Breaking My Phone Addiction

[plinytheelder1]

Hello everyone, I'm going to be posting my phone numbers daily here for some accountability so I can finally break this massive waste of time.

 

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[Roli]

Hello everyone, I'm going to be posting my phone numbers daily here for some accountability so I can finally break this massive waste of time.

If you're serious about this these tips helped me.

1. Delete all social media from your phone. You can still keep the accounts, but only access them from a laptop/pad.
2. Revoke your access to your email account. Unless you are a remote worker, you don't need access to your emails 24/7
3. Delete all games. If you're a chess player you can keep your chess account, as long as you play games of at least 10 minutes.
4. Like Biggie said, "This should have been number one for me". Stop taking your phone into the toilet when you take a dump. If you find yourself doing it automatically, consciously leave the toilet and put your phone down.
5. Get into putting on silent when working on your projects, you don't need to be available 24/7.
6. Embrace boredom, these are often times of great inspiration, so get into just sitting there staring at the wall and thinking.
7. If you don't already, get into reading books, but especially before you go to bed, even if it's for five minutes. This will help reset the need to look at movement before you sleep.

Do all of these things and the phone will become something you use to communicate, tell the time with, and perhaps take some notes on.

Good luck.

 

[shubham___3011]

Thanks for stating this i have tried and deleting the social medias from my phone and it really has helped me alot

 

[plinytheelder1]

Hello everyone, I'm going to be posting my phone numbers daily here for some accountability so I can finally break this massive waste of time.

Ok, first update.

I have been procrastinating badly on getting this set up and I finally put a few blockers in place today to make it more difficult to get onto the phone.

The first numbers are pretty dismal though.

It seems like the main problem apps are Samsung Internet, Kingdom Rush, Play Store, Snapchat, and Tinder.

Close to ten hours...

I am going to start by deleting Kingdom Rush, and blocking Samsung Internet. If I need to get online I can use my laptop.

My stated goal here is to get under 40 minutes per day.

 

[Roli]

Ok, first update.

I have been procrastinating badly on getting this set up and I finally put a few blockers in place today to make it more difficult to get onto the phone.

The first numbers are pretty dismal though.

It seems like the main problem apps are Samsung Internet, Kingdom Rush, Play Store, Snapchat, and Tinder.

Close to ten hours...

I am going to start by deleting Kingdom Rush, and blocking Samsung Internet. If I need to get online I can use my laptop.

My stated goal here is to get under 40 minutes per day.

Good start. Also, I'd advise deleting Tinder and swapping it with going out a bit more. The more real interactions you have, the less your phone will feel like a friend.

Keep it up, the more you try and do it and succeed, the more your drive to do it will grow.

 

[freek]

Hello everyone, I'm going to be posting my phone numbers daily here for some accountability so I can finally break this massive waste of time.

Hey man, if you're serious about breaking your phone addiction, try using a flip phone for a while.

I did this last year for about three months, and it was amazing. Now, I don't know anything about your life, and you might really need your phone for something, but for me, most of the reasons for having a phone did not outweigh the problems it caused (in terms of wasting time).

You can use WhatsApp on your laptop, as well as all school-related stuff. I did it while being in uni, and apart from a few inconvenient moments, it was totally fine. I had to ask for directions more often, and sometimes I could not participate in an exercise in the classroom. But the advantages were so much greater than the disadvantages.

I became a lot more social.

Sleep got a lot better.

Never missed a workout.

Was bored a lot more, which led to a lot more action-taking.

Having a flip phone is great for picking up girls in clubs.

And a lot more, most importantly more time—loads more time.

 

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[Roli]

Hey man, if you're serious about breaking your phone addiction, try using a flip phone for a while.

I did this last year for about three months, and it was amazing. Now, I don't know anything about your life, and you might really need your phone for something, but for me, most of the reasons for having a phone did not outweigh the problems it caused (in terms of wasting time).

You can use WhatsApp on your laptop, as well as all school-related stuff. I did it while being in uni, and apart from a few inconvenient moments, it was totally fine. I had to ask for directions more often, and sometimes I could not participate in an exercise in the classroom. But the advantages were so much greater than the disadvantages.

I became a lot more social.

Sleep got a lot better.

Never missed a workout.

Was bored a lot more, which led to a lot more action-taking.

Having a flip phone is great for picking up girls in clubs.

And a lot more, most importantly more time—loads more time.

My man!

 

[plinytheelder1]

Ok, I have been inactive for about a week, so here is my updated metrics.

This is very dismal, but the sources have been narrowed down to mostly my internet browser.

I have wasted probably 4-5 days of time just by being on my phone an insane amount.

I have gotten rid of Tinder so now Samsung Internet is the main source of my problems.

This makes me want to scream inside, but I have no other option than to continue.

 

[plinytheelder1]

Hey man, if you're serious about breaking your phone addiction, try using a flip phone for a while.

I did this last year for about three months, and it was amazing. Now, I don't know anything about your life, and you might really need your phone for something, but for me, most of the reasons for having a phone did not outweigh the problems it caused (in terms of wasting time).

You can use WhatsApp on your laptop, as well as all school-related stuff. I did it while being in uni, and apart from a few inconvenient moments, it was totally fine. I had to ask for directions more often, and sometimes I could not participate in an exercise in the classroom. But the advantages were so much greater than the disadvantages.

I became a lot more social.

Sleep got a lot better.

Never missed a workout.

Was bored a lot more, which led to a lot more action-taking.

Having a flip phone is great for picking up girls in clubs.

And a lot more, most importantly more time—loads more time.

Funny you should say that, I actually used a flip phone for a while at the insistence of my parents.

The main problem is that I tend to use the maps feature of the phone a lot, as well as some of the other functionality. I know I can use most of the features on a flip phone, but it makes things awkward with trying to do banking, socializing, or reservations.

I can look into it though.

 

[plinytheelder1]

Good start. Also, I'd advise deleting Tinder and swapping it with going out a bit more. The more real interactions you have, the less your phone will feel like a friend.

Keep it up, the more you try and do it and succeed, the more your drive to do it will grow.

Done! It feels better, I feel like it might be good to not focus on dating for a while like Aidan suggested and instead work on breaking this.

 

[plinytheelder1]

My way of holding myself accountable to this will be setting up my blocking system again, and making it harder to break.

Then putting up a checklist on my wall as a physical reminder of my record of success.

 

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[freek]

The main problem is that I tend to use the maps feature of the phone a lot

That doesn't sound like a flip phone to me. Just get a 15 euro Nokia, you can call and text but that's it.

but it makes things awkward with trying to do banking, socializing, or reservations.

Yeah it does make some things akward but that's the point, call somebody instead of sending them a tiktok. Ask someone for directions, do your banking on the pc and take your card with you. Call a restaurant to make a reservation. Socialize in the real world, it's not that hard. And more importantly if you really want to break your addiction as you say in the title of this thread, this will do the trick.

So just decide what you think is more important and stop complaining if "it makes banking socializing and reservasions akward" is your excuse. Imagine having 7 more hours in a day, that's literally what you will have if you decide to make this small change.

Also i am not saying that everyone needs to use a flip phone and all phones are bad. But if you feel like ou are addicted taking a step back can help. Even if it's for a few weeks or months.

 

[Roli]

Done! It feels better, I feel like it might be good to not focus on dating for a while like Aidan suggested and instead work on breaking this.

Good stuff!

There's nothing wrong with dating per se, it's just that when you do it through an app, you are focusing on one thing, what the person looks like. Whereas when you meet girls in the real world, you'll come across someone who ticks your 'personality boxes'. That person might take a terrible photo, the sort you'd swipe left without thinking about, meet them in the real world and you decide you have a connection and therefore go on to have a nice time together.

I don't know about your routine, but another tip I would give you is to go for a walk at a random point of the day and leave your phone at home. The chances are nobody will call, the sky won't fall in, and the invisible cord between you and the phone will get a bit weaker.

 

[plinytheelder1]

Hey everyone, it's been a couple of months since I last posted here...

I have been getting even worse over the last few months on the phone.

I can't seem to bring myself to get off this thing, and instead of socializing with people in school I am spending time scrolling on youtube shorts.

Yesterday I spent a literal 10 hours on it. Around an hour was just listening to an audiobook while driving, but the vast majority was a total waste.

I have wasted literal years of my life at this point doing electronics.

How do I beat this???

Modern life punishes you for not using it.....

 

[plinytheelder1]

Hey everyone, it's been a couple of months since I last posted here...

I have been getting even worse over the last few months on the phone.

I can't seem to bring myself to get off this thing, and instead of socializing with people in school I am spending time scrolling on youtube shorts.

Yesterday I spent a literal 10 hours on it. Around an hour was just listening to an audiobook while driving, but the vast majority was a total waste.

I have wasted literal years of my life at this point doing electronics.

How do I beat this???

Modern life punishes you for not using it.....

Maybe I'm just making useless efforts and I shouldn't even bother. Why do go fastlane when I can't even stop looking at my phone long enough to realize how I'm wasting my life.

I've been addicted to electronics since I was 10 F*cking years old...

How do I change habit this strong?

 

[freek]

Well, i've already given you the soltion. It just seems like you don't really care because if you did you would have taken my advice and have beaten this thing already

 

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[LurChi]

Seems to me you´ve probably got no goals which you are pursuing in your life?
Because if you had them you wouldn´t waste your time.

 

[403burnout]

I set out to reduce my screen time a couple months ago and got from ~2 hrs a day to <30 minutes a day. At this point my phone is basically just used for calling/texting and basic utilities like calculator and alarm clock.

• Delete the apps that are a waste of time. If you aren't willing to uninstall game/social media apps you're not going to succeed at this. It's like dieting - you win by not buying junk food at the store. If the junk food is in your house, you will eat it. If the waste of time apps are on your phone, you will waste your time on them. You might think you can set parameters like time limits, but they won't work.
• Set your phone to greyscale. It sounds stupid, but it really does trick your brain and make you think the phone is way less interesting.

Try doing those 2 things. It should take you like 10 minutes to delete the time-waster apps and set your colors to black/white. You've been trying to do this for months but it really only takes ~10 minutes of action to start making meaningful progress. If you can't motivate yourself for 10 minutes to delete some apps and change a color setting are you really that serious about this?

 

[Timo.]

You want an easy solution. But thats not how it works. It won't be easy.

You tell yourself that you will reduce it over time. But this won't work.

You already know what you should do. No new tips here will help you beat your addiction.

Its really simple: Delete every social media app from you phone. Stop with the excuses

 

[perchboy]

You spend too much time on your phone because you HAVE TOO MUCH TIME

Focus on something that matters and work on it everyday. Magically you’ll stop finding yourself on your phone

What’s even better is that instead of just saying “I’m not addicted to my phone anymore”, you can actually make progress in something.

 

[Roli]

Maybe I'm just making useless efforts and I shouldn't even bother. Why do go fastlane when I can't even stop looking at my phone long enough to realize how I'm wasting my life.

I've been addicted to electronics since I was 10 F*cking years old...

How do I change habit this strong?

One day at a time brother.

First habit to get into - turn your phone off at night. Then in the morning when you automatically go to grab it, it's off.

If you use the alarm function, buy a cheap alarm clock instead.

Second habit to get into - Go for a walk (without your phone) first thing in the morning.

Third habit - Get into books, take one with you into the bathroom.

Fourth habit - Start reading for 5 minutes before bed, even if it's after your phone bingeing.

Fifth habit - Get into the "In 10 minutes" method. Every time you want to use the phone, say you'll do it in 10 minutes.

Also, if you can, get rid of the Samsung and buy a shitty phone. And don't believe the crap you're feeding yourself about how, 'modern living is impossible without a phone'. That is bullshit and you know it. You can do just fine without your phone, how many calls have you had in the last week that would have been devastating if you'd missed them?

It's tough, but not impossible. You need to rebuild your concentration, if you ignore everything else I've said, please get into reading books (on paper). It will be hard at first because of your depleted attention span, but it will get better.

 

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[SnowLava]

Maybe I'm just making useless efforts and I shouldn't even bother. Why do go fastlane when I can't even stop looking at my phone long enough to realize how I'm wasting my life.

I've been addicted to electronics since I was 10 F*cking years old...

How do I change habit this strong?

Its ok man. I felt the same way as well. It will decrease trust me. You just got to be 1% better everyday

 

[Spenny]

Hey everyone, it's been a couple of months since I last posted here...

I have been getting even worse over the last few months on the phone.

I can't seem to bring myself to get off this thing, and instead of socializing with people in school I am spending time scrolling on youtube shorts.

Yesterday I spent a literal 10 hours on it. Around an hour was just listening to an audiobook while driving, but the vast majority was a total waste.

I have wasted literal years of my life at this point doing electronics.

How do I beat this???

Modern life punishes you for not using it.....

@freek has already given the solution.

• I saw it
• I went, "Hmm, that's a good idea. I hate how my phone permeates everywhere, and I have to fight against it. It's a tool, not a master."
• I researched to find something that could run Spotify & audible with Bluetooth. It also must be a cheap flip phone. It must have Google Maps.
• I found the Cat S22.

This thing also happens to be indestructible - a true brick phone. I remember friends throwing their phones across the schoolyard years ago to demonstrate.

Continue wallowing in self-pity and doubt. The only salvation is to take action & make a change.

This whole ordeal took me half an hour, not three months. Take action.

 

[heavy_industry]

Having a flip phone is great for picking up girls in clubs.

 

[Kevin88660]

Hello everyone, I'm going to be posting my phone numbers daily here for some accountability so I can finally break this massive waste of time.

Even if using phone for business also hurts.

I am some tech neck issues now. Now doing dead hang everyday to remedy it.

 

[Beerbread]

I'm in a similar boat and started reading How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price. A lot of it drives home to what's mentioned in the thread but she also provides studies on how checking your phone a million times a day changes your brain chemistry. It's a quick read and I already seen an improvement.

Moral of the story is, you have to treat your phone addiction like it's alcoholism or smoking.

 

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[carlosayalaa9]

Hello everyone, I'm going to be posting my phone numbers daily here for some accountability so I can finally break this massive waste of time.

im on the same path and what I've noticed is that I don't delete social media apps but simply just remove them from my home screen, and that way if I really need to go on Instagram, I have to search for the name. I did it with Snapchat 2 months ago and now I don't use Snapchat at all. Pointless now. If it's not in sight, it's out of mind.

 

[plinytheelder1]

Hello everyone, I've been offline for a while now, but there is some good news. I've been making a lot of progress on the main issue of this thread, my phone addiction. I took the advice of some of the people here and switched over to a flip phone about 2 months ago. My average phone time has gone down to less than two hours a day.

So good things have been happening there, but I did have a couple major slaps in the face.

I've been doing firefighting during my summers for the experience and money to pay for school.You normally have to apply ahead of time to make it in, but I missed the boat and so I had to scramble for the last couple of months to apply for jobs and interview. I also moved out of my parents house, so I needed housing for the summer.

I ended up putting myself at risk of having to move back in or living in super expensive housing locally. So between that and almost not having a job I learned a huge lesson in preparedness. I learned that it's very very important to take care of things on a timely basis.

I also missed out on a kind of absurd amount of opportunities with girls, but I also had some great success so it balances out.

I also took a big step forward by taking a math class for the first time since my freshman year of high school. I had a large fear of math since I got a bad grade in the last class and thought I was just stupid. Much to my chagrin I discovered I was doing well and was learning the material. Funny how much of a difference studying makes.

I've also been progressing well in working out. I can work with significant weights and do 18 pull-ups now.

My general grades have been good and I am learning a huge amount about manufacturing and technical work.

I'm overall feeling good about things, and I feel that what I am pursuing will open up some excellent opportunities in the years to come. I've come a long way in just a couple years of school, and I feel good about things.

 

[plinytheelder1]

If you're serious about this these tips helped me.

1. Delete all social media from your phone. You can still keep the accounts, but only access them from a laptop/pad.
2. Revoke your access to your email account. Unless you are a remote worker, you don't need access to your emails 24/7
3. Delete all games. If you're a chess player you can keep your chess account, as long as you play games of at least 10 minutes.
4. Like Biggie said, "This should have been number one for me". Stop taking your phone into the toilet when you take a dump. If you find yourself doing it automatically, consciously leave the toilet and put your phone down.
5. Get into putting on silent when working on your projects, you don't need to be available 24/7.
6. Embrace boredom, these are often times of great inspiration, so get into just sitting there staring at the wall and thinking.
7. If you don't already, get into reading books, but especially before you go to bed, even if it's for five minutes. This will help reset the need to look at movement before you sleep.

Do all of these things and the phone will become something you use to communicate, tell the time with, and perhaps take some notes on.

Good luck.

I have taken action on a lot of these successfully now. I don't use any social media anymore, and I deleted all of my games quite a long time ago. I've also been reading a lot. I appreciate the comment.

 

[plinytheelder1]

Hey man, if you're serious about breaking your phone addiction, try using a flip phone for a while.

I did this last year for about three months, and it was amazing. Now, I don't know anything about your life, and you might really need your phone for something, but for me, most of the reasons for having a phone did not outweigh the problems it caused (in terms of wasting time).

You can use WhatsApp on your laptop, as well as all school-related stuff. I did it while being in uni, and apart from a few inconvenient moments, it was totally fine. I had to ask for directions more often, and sometimes I could not participate in an exercise in the classroom. But the advantages were so much greater than the disadvantages.

I became a lot more social.

Sleep got a lot better.

Never missed a workout.

Was bored a lot more, which led to a lot more action-taking.

Having a flip phone is great for picking up girls in clubs.

And a lot more, most importantly more time—loads more time.

Haha you were very right about switching to the flip phone. I got a TCL and it's been pretty cool not wanting to check the damn thing every few seconds. It doesn't even have internet which is surprisingly relieving.

Also the thing about girls finding it interesting is super true, it's a good little gimmick when I do approaches now.