Things to Do Instead of Picking Up That Damn Phone | Combatting Social Media Addiction

It's getting bad again... I think to myself as I take a glance at my screen time reaching peaks of 9-10 hours over the course of two weeks.

How did this happen?

I'm usually so good about this...

Is this where all my time has gone?

Is this why I can't sleep?

I begin ruminating over and over again about this oversight and I don't know how, but I know it's time for me to take control over this habit-- er, addiction-- again.

We all know phones are addictive and social media apps make it hard to put them down and even with all this awareness, even after you make the decision to put them down, it's so easy to pick them back up again. We suddenly have so much time and awareness of that time that we no longer know what to do with it.

Well, after my brief realization of just how much time really is in a day, I have come up with a list of activities that we can do to fill up the space that don't require being sucked back into this time (and soul) sucking habit.

Get Active.

Let me preface this with, I will never tell people to get gym memberships or lose weight or count macros or whatever else skinny-tok tries to shove down our throats. I am 100% pro doing whatever you want, can, and able with your body and embracing whatever state it happens to exist in. So if you're worried about reading something triggering here, know that that's not my intention in this section. It is simply to encourage you to do anything that gets you moving that you find fun!

I love being busy. It's just one of those things about myself, probably my Capricorn rising or just living in a house where we felt like we always had to be doing something... I don't know. Either way, being busy is important to me and so is being active, but when I felt like I had too much going on, my workouts would be the first thing to be compromised. It wasn't until I put the damn phone down that I realized that 1. I really wasn't all that busy... and 2. now that I'm really not all that busy scrolling, I have more time to do my workouts and I can take as long as I want and because it's fun, I do.

I am not in the gym.

Let me say that again...

I am not in the gym, lifting weights, running for miles, or doing anything that I just don't find fun.

My workouts include:

• Going for walks outside with the boys

• Going for walks on my walking pad while catching up on YouTube videos or practicing vocal warm ups

• Yoga

• Pilates

• Pole dancing in my at home studio

And I'm not trying to talk ill of anyone who is doing more than me or trying to lose weight or trying to bodybuild or whatever, but for me, these are ideal workouts because they are low-pressure, fun, and creative. I can do all of these and check out or in as much as I need to and it just works, kinda like when I'm on my phone checking in or out, but this actually adds to my life as opposed to just sucking away.

So find a way to stay active, ideally a couple of ways so you can switch it up like apps, and put that phone down!!

Make Something.

As an artist, I really used to justify my social media/phone addiction as a way to foster my creativity. Like I was using Pinterest to help me come up with outfits or Instagram to give me photography ideas, TikTok to help me find trends to ignore (because really I am so bad at doing trending things on social media). But you know I feel more creative now that I'm off the apps? And my ideas feel more satisfying because I'm having to go through the process of trial and error and then, hopefully, success.

I am truly of the belief that to some degree, ingesting media can be inspirational, but you have to know that your brain can only take in so much information and hold onto it before it starts to go from inspirational to a way to paralyze your process whether that's in the form of lowering your self confidence, making you feel inadequate, or inspiration overload.

Before social media, people had magazines or television/movies to pull inspiration from and then once that media was over, it was over. It was time to go do something with that inspiration. But now, with social media, the inspiration never stops. You can scroll forever and there is no end to what's available out there so we have to be strong enough to stop and just create something-- anything.

I have actually started shooting self portraits again. Actually I've started shooting so much, even outside of self portraits, that I haven't even shared because my goal is simply just to create or make something, not necessarily share.

Not everything needs to be shared.

God-- we know that... side-eyes all those white people that started to admit not showering fully

But not every piece of your work is meant for public consumption and sometimes it's okay to create things just for you and simply because you enjoy it. So remember that when you're about to make something and go "well how will I share this? Will anyone care? It's not my niche." Babe, you are the niche, but also fuck all that! You can make something simply because you enjoy it and want to. That's reason enough-- because YOU care and YOU want to do it. And fall in love with the process of creation in its entirety. From inspiration strike to trying to make something work to your idea not quite coming out as you planned to going back to the drawing board and then trying again and again until it does work. Fall in love with creating again and then sharing if you please.

Get a Hobby. Multiple Hobbies.

This kinda piggybacks off the last one, but not really because the last one was more focused on doing what you already do, but understanding that you don't need to research yourself to death for inspiration to strike. This one is more focused on doing anything, but the thing you do online.

I do clothing alterations now. I also draw, mostly little sketches, but drawings nonetheless. I also read. Journal. I'm building a computer. I do a lot of things outside of my phone and online that nobody really knows about-- or at least I don't share much about because it's okay to have hobbies that do absolutely nothing for you, but bring joy and when you're off your phone, you have more than enough time to invest in those hobbies. Also, don't I sound like a fucking cool ass person with all of my hobbies???

Being on your phone is not a hobby. I'm so sorry. It's not. It's a soul and time suck that makes you believe you're more interesting and important than you really are.

When you're on your phone, what are you really doing?

Sure, you're connecting with a few friends, supporting a few businesses, maybe telling a bit of your story-- all great things! But if you really looked at how much time you're doing those things vs how much time you're doom-scrolling for anything to react to, putting some words out into the ether that have minimal impact, and feeling that vein in your forehead start to pulsate because someone said something homophobic, racist, sexist, any other -ist or -ic, you'd see that the time is pretty disproportionately spent.

Put your phone down and become an expert in your cause instead! Start writing letters to your friends! Do some home repairs to expel some of that anger via a hammer! Anything!! And then relish in the fact that instead of indulging in the illusion of doing something productive or worthwhile, you put up a new shelf for your growing astrology book collection that you use when sending out monthly readings to your friends in your new paper-zine that you've started collaging together in your free time that you now have.

And you now you actually are a pretty fucking cool ass person.

Conclusion

If you're looking to decrease your screentime but don't know what to do instead of picking up that damn phone, I hope this list gives you some ideas to get you started. Trust me when I say, my life has been much better for it as well as my overall being. I have so much more time now for these fun activities and I'm working on keeping the habit alive every day.

Until next time,