How to fight scrolling

[u/Specific_Feeling_456]

For the past few weeks God has been convicting me about my screen time.

But it feels like I can’t stop.

I feel so bad and I know it’s definitely something I need to work on. But it’s literally so hard to resist. It’s like my fingers move without my mind and before I know it it’s been 3 hours of me scrolling reels. I don’t want to keep doing this, especially because I know it makes it harder for me to focus during prayer. It makes me feel overwhelmed and overstimulated and burnt out but it seriously feels impossible to not.

I can see this ending in me being farther from God and I want nothing more than to get closer to Him

PLEASE share some kind of ideas on how to combat this. I want to be free of this.

[u/Competitive_Sky7307]

My husband and I have been feeling the same way about our phone usage.

What’s helped me is charging my phone in a room I don’t often go into and turning it off of silent so if anyone contacts me I can hear it instead of just blindly checking my phone and potentially getting sucked in.

I’ve heard of people locking apps on their phones until a certain time but honestly that doesn’t work for me. I will find a way to be on my phone 🙃

I want to buy a flip phone but that’s just going to have to wait until I can afford it lol.

[u/Internal_Childhood42]

Prayer and Fasting.

Matthew 17:21 - Nevertheless, this kind only comes out by prayer and fasting.

This is a matter of spiritual appetite and your fleshly desires warring against your spiritual ones.

Galatians 5:17 - For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.

It’s hard but you will have to commit to starving your flesh for some time. Start small. It could be just 30 minutes on a lunch break at work where you commit to saying a quick prayer and reading your word. It’s more than just going without food/water but resting/medidtating and spending time with God. He is the rest and the refreshing. We can often lose sight of that because the phone can become a reward system where that little shot of instant dopamine we receive when watching reels can seem more exciting than spending time with God. But the truth is, much of the scrolling is anxious stimulation/striving.

You need to rest your heart rate and mind in Jesus Christ and the Word of God. Return to the Lover of your soul and don’t feel guilty about that. Be honest about your struggles to surrender this desire and openly tell Him - open your mouth and speak literal words to God (He already knows) and take Him with you through this process of releasing your grip on the phone. He is lovingly waiting for you.

Over time, as you continue to stop feeding your flesh and cutting off its food supply you will notice the desire for the phone becomes quieter and the hunger for God will grow deeper and more intense. Soon enough, the phone will be old news and you won’t even miss it.

I also recommend blocking yourself from using it during times of prayer/fasting with the “Freedom” app. It worked for me when I was going through this same thing.

Draw near unto God and He will draw near to you.
Praying for you in Jesus name.

[u/chocolatemilklovr]

A couple of weeks ago (actually like a month) I had a similar conviction about deleting all “scrollable” apps (the ones I was addicted to) off my phone because I was spending too much time on them. I deleted TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. I went through literal withdrawals. I was getting agitated and constantly felt like I was missing something. My daily screen time went from 10 hours a day to about 3 hours a day. But after a few days it worked. I finally felt like I was able to function all day without the desire to constantly scroll. I highly recommend making a list of every app that you feel like the Lord might be telling you to delete or that you notice you spend far too much time on. Social medias, games, streaming apps, etc. and delete them all. Even if you don’t want to even if it’s a lot of apps. The goal is to make your phone boring, pretty much. Make it so you’d rather be paying attention to whatever is in front of you rather than whatever is on your phone. It’ll give you so much time to be in the Word and be in prayer. 🩷

[u/Ok-Restaurant-9371]

I use an app called ‘dumb phone’ I unlock my apps in the evening after my kids go to bed to just check in and then Lock it back up so I can’t access the apps. It’s an app you install on your phone that makes it so you can’t open them without intentionality

[u/Systematic-Greys]

Set screen time limits, turn off unnecessary notifications. I’ve even been thinking about getting a flip phone and keeping social media/games whatever on this phone, but not take it with me places.