u/julietina01

Top 1 – definitely TikTok.
All kinds of content, good and bad trends, tempting products, hot guys dancing, social drama, catchy music… but overall, most of it doesn’t really help me at all. It just wastes my time and rots my brain because I get so addicted to scrolling that I don’t know how to stop. This app is actually dangerous because it makes us heavily addicted, leading us to spend hours scrolling and ending up feeling tired and like we’ve wasted our time. - Deleted.

2 – Instagram
I got addicted to consuming English reels motivational stuff like David Goggins, “try hard or die young,” etc because it felt like I was “learning something” or “moving forward” while watching them. But in reality, I could spend the whole morning scrolling reels and then realize it wasn’t even helping my listening or boosting my motivation. I was just sitting there thinking, “I’ll find one video that motivates me, then I’ll start studying,” but in the end, no video actually did that.

I’ve basically doomscrolled through all those motivational videos already, and watching more doesn’t change anything. There’s nothing new to see, and no motivation left to gain if I keep relying on that cheap dopamine from reels.

Instagram – not deleted yet because it’s the only app I use to post photos and keep memories of my daily life. I’ll try to stop using it for doomscrolling, especially during the day.

3 – Threads
This platform feels like a place where people can interact with others without actually going out into the real world. You just scroll, post, and comment, and after a while, a few people interact with you, which feels nice, especially for introverts like me. The content is very diverse: funny, sad, clickbait, scams, study materials, and more.

I think the app suggests random posts, which makes it easier to get interactions. Users feel like they’re being heard after getting a few likes and comments, which creates a sense of engagement. That can lead to FOMO and eventually addiction.

I haven’t deleted this app yet because I still use it to keep up with study materials. There are a few accounts on here that share really useful resources. But I don’t feel the need to use it much anymore since it’s gotten quite boring, and there’s more toxic content than positive.

4 – YouTube
I often use YouTube to listen to super catchy remix music—it’s so addictive that I end up forgetting to study. Besides that, there are also motivational videos telling me to stop doomscrolling, stop procrastinating, “do it now or never,” “you don’t have time”…

I’m really hooked on that kind of content. It’s like I keep doomscrolling just to find videos that tell me how to stop doomscrolling which sounds kind of stupid

I can not delete this app because I still need it for reviewing study materials and watching lectures related to my major. I’ll try to limit listening to remix music and watching random, useless videos.

5 – Facebook
This app is sooooo boring, most of the content is just people selling things or posting affiliate links, and my friends on facebook only post like once a year. There’s nothing really interesting left on it.

I still keep it just to stay in touch with older family members like my grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

6 – Reddit

The content here is quite engaging and diverse, and there aren’t many sales or affiliate links. Most people use English, too. I don’t use it much, just occasionally go on to read a few posts to improve my reading skills (English is my second language)

But using it too much isn’t good either. People mostly post about their own personal issues, which doesn’t really have anything to do with me, so there’s no point in reading too much.

7 – X
There’s a lot of p*rn content and unmoderated material, with some pretty disturbing stuff on this app. If you use it too much, you can easily become addicted to p*rn. It’s very time-consuming and drains your energy.

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Reels and posts work like a slot machine, they give me this feeling of not knowing what’s coming next, so I just keep scrolling try to find sth fun. In general, I feel like social media platforms make users feel heard and recognized, while also creating FOMO if they miss out on something online. And gradually, we become addicted to social media, or more broadly, we addicted to our phones.

Whenever I’ve gotten bored of scrolling, it’s already dark outside and I’m completely drained from consuming too much cheap dopamine. Cheap dopamine from social media also makes studying - something that is already difficult and boring - even harder, because it gives much less dopamine compared to reels, making it harder to stay focused.

Recently, I’ve had to turn my phone to grayscale to make it less appealing. I also put the screen time display in home screen, so I can see how long I’ve been using my phone and know when to stop instead of scrolling more. I’m also do a bit of exercise: running, squats,.., because I think spending some time working out will make me less idle and help me use my phone less.

I’m trying to only use my phone for essentials like setting alarms, checking messages, and making calls. Using social media and watching reels too much really makes me feel dumber, even if my screen time rarely reaches double digits, just around 7 or 8 hours of scrolling is already enough to mess with my brain. I'm really tired of this shjt. I don’t want to spend a third of my 20s in front of a screen, wasting time to caring more about strangers’ lives and their personal issues than living my own life

My current goal is to keep my phone usage within 4–5 hours a day, and once I’m consistent with that, I’ll cut it down further to just 3 hours, even though it’s hard, I have to do this to protect my mental health.

If anyone has any advice on quitting phone addiction, feel free to share.

Top 1 – definitely TikTok.
All kinds of content, good and bad trends, tempting products, hot guys dancing, social drama, catchy music… but overall, most of it doesn’t really help me at all. It just wastes my time and rots my brain because I get so addicted to scrolling that I don’t know how to stop. This app is actually dangerous because it makes us heavily addicted, leading us to spend hours scrolling and ending up feeling tired and like we’ve wasted our time. - Deleted.

2 – Instagram
I got addicted to consuming English reels motivational stuff like David Goggins, “try hard or die young,” etc because it felt like I was “learning something” or “moving forward” while watching them. But in reality, I could spend the whole morning scrolling reels and then realize it wasn’t even helping my listening or boosting my motivation. I was just sitting there thinking, “I’ll find one video that motivates me, then I’ll start studying,” but in the end, no video actually did that.

I’ve basically doomscrolled through all those motivational videos already, and watching more doesn’t change anything. There’s nothing new to see, and no motivation left to gain if I keep relying on that cheap dopamine from reels.

Instagram – not deleted yet because it’s the only app I use to post photos and keep memories of my daily life. I’ll try to stop using it for doomscrolling, especially during the day.

3 – Threads
This platform feels like a place where people can interact with others without actually going out into the real world. You just scroll, post, and comment, and after a while, a few people interact with you, which feels nice, especially for introverts like me. The content is very diverse: funny, sad, clickbait, scams, study materials, and more.

I think the app suggests random posts, which makes it easier to get interactions. Users feel like they’re being heard after getting a few likes and comments, which creates a sense of engagement. That can lead to FOMO and eventually addiction.

I haven’t deleted this app yet because I still use it to keep up with study materials. There are a few accounts on here that share really useful resources. But I don’t feel the need to use it much anymore since it’s gotten quite boring, and there’s more toxic content than positive.

4 – YouTube
I often use YouTube to listen to super catchy remix music—it’s so addictive that I end up forgetting to study. Besides that, there are also motivational videos telling me to stop doomscrolling, stop procrastinating, “do it now or never,” “you don’t have time”…

I’m really hooked on that kind of content. It’s like I keep doomscrolling just to find videos that tell me how to stop doomscrolling which sounds kind of stupid

I can not delete this app because I still need it for reviewing study materials and watching lectures related to my major. I’ll try to limit listening to remix music and watching random, useless videos.

5 – Facebook
This app is sooooo boring, most of the content is just people selling things or posting affiliate links, and my friends on facebook only post like once a year. There’s nothing really interesting left on it.

I still keep it just to stay in touch with older family members like my grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

6 – Reddit

The content here is quite engaging and diverse, and there aren’t many sales or affiliate links. Most people use English, too. I don’t use it much, just occasionally go on to read a few posts to improve my reading skills (English is my second language)

But using it too much isn’t good either. People mostly post about their own personal issues, which doesn’t really have anything to do with me, so there’s no point in reading too much.

7 – X
There’s a lot of p*rn content and unmoderated material, with some pretty disturbing stuff on this app. If you use it too much, you can easily become addicted to p*rn. It’s very time-consuming and drains your energy.

-----

In general, I feel like social media platforms make users feel heard and recognized, while also creating FOMO if they miss out on something online.

Reels and posts work like a slot machine, they give me this feeling of not knowing what’s coming next, so I just keep scrolling try to find sth fun. In general, I feel like social media platforms make users feel heard and recognized, while also creating FOMO if they miss out on something online. And when I’ve gotten bored of scrolling, it’s already dark outside and I’m completely drained from consuming too much cheap dopamine.

Consuming too much cheap dopamine from social media also makes studying - something that is already difficult and boring - even harder, because it gives much less dopamine compared to reels, making it harder to stay focused.

Recently, I’ve had to turn my phone to grayscale to make it less appealing. I also put the screen time display in home screen, so I can see how long I’ve been using my phone and know when to stop instead of scrolling more.

Now I’m trying to avoid doomscrolling and only use my phone for essentials like setting alarms, checking messages, and making calls. Using social media and watching reels too much really makes me feel dumber, even if my screen time rarely reaches double digits, just around 7 or 8 hours of scrolling is already enough to mess with my brain.

Now I’m trying to keep my screen time to just 4–5 hours a day even though I know it’s hard. If anyone has any advice on quitting phone addiction, feel free to share.