🌱
I had to get an app that blocks Instagram in very specific ways, like allows me into friend dms but ejects me from reels and comment sections, but holy shit. I havent watched a single reel in I think a bit over a week. and I'm finally starting to see change only now...
today was the best day I've had in a long time - nothing happened that was great, but I FELT great. I finally felt bored enough with entertainment to do chores by choice and not self-force. I know I'll still have ups and down but the amount of mental energy I've got rn in comparison is staggering. even though I still try to reach for it constantly . I don't know if I'll keep this up forever but I think my relationship with my phone is changed completely
Related Recs
📴
I LOVE limiting screen time because I become hypersensitive to how used I am to using easy entertainment as a crutch to keep from dealing with my own discomfort. A professor of mine always used to talk about how screens keep us from reaching rock bottom of our souls. From really knowing ourselves, our minds, and most of all Boredom. And I think there’s a ton of merit to that thought.
it made me focus on letting myself get real bored by not being on screens. ive found it opens up the door to my own thoughts and creativity, but also lets me fill that time with other things. Looking around, going on walks, reading books, writing. Things that might be distractions, but they fill my soul up instead of draining it.
ideas emerge from my mind much easier, or maybe it is just easier to pull them out of my mind without the yucky film screens wrap all my thoughts in.
One thing I recommend doing is turning phone grayscale on by turning color filters on and reducing white point. You can make it an accessibility shortcut so it’s easy to switch between color and b&w screen but it makes my phone in general feel much less like a weapon against my eyes and brain. And, frankly, it makes scrolling less beautiful than the real world. Like I could either look at this sad little light box fake world or THIS ONE IM LIVING IN.
I also just can't overstate how much I love being off instagram. I get to ask friends who I really care about what theyre up to, they tell me real things about their lives instead of the polished version, I share the same back. I don't feel like I have to keep up or worry if I dont want to.
And I honestly feel happy to not be faced with a divisive algorithm and stupid reels sucking me in.
It just feels like the kind thing to do for my mind. I know this is a dissertation but I’m really passionate about this initiative LOL.
Jun 1, 2024
I've am using a dumb phone for a month and I'm now one week in! I have switched from my beloved iPhone SE 📱 to a trusty Nokia 225 ☎️. The first few days I was on a high I felt unstoppable 💫, strutting down the halls with my rose gold brick 🧱 glistening in the light. I got so many fans come up and take photos 🤳 with it and try it out, I was on top of the world 🌏! Until ... I started feeling symptoms of instagram reel withdrawal 🤬. My one true love is no longer I have been forcibly ripped from the hands of heaven due to our forbidden romance 🥀.
My sleep health has notably improved due to me not going on my phone before bed 🛌, it has increased my sleep quality and quantity 😴. This experiment has made me more laptop-dependent considering all the apps I need to use are online or on my Mac 💻. Overall my mood has increased and I am texting less but calling more 😊. I mainly communicate through mouth of words 🗣️, SMS, and phone calls. I found many challenges with the limitations of apps like I couldn't use my training apps or WhatsApp which hindered my ability to complete trainings and communicate with coaches 🏋️. I couldn't use Apple Pay, Airdrop, or Find My Phone which affected my organisation and safety👷♀️.
My studies have interestingly 🧐 remained the same, I thought because I wouldn't have access to distractions like social media my academics would improve however I procrastinated equally as with my smartphone 📚. To me it is clear why this has occurred, my attention span from my use of social media has shortened 😬 which makes me procrastinate similarly to previous times but instead of being distracted by my iPhone, I am distracted by other things like food 🍱.
Overall it has been pretty smooth sailing ⛵️, I do feel superior because I catch myself being more present and notice more things like how super awesome I am 🤘🤠
Mar 18, 2025
🗿
Ive wasted so much of my life glued to my phone and although it hasn't been detrimental to my health or social life this addiction is holding me back from doing many things. It's hard to try and stray away from social media because most of the time, when i'm not on my phone I feel like i'm missing out on what's going. The feeling of needing to know trends, memes, and drama becomes draining to my mind. There are so many things which are way more productive and life enriching that I want to do but the ongoing feeling of needing to scroll one more time prevents me from doing these things. I'm aware that this all sounds like a lame excuse but for many this is a big problem. I feel somewhat disgusted with how lazy ive become, and Ive always felt like I never had time to do certain things, but as I look back it's simply because of that damn phone. It's time for me to stop caring about all the stupid shit I scroll past every single day and make a change. Definitely deleting TikTok and only keeping instagram for my friends. So this year and then on, I hope to read more, learn more, write more, and simply enjoy the world, with the hope to reconnect with myself and truly understand who I am as a person. I wish you all the same.
Jan 14, 2025
Top Recs from @flowers
🌙
doing bad things is good for your mental health sometimes. I think. idk
3d ago
👎
you can do whatever you want, but if you really want to hear my opinion on it... at best, ai-art is demoralizing to actual human beings and creates novelty slop that vaugely looks like an art piece, while not harboring any skill in using it. and theres nothing wrong with not wanting to make art fir the skill of it, though. but at worst, it's an environmental and economic disaster, a predatory business model to consumers and customers of AI, and a great way for businessmen to try and take creativity away from us to turn us into cogs in the machine. it's built off of the stolen work of artists who already struggled to make a living, now forced out by a tool that's turned on them with their own work. it can help make propaganda that is virtually unidentifiable, turn victims into deepfakes, and generally evil we have yet to see. and that's just the image side of things, but the cons of all types of ai models overlap.
I've had to watch people throw away their lifelong dreams because of this garbage. it's no coincidence elonely muskrat and every ceo you can think of are obsessed with it - it's a perverse business tool.
I wouldn't mind coexisting with it if it wasn't out to get me. but it is.
I also feel like it's the reason nobody makes fun photobashes or random photoshops anymore. it will never fully phase out human art but I think it's starting to take over the photography world, especially commercially. I'm sick of looking up real places and animals and sorting through fake slop im being told is real.
5d ago