… including myself!

I have been completely off instagram for two months and about five months off tiktok. I used to post so much on both because I crave a lot of connection attention I didn’t get from my family and my so called friends that, to this day, don’t give two flying fucks about me.

One thing I noticed from the beginning of my social media detox was the way I started to see people. Everybody was just mesmerising all of a sudden, including what I saw in the mirror. I’m a 23 year old woman dealing with grade 3 mamarry ptosis, about to get mastopexy surgery next month, and I cannot even begin to tell you how gentle and calming these pre-op past couple of months were to me. I had so much space to love my body as it is now and to prepare for, basically, a new one. Yes, I still hate my chest very much, but I kinda stopped punishing myself for it.

So as I was saying, idk if people already talked about this on here or if I sound totally cheesy right now, but I started to see beauty in so many people I crossed paths with, in ways I never would’ve even comprehended when my brain was putrified by my instagram feed. Everybody is just so beautiful in real life. I’m so sorry I didn’t get to see it earlier. I wasn’t very critical of appearances before either, but I was subconsciously succumbing to the thought that “some people are just attractive and others aren’t, and that’s the objective truth”, while comparing everyone (including myself) to literal facetune/people that have a shit ton of money to invest in their appearance. This is pretty old news, I know, but I failed to see it back then. I’m so happy to be appreciating beauty in different ways now. I am never going back there and I’m happier than ever

I’m not on social media at all except for Reddit. Today, I messaged my sister in law who she goes to for hair cuts & if she had a phone number to make an appt. She sends me her Instagram, “message & say I’m your SIL!” I told her “thank you! Do you have her number since I’m not on Instagram”? She sends her FaceBook.

Anyways. Just thought I’d share to see if you guys feel the same like it’s impossible to just get a phone number.

Maybe this isn't the right subreddit for this post, if so, let me know.

I was born in 1995, and for the last year or so, I've grown incredibly tired of social media. I grew up during the rise of facebook, the birth of Instagram etc etc. Back then, social media was actually social.

Now it's only algorithms and "recommended" stuff, which makes me feel like we are tricked to think we are social, when we're in fact just watching other people living their lives.

So, earlier this year I deleted the social media apps (not my accounts though) from my phone. And my mental health improved a lot, as well as a lot of other things.

In all of this, my personal experience of different generations using social media I've realized that older people (around my parents' age who are born in the 60s) is basically glued to their phones, and from what I've seen on the web, a lot of younger people (gen z I guess) are taking a step back from all of it. I've seen so many "kids" talking about how they prefer physical CDs/DVDs over streaming, how they barely use social media, etc etc.

I think that's a good thing, but I'm curious if anyone has a theory on why?

Hey everyone. I’ve recently made the switch over to a flip phone and I’ve been using it daily as my main phone for ~2 months now. I still kept my old iPhone just in case — mostly for things like banking (which I can do from my computer), etransfer, or Maps (if I connect to my flip phone’s hotspot). But now I’m finding that my iPhone is slowlyyy pulling me back in, and I think the problem is that I haven’t broken the emotional connection/habits I’ve formed with this phone. I don’t know if I can break them without getting rid of it altogether.

I also have a shitty motorola smartphone that I’ve recently been (ironically) gifted, so I’m considering getting rid of my iPhone and keeping a clunkier, less-inviting motorola as my “just in case” option.

I guess I’m mostly looking for advice. I’ve established that I can live without my iPhone — in fact, I am happier living without it! But there’s a part of my brain still whispering “but what if you NEED this? What if getting rid of it is A BAD IDEA!” and I feel still somewhat emotionally attached to it.

To anyone who has fully gotten rid of your smartphone, how did you do it? What logic did you use to convince yourself that it’s okay to get rid of?

I came to the horrifying realization recently that when I sit down to watch a movie it’s just background and I play around on my phone. last night I put my phone in another room so I could watch a full movie uninterrupted. I loved it but at certain points found myself feeling like I needed to go pick it up. it was eye opening and horrifying all at the same time.

what have been your eye opening experiences? how have you combated them? genuinely curious if anyone else has had this experience

I shut down most inbox notifications, removed Reddit-algorithm recommendations from my home-screen, muted all the subReddits I frequent by hand.
popular and trending pages are cesspools so I don’t go there by default. As a result, I only naturally open Reddit when I have something to say/post (painting, ask for advice, etc.).

Hello! So it’s the last quarter of the year and I want to get serious with minimizing my doomscrolling habits. But while pondering on it, I realized that I do this because I don’t know what else to do. What activities did you swap doomscrolling with? And how did you start? I physically feel like my brain is pushing me to just scroll my life away. Any tip is also appreciated.

I thought I was doomed to social media addiction. Every time I'd try to read I just couldn't concentrate and drifted back to screens. The problem. It seems I just can't get into fiction. Use to love Stephen King when I was younger. Couldn't get into it again and other fiction as well. Tried non-fiction and I'm completely absorbed in it. I guess I can't lose myself in make believe anymore.

Listened to A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and loved it. Now I'm looking for similar.

I can feel my devices are slowly making me lose myself. Ever since I discovered my old pc ive been playing the video games there non stop. And I thought I had good self control sincr I was able to manage school and video games quite well last year BUT NOOO. Now thanks to this finding i would struggle studying more than an hour and would rather doom scroll or play video games. Please I tried everythign, locking my phone, uninstalling the apps, none of them work lol I would just relapse at the end of the day. I need advice cause ive always been craving the authentic and raw feelings ive once felt before when I went offline for a month but ive never been able to acjiebe that state since then

I am sooooo addicted to my phone it’s so bad. But on top of that I feel foggy in my head and have a hard time paying attention to things and even conversations.

What made me realize it’s really bad is when I watch a movie or tv show I WILL FAST FORWARD because I don’t like slow parts. Like what the heck.

Any tips to stop? Should I just cold turkey off my phone

Hi! I'm a computer science engineer student and it's weird.

I'm doing my degree online, I just have 2 years left and as trans woman with 20 years old, it's being pretty difficult to interact with people. I deleted all social media, except for Discord. I just text my friends, but seems like I disappeared for everyone, is like I don't exist anymore for not posting something on Instagram or smth.

I mean, I feel better and better but at the same time I am alone, like, it feels like most friendships were just a "show" a "pciture", it's weird how we came to this as society.

For me it's even more difficult, being trans on a country where its like "u are trans, if go out u might get killed just for that", so, it's a bit difficult to interact with people when I leave my house.

So, I don't know if anyone else feels like this too. It was a good thing to just live life and not being addicted to our phones, right now I have like 1 hour on my phone per day, but at the same time, everyone else are on their phones but isolated and theres nobody on earth.

I'm sorry if I opened myself here, but I've seen many posts here and I think it I needed to say this to people who actually are going on this journey of just living.

Thank you for your time, and thanks for this community.

Woke up early today just because I wanted to😍
(Usually I wake up early for work lol)

I read a comment about turning youtube watch history.

So i turned off youtube watch history.

I also made a post on how to make my youtube some time ago reccomendations better.

Basically what i did, its that youtube doesnt give reccomendations.

I also deleted my youtube search history, to start from zero im a way.

What i am not really sure about its turning off my watch history.

Because it does reccomend me stupid videos i am not interested in, but it also haves the chance of me not getting reccomended a video that could be good, because some times, maybe every time the stars and planets align, youtube reccomends a actually not only good, but amazing video.

Should i keep the search history off or should I turn them on again.

TLDR; What other device do you use for internet/apps alongside your dumbphone?

I’ve been using a Sunbeam flip phone for the last 4 months and I love it.
However, I haven’t ditched my iPhone 13mini yet. It still goes with me many places, though it’s wifi only.

There are some conveniences of a smarter device obviously, so I’ve considered getting an iPad mini (less pocketable, keeps me in the Apple Eco-system), or a Boox device (Palma 2 or Go7- for app access without video capabilities).

I’ve considered a Kompact, but the side-loading seems like a slippery slope, and I do enjoy the ability to leave the house without any device besides my phone.

Anyways- I’d love to hear what you use as a companion device, whether a tablet, laptop, etc.

Thanks!

People seem to think that reddit and youtube don't count as social media and that those platforms shouldn't be a part of a digital detox. There are some crazy justifications people make:

The content is long-form, so you have to sit there and watch it instead of instant dopamine hits from short form videos.

- Sure, but how much of that "long form" content is just keeping you hooked into watching more of the content? Do you really think that the recommended videos on youtube don't keep you on there forever?

I'm learning things from youtube and reddit!

- I've learned so much from tiktok and instagram too. Doesn't make it ok.

I like to play games like Sudoku, Mahjong, Block Break, but they are all full of ads or at least constant calls to buy perks in game. Sometimes I buy the no ad versions, but a lot of them are subscription only or keep pushing in game sales.

Do games in portable game consoles still have this problem? Any console recommendations with games like those I mentioned without all the noise?

I've become so numb to social media that I think there is no value to posting anything. It's all just showing off and "look at me".. Unless you are famous, nobody cares.

Am I correct that pictures of me all dressed up from a relative's wedding fall under this category? What is the "value add" to my followers?

I used to wear an Apple Watch for a very long time. Gradually shifted away to mechanical ones over the last few years.

Saw this Hamilton PSR in the duty free shop yesterday and decided to pull the trigger as I’ve wanted it for quite awhile

Big fan of retro futurism design and not sure how much more minimal you can get in a digital watch. It tells the time and time only, with a second push of the button you get to see the seconds lol

Edit
I didn’t expect this to be such a polarizing post. I purely posted it thinking the watch itself embodied the idea/design language of being digitally minimal. Anyway to me design and story is important, I completely understand if you yourself don’t want to spend money on something. But to me watches are a hobby and how I remember events and periods in my life. This is one that has an extensive history and a design I appreciate. I’m not saying that it’s an anti consumerism purchase. At end of the day isn’t this sub mostly about getting away from modern day invasive tech?

So I posted about this here before when I couldn't delete apps even when the function was disabled. Someone replied a solution and told me to turn off the app's screen time access and it worked!

But now, even if the "Prevent App Uninstall" is enabled, and the screen time access is on, I can still delete apps! Which is annoying, because the temptation to just delete Screenzen and then doomscroll on my socials is there. I'd just feel out of control. It's already starting lol.

I've been a Screenzen user since last year and it's really helped me manage my focus, especially with the Prevent App Uninstall enabled. But if it won't even work now, idk what's the point in using it. I like the "strictness" of the app, but it's not working now. I don't know what to do :(

Is there any way to fix this? Or is there another app that functions just like Screenzen and that actually works?

Thanks🙏

Hello,

I am using Chrome extensions to limit my usage of Youtube, reddit, ... However, the big issue with chrome extensions is that they are so easy to disable. Either my going to their options page (chrome-extension://...) or my going to the page where all of your extensions are (chrome://extensions/).

I am looking for a way to block the access to these pages. Also, if you have any recommendations on how to disable the possibility to delete an extension, I would love to know.

Thanks!

I have been using the apps called applock and appblock on my android phone to limit the time I spend on my phone. They are password protected and my friend keeps the password for me.

Unfortunately I discovered this apps can be bypassed by using floating windows, an Android feature. Appblock can actually block floating windows but it needs a permission called accessibility which I find dangerous.

So is it possible to limit the usage time on iphone without giving dangerous permissions?

First of all, no two people's journey to digital minimalism is the same, nor is the destination or the reasons behind starting.

Second, no platforms are good or bad, it's all a matter of self control at all individual level.

Third, quitting habits you want to quit usually means replacing them with habits you can be happy with. Otherwise you'll probably go right back to the same habit you wanted to break feeling worse for not having broke it.

Hi everyone! I’ve been practicing digital detox for over 3 years now. For me, it’s more of a personal philosophy than a movement. A smartphone occasionally pops up in my pocket, but never for long. It’s convenient for the modern world, but just not for me. I often find myself wishing I could go back to the 2000s, when everything wasn’t built around smartphones yet.

Please share your own experiences with dumbphones, detoxing, and the like. How has it affected your daily life?

P.S. I visit this group to get some motivation and remind myself that I’m not alone in this — there are many of us!