The only way to stop scrolling that resonates with me

Over the years I've tried many ways to break the urge to aimlessly scroll on my phone. Some have helped, for example removing the majority of my notifications made a big difference. But from articles that I've read and podcasts that I've listened to, it seems that most of the typical advice given to reduce scrolling (switch screen to greyscale, set up screen time limits, keep the phone in another room and so on) is not really effective long term. 

The evidence for this mainly comes from a recent research paper from JMIR Publications which you can read here - Interventions for Digital Addiction: Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses.

The only piece of advice that I've found to work for me was something that I heard very recently from Cal Newport in his podcast, and it's something that seems obvious but needs a bit of work to implement. 

I'm paraphrasing, but it was all to do with making your offline life more interesting than your online life. If your life is filled with easy to access and enjoyable activities, then you will always turn to those rather than scrolling aimlessly.

So I've been thinking about how I can create that life for myself. Here are some things that I already do:

I try to always have an excellent book on the go. This is the most important thing, and I am very discerning about the books that I read. Some books grip me more than others, and I've noticed that when I'm particularly enjoying a book I'll always choose it over my phone.

I love doing a quick puzzle on paper. You can buy puzzle books really cheaply at supermarkets and they can keep you going for ages. My favourites are word puzzles like Codewords or number puzzles like Sudoku.

Photo credit Bozhin Karaivanov via Unsplash

I'm not the most sociable of people, but I'm lucky in that the people I do choose to spend time with are generally also happy to keep their phones out of sight while we talk. When I'm chatting with someone I never feel the urge to look at my phone, I just get irritated when it beeps at me.

I almost always have a jigsaw puzzle on the go. I love it when a jigsaw puzzle reaches a stage where you have all the remaining pieces laid out and you can easily drop by for a few minutes and place a couple of pieces.

Similarly, I like to have a simple craft that can be worked on a little bit at a time. Personally I enjoy cross stitch, or also miniature house kits which are broken down into lots of smaller steps that each only take a few minutes. 

Another activity that takes me away from my phone is doing exercise, whether that's going for a walk, a swim or just a quick exercise video that occupies my phone while I follow it. 

Finally I try to keep as much as I can paper based. I do use an app for the grocery shopping list, but I have a physical planner for my daily jobs. I keep a scrap notebook where I can write down things that pop into my head, as well as a collection of journals and hobby notebooks. If I was picking up my phone to tick something off a list I know that I would easily get distracted. 

I'm not perfect by any means, but now that I've got this idea in mind I'm hoping that I'll find it much easier to avoid the doomscrolling! Please do leave a comment if you have any other tips to share.