I'm Online Too Much! Help! (1 Viewer)

[Mike Frezon]

This is something I say to myself every day...and know I MUST do something about.

Which, I realize, is ironic as I need to be online right now to compose and post this message.

But I've been retired for a while now (I'm 66 years old)...with great plans that I am going to accomplish various goals (more reading, learn this, do that, get this/that project done)...and am not getting any of it done. And I am ticked-off about it.

I don't do Facebook (which I see as a positive). But I've been an active member/moderator of the HTF for nearly a quarter-century. (Interestingly, I NEVER look at the HTF on my phone. I always make that a laptop-only activity.) And I regularly post on Twitter (dog stuff only) but am fairly active with the Golden Retriever community there. But I also find myself regularly checking weather/news/my Twitter feed/mail/Amazon cart/family texts...

And then on Sunday, I get these horrible reports that I've averaged eight hours a day (or so) on my phone.

This has GOT to stop.

I understand the "necessity" of smartphones in 2025. But how are you all dealing with limiting yourself on your devices? So that we don't find ourselves approaching the end of life with our eyes glued to our phone?!?

 

[SD_Brian]

One thing I've done that's helped was to remove social media apps from my phone. I didn't delete my accounts, but now if I want to doom scroll, I have to be in front of my computer to do it, which is less convenient than staring at my phone, so it has reduced my phone (and social media) time considerably.

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

I'm 59. Here's something that worked for my idle doom-scrolling: Instead of planning to learn something, I actually learned something. But it had to be something big, sufficient enough to significantly divert my attention away from the other stuff—on or off my phone. I did not set out to do this, it just happened.

My example: During COVID lock-down, I was doom-scrolling the news a lot. Then I stumbled over a virology podcast, "This Week in Virology." This piqued my interest in the subject for some reason (having no previous background in this area). This led me to subscribe to a related immunology podcast called "Immune." Then I discovered full college semester YouTube lectures on virology, immunology, biochemistry, evolution of infectious diseases, etc. all for free! I bought some textbooks on the subject. I used Google's Notebook LM to synthesize various written materials (which can generate fake AI podcasts that break complex topics into understandable bites). So far, my interest has not waned, so I guess I got lucky in my subject matter of choice.

Point being, I went from slurping salty ramen and wondering if I'll die gasping, to being pretty damned versed in some cool sciencey stuff. And still learning.

I also did you what did... set aside special times for my doom-scrolling. Like, say, when I'm having dinner by myself somewhere. Then it feels more like a reward than an addiction, if that makes sense. During the day, I barely touch my phone.

 

[Jeffrey D]

I am online through my smart phone every day, for at least 2 hours. I only use it for this site and a handful of others, no social media.

 

[TravisR]

And then on Sunday, I get these horrible reports that I've averaged eight hours a day (or so) on my phone.

Your only problem is checking that report. Turn that off and you'll be fine.


I stopped going on Twitter entirely about seven months ago and that's saved me literally an hour or two of wasted time and anger every day. No doubt I'm still online too much but at least, it's time spent in a much more pleasant way. I only check Instagram on my phone and my feed is 99.9% devoid of politics and I just get pictures of cute dogs or Star Wars stuff or old comic books.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

But how are you all dealing with limiting yourself on your devices?

I found a few tricks that work for me. iPhone has a feature called “Downtime” that will lock all of the apps after a certain time of your choosing or for a certain window (for example, you can set it for 9pm-9am). You can then choose which apps to exempt from that, so that you’ll always get your text messages and emails (if you want them). When you try to click on an app during Downtime that isn’t exempted, the phone will warn you that it’s locked out and give you the option to override for 1 minute, 15 minutes, the rest of the day, or not to open it. I found I was doing a lot of stuff on apps more out of habit or boredom than necessity or desire, and having that prompt forces me to think “Do I really need to be checking this right now?” and usually just stopping to think about it makes me put the phone away without checking. And if it is something I want to do, I’ll select one of the time limit options so that I have to check quickly and I don’t just fall into a rabbit hole of pointless online activity. It felt obnoxious for the first few days I had it set up but has been useful once I got used to it.

I also moved a lot of my “rabbit hole” / “mindless scrolling” apps off the first page on my phone. They’re still easy enough to find but that forces me to specifically seek out those apps rather than absentmindedly opening them because they’re right there. Stuff like Google Maps or the remote apps for my home theater devices stay on the main page so I can find them easy when I need directions or want to turn up the stereo volume, but social media and news apps got moved further away so I have to put at least half a second’s thought into whether or not I really want to open them.

This seemed almost so obvious and silly and easy to get around that I was so skeptical it would help moderate my phone use but it really has helped.

 

[jcroy]

Flip phone.

(Dunno if this is still possible nowadays).

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Flip phone.

(Dunno if this is still possible nowadays).

My elderly mother has a Jitterbug flip phone. We just had to buy her a new one a few months ago. The service is from Lively, which is owned by Best Buy.

 

[John Dirk]

Interesting, Mike, because I'd actually been wondering why I wasn't seeing as much of you around here lately. I miss some of our back-and-forth regarding music, etc.

It does occur to me, however, that the best way to overcome an undesirable habit might be to replace it with a desirable one. Do you have any outdoor hobbies? I do a lot of yard and home improvement stuff and also love riding my motorcycle. These activities help me divide my time between indoors and outdoors.

My job required me to have my phone within reach at all times and I sat on countless engineering and troubleshooting calls that sometimes lasted 8 hours or more. As a retiree, I now have an absolute hatred for phones and only use mine to interface with my "smart home" and various HT-related apps, such as the Audyssey MultEQ editor.

 

[Bryan^H]

Flip phone….if that is an option for you.
It is all I have, and will ever have.
I already hate being PC addicted. An iPhone would ruin me.

So here is a story for you.

A few years ago my internet went down for close to four weeks. My internet provider was apologetic and offered a couple extra weeks (and the down time) free. At first I was angry, but by the end of the first week I was as happy as I have ever been.
I’m not joking, it was such a beautiful experience. I read more books, I watched more of my movies and TV shows on disc, and I hiked, and got outside more. It honestly felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
It felt like the mid 90’s again…it was surreal. It was amazing.
I checked my email on my break at work, but even that got to be just once a week.

When my internet was restored, I fell back to the same bad habits of spending hours on YouTube (I don’t really enjoy it, don’t know why I bother) and other sites I spend way too much time on.

I was happier without internet. But out of convenience I will always have it.

 

[DaveF]

Go to the gym. Then you can be online between sets and feel good about it.

Not that I would be doing that right now….

 

[JohnRice]

I'm pretty much a logistics guy. So, my advice will be either appreciated or infuriating.

The way to do something... is to do it.

Seriously. I find the best way to do, or accomplish something, is to think about how it would be done successfully, identify my vulnerabilities with it, assess what I can do to change the bad habit(s), make a plan, and follow through on it. You have to be vigilant. You can't let yourself go down the rabbit hole because you just don't feel like sticking to it today. What I always ask myself is "What then"? As in, not only how do I achieve the objective, but how do I sustain it long term? I do NOT carry my phone around on my person all the time. It sits on my desk at work, so I can see if a text came in. When I get home, I set it on a desk in the dining room and leave it there. Just glancing at it occasionally. I only use it as a phone specifically for critical calls. I really mostly use it for notifications, not interaction. The phone number I give out is my home phone, which is VoIP, and I receive any messages by email. It's a layer of removal that keeps me from being tethered to my iPhone.

I do look at my iPad far too often, but have been able to avoid doom-scrolling, for the most part. There's really only one way to stop yourself from doing that. By stopping yourself. I just try to keep that in the back of my mind and self regulate. Sooner than you think, the bad habits will be replaced with healthier ones.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I already hate being PC addicted. An iPhone would ruin me.

I'm the same but I do have an Android. I rarely go online with it, though.

 

[John*Wells]

I know I can help myself by deleting my social apps and just using them on my computer that someone already mentioned. I really need to