How to spent less time on my phone?

What can you do?

 

I agree. Although this place is great and would rather be here than anywhere else it can still be an excuse just to waste time.

I'm in the same place as you buddy, so speaking to myself here, but have hope that new opportunities will start to come your way so you won't really need to waste time. I refuse to 'try' be productive just for the sake of it as I just know it can do me more harm than good - it has to come from inspiration, not 'guilt' [for want of a better word].

Practically speaking be patient, and wait for these good things to come to you, and do what you can when you can. Get rid of your phone if you can, try getting a 2G phone. Allow yourself long periods of boredom, you're just learning to be with yourself.

As I say, I'm speaking to myself here, so I don't pretend to have it all together.

 

i got a shitty old prepaid 2G samsung phone .. can only text and call... instant solution

 

I think you're absolutely right on this.
We are wasting our lives on this. We are amusing ourselves to death.

I had the opportunity to spend 10 days in a very remote place, without electricity and no internet.
That was a real eye opener:
1. smartphone are bad for our health.
2. we don't really need them

So make it disappear !! (at least for most of the day)

PS: congrats on your habits!

 

I have wound a great solution to this, turn your phone screen monochrome, without color you get much less dopamine from opening apps compulsively and you end up only opening and reading the things you absolutely need. At least it works wonders for me.

 

Instagram is definitely a time-suck for me, but this has helped:

Every morning, I delete the Instagram app from my phone completely. When it's there, I have to rely on my willpower not to check it, and you can imagine how that goes. So I just make sure it's not there. Sometimes out of habit I'll even try to check it and realize it's gone, and that reminds me that I don't want to waste my time browsing pics.

Later in the evening, I'll reinstall it and browse for just a little bit. But the next morning, away it goes.

 

A couple years ago I used a flip-phone for eight months in the interest of trying to kick this addiction. I also spent 45 days in inpatient treatment for sex addiction where I wasn't allowed to have my phone--at all. It was amazing and it felt great to be untethered from it, but at the same time, I was in an environment where I never needed it.

In the end, it was just too annoying to not have GPS, mobile e-mail, and music. So now I have an iPhone that does 99% of what I need it to do, but it cannot browse the internet. Anything I need the internet for can wait until I'm home on my proper desktop.

 

You removed the browser or how so? Congrats on cutting that out. Being able to look up anything any time can be so addicting.

I'm doing this too. It helps a bit. Everything looks a little more boring. So I put the phone away faster. I definitely watch less videos and pictures now.

 

I have a big problem with internet browsing and YT watching. I have a feeling I exchanged binge PMO for this addiction. Not phone, but desktop use.

 

What are you using your computer for?
If you're using it for work, have you tried the pomodoro time management technique?
In a nutshell using a timer.
It helped me keep track of my time on a task compare to my time on unproductive surfing...

 

this...

 

Thanks for advice. I use it for work, but I will try some kind of a timer and content restrictions. To be honest my biggest problem right now is mindless YT watching. I can't block it entirely because I need it for educational purposes, but 90 % of what I watch ends up being work and recovery unrelated garbage.

 

I know what you feel...
At google, they sure know how to turn Youtube addictive, with the autoplay and the suggestions...
On Firefox, I prevent Youtube from adding cookies, so it won't memorize who I am, what I like or what I crave.
This makes the suggestions less tempting (and it seems to stop autoplay too somehow).

Good luck with that and with the online studying.

 

- Stop phone data plan
- Call phone comp. enable parental controls, or DNS filter.
- Enable DNS filter yourself through Router settings, or on device settings.
- Block yourself from home WIFI, while disconnected from High speed data plan.
- Sell phone and buy flip phone.
- Switch educational needs to computer, or books.

 

-Delete the apps you use a lot
-Screentime if on IOS
-get a brick

 

Spend more time working