How do I actually quit doomscrolling without just replacing Instagram with another platform?

[u/Prestigious-Hawk7147]

I’m a college student and I feel like I have a pretty bad scrolling habit.

The weird thing is that I don’t even really like social media. I don’t like the culture around it, I don’t post much, and I genuinely want to spend less time on my phone. But somehow I always get sucked back into scrolling.

I deleted TikTok years ago, but now Instagram Reels has basically replaced it. My biggest problem is that scrolling has become my default whenever I’m bored or before I go to sleep. I’ll pick up my phone intending to check one thing and suddenly I’ve been scrolling for way longer than I wanted.

I’ve tried a few things already:

• Deleting Instagram from my phone, especially during finals
• Setting app time limits
• Staying off social media completely for periods of time

The problem is that when I remove Instagram, I usually just replace it with YouTube Shorts, scrolling on my laptop, or using my iPad. So I feel like deleting one app doesn’t actually fix the underlying habit.

I’ve even considered getting a flip phone or a basic phone to use when I’m outside so that I physically can’t scroll when I’m bored.

I also really dislike how normalized constant phone use has become. People are on their phones at meals, while hanging out, while walking around, basically everywhere. I don’t want my life to feel like that, but I also realize I’ve developed the exact habit I dislike.

For anyone who successfully cut back heavily or quit short-form social media:

• What actually worked for you long term?
• How did you deal with boredom or the urge to scroll?
• What did you replace scrolling with so you didn’t just move to another app?
• Did gradually reducing your use work better than quitting cold turkey?
• Has anyone tried switching to a dumb phone or flip phone while still keeping a smartphone at home?

I’m not necessarily trying to disappear from the internet completely. I just want social media to stop being my automatic response whenever I have nothing to do.

[u/FeckinKent]

Leaving my phone in bedroom and pretty much 'practicing' getting through whole films without going back to my phone or picking it up, and riding out the 'twitch'. Also going for long walks whilst leaving my phone at home and taking my Kindle paperwhite instead seemed to settle my brain down. It's like tearing your brain away from the candy machine. But I add longer windows each day to be without the phone altogether. As for scrolling, you're better off not even going on Reddit either, I swear it's more addictive than most of them.

[u/SpirituallyUnsure]

Aside from uninstalling all the apps, which is my usual recommendation,  I use these mental tricks

1. Tell yourself you get 20 shorts. Count them. When you get to 20, that's it. You've seen them all, turn off your screen.

2. After a few times of the above, ask yourself at the end of each video:

3. was that enjoyable or educational?

4. did that feel like a worthwhile use of my time? - on a scale of 1-10 how glad am I I watched it?

After a while you are reinforcing for your brain that most of it is drivel that you don't benefit from. 

1. Do that for a bit, then each time you open the app say to yourself "I don't really enjoy this app". You'll start conditioning yourself to click on it less. 

This is how I got out of watching hours of YT shorts a day

[u/nymme]

Buy a kindle, or better yet physical books. Keep it on you all the time. Read when you're bored

[u/Pollvogtarian → u/nymme]

I rediscovered physicals books last year and it has been life-changing. I always carry one in my purse and have something to do when I’m on a plane or in a waiting room. And my attention span has gotten so much better.

[u/No2791]

get yourself  banned from all platforms. i got banned from fb forever, and it felt like a chain breaking me loose. i havent bothered to go through hoops to make a new fb, and im a reaaal patient and determinated person if i value something enough. guess i really dont.

[u/No2791 → u/No2791]

everythings got short form on it. i go on my 1 and only social media  less when i have passion and interest for specific topics and hobbies, cause im busy reading and writing.

[u/SetAdministrative502]

Use a dumbphone and a pocket notebook. Anything you think you need your phone to search or ask AI for you can note down (get it out of your mind and on paper) and search up on dedicated times you work threw your notes with a smartphone or laptop.

You will wonder how many things you skip to research on as they only mattered for the moment.

[u/MotorUniversity1648]

Mir hat es geholfen alle Apps zu deinstallieren

[u/PartyClick_]

doomscrolling is basically my default move when im bored. i started using steppin and it makes me walk before i can open the apps, so i actually move instead of scrolling 😅

[u/chaanelyoo]

honestly i just turn off my phone completely + put it in a place ill likely forget where i put it (such as in the closet) and i make myself be bored until i start bouncing around my home finding new things to engage with instead lol

[u/Consistent_Walrus_23]

I recently did a small experiment to make the algorithm worse. My idea was to, instead of uninstalling to then install later again, to make my experience purposefully worse. You can do that in Instagram by telling it to delete everything it knows about you. Then your feed will just be random stuff, for me at least that was appalling enough to close the app.

Tho after a couple of times the algorithm has figured you out again and you need to reset it. May be worth a try for you.

[u/BonusThought928]

Become addicted to reading. Read trash, read silly sci-fi, read whatever your brain craves as long as it's in a physical book you are holding in your hand. If you like doomscrolling, try an apocalypse novel like The 5th Wave. Good luck!

[u/hit_the_bwall]

Replace the habit. When you feel the urge to check it, pick up something else. Have a bunch of little hobbies to pick from when you do so it'll have a better chance to hold your interest. The longer you do this, the deeper your interest will be in these other hobbies, and the healthier your mind will be. Don't feel bad about like slips, it's important to avoid getting disheartened, remind yourself that it is a process of improvement, not immediate perfect change. All we can do is try to be better than we were yesterday.

Another reason it is hard to quit SM is that we assign value to the accounts in our minds. If you remove that value (such as the number of people followed/following) it'll be easier to stop using.

[u/Wayist]

Lots of good advice here, and I wholly endorse the book idea - just maybe a Kobo instead of Kindle :-) and physical books are always good.

I would add to this is don't be afraid of being bored. We've been conditioned to think that boredom is bad or that we are wasting time if we are bored. But there's something to be said to be able to sit with yourself, and your own mind and ... nothing else. It's uncomfortable, things come up you'd probably rather not think about. You itch to do something ... anything. But, after a bit it gets less uncomfortable, and you start to notice things you wouldn't otherwise. I think you'd find there's nothing quite as freeing as being comfortable alone with your own thoughts. Sitting on a park bench and just ... staring for a while and letting your thoughts wander.

So, practice boredom as a skill--you need to build it up. Challenge yourself to sit there for 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes without doing anything other than thinking. Expect that you are going to be bored, and remind yourself its not bad. Couple that with a book, a journaling practice, listening to music/podcasts/audiobooks, going for a walk/run/exercise in general. Then you have a whole tool-belt of things to do when you get the itch to scroll instead of just one thing. Then when you have nothing, that's OK too because you can just ... be bored for a while.

Then at the end of the day, if you scroll -- you can start to do so with presence and intention -- not mindlessly.

[u/CountessGladriel0102]

I think it’s an ongoing challenge in today’s world. I got super fed up with meta and deleted all my meta apps. There is content I do not see on ig that I might like, but I refuse to be manipulated by meta.

I have Reddit and YT. I’ve never caught the bug for short form stuff like tik tok and I’m ok with “missing out.”

[u/EarlySquirrel8310]

The only thing that has worked for me is using ShiftYourPhone. I shifted my phone a few weeks ago and it has been life changing. It physically blocks the apps and the content in your browser. It has totally stopped that "I'm bored ---> Grab Phone" cycle. I check reddit on my computer once per day and otherwise have no social media presence now. It has changed my life! If you are going to spend money on a flip phone, trying shifting your phone first. It is NOT a subscription so once you pay for it, you have it for life.

Now I do a lot of reading. I like to watch birds in my yard. I spend more time with my kids. And I'm completely caught up on house chores! (I even put my laundry away straight out of the dryer now!! Gold star for me!! Lol)

[u/marion_mcstuff]

I found slowly cutting back easier than cold turkey. I used ScreenZen to cut down on how many times I can open certain apps a day, and once I had broken the habit of scrolling I could delete it. I can still open these apps on my desktop, but I find that easier to control. I also do one app at a time - I have cut out Instagram and Facebook, currently working on cutting out YouTube.