave a message for me to check in the morning. I've been doing this for several months and it's worked wonders for my attention span, my sleeping habits and my vision.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#186

Post by sotix »

I really want a modern BlackBerry where I can make phone calls, send messages, check emails, use maps, use NFC payments, and occasionally play brick breaker. I don’t need the entire internet in my pocket. I can sit down at a computer when I want that access. I just need a good communication tool that’s lightweight and has a battery that lasts for days.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#187

Post by darkhorse222 »

I think about this all the time. I have tried a few different strats:

* ScreenZen on IOS breaks up screen time into discrete sections rather than a lump sum (e.g. 10 segments of 10 minutes each) making it much easier to know each time I've used a segment ("okay, that was ten minutes, do I want to go again?").

* Utilizing focus modes aggressively. DND and Sleep mode can be used aggressively to limit notification spam. While I'm at it I regularly go through my notification list and prune any app that has no pressing need to notify (or demote it to the daily summary).

* physical separation: my friend put me on to this, which is if I can do something without my phone, I'll consider it. Yesterday I drove to the store and back without my phone. Not feeling that weight in your pocket and not having it there to fill your time is a powerful experience. I have considered paying the Apple Watch cell subscription (which I always considered useless) because it means I will be reachable without being scrollable.

* I'm going to try that Foqos app posted here yesterday, I like the idea of physical blocking mechanisms so we can take the upgrades of phones, like GPS and chatGPT while leaving the poisonous bits at home.

This is one of the y biggest personal initiatives ever since I took my screen time stats and calculated I was losing about a day a week to my phone. My life is getting 14% shorter, given to trash I don't really enjoy.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#188

Post by darkhorse222 »

shubhamjain wrote: post #43

None of those ways are sustainable. Not only because there are good reasons to use those apps, but also because there are times when forcing yourself to work isn't going to work. I mean, if I am sick, tired, and just not feeling like working, I would go out of my way to beat the system I installed. What has worked for me is: one-sec extension [1]. The extension asks you take a deep breath and confirms if I still want…

I think any app that tries to minimize your usage needs to have mays to moderately allow that usage. Black and white thinking, particularly at the beginning, seems likely to fail.

Re: My Struggle with Doom Scrolling

#189

Post by gnatman »

thesuitonym wrote: post #183
jhot wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have any social media and don't travel that often. When I went on a trip this past fall and saw a very high percentage of people sucked in to these short form videos at any idle moment at the airport and out at public events, I definitely felt existential doom. Couldn't help but look at everyone the same as all the people on the space ships in Wall-E.

I know exactly how you feel, 20 years ago I went on a trip and saw almost everybody utterly absorbed in a newspaper, or magazine. Some even had books. I couldn't believe all these people were wasting their precious time entertaining themselves instead of staring blankly at the wall!

You used to see this argument come up frequently in defense of smartphones, but it's fallen off recently. In my personal experience, scrolling through short-form videos is 100x more soul sucking than reading a book, magazine, or newspaper ever is. They're just not the same.
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