TL;DR
- Swap the scroll, don’t just quit it. Replace the time you spend doomscrolling with something that adds to your day, like a book, a podcast, or a video you actually chose.
- Don’t look for a separate hour for family time. Build it into your existing routine, like a shared dinner or a phone call on the way home.
- Use your commute on purpose. Instead of putting on songs, listen to interesting podcasts or educational content, depending on your personal goals.
- Give it time. Breaking the habit took me 4-5 months, so don’t expect it to stick in a week.
City life looks fancy, brings convenience, takes away hassles, and yet turns out to be sadly lonely. To cope, you switch to social media and drown yourself in reels, doomscrolling endlessly, only to realise another day got wasted between work, commute, and cheap internet, while also making yourself more vulnerable to health issues.
I’ve been there. I lived the same life for almost 2 years in Bangalore, the city I call home, until I met my now husband. I learned to optimise my time and do things I actually wanted to, instead of being at the receiving end of mindless content that does no good at the end of the day. This is how I quit doomscrolling and built habits that actually stuck.
What I Learned From My Husband’s Screen Habits
To begin with, my husband hates wasting time on doomscrolling. His day is spread across three main departments: working, stretching out (his exercise), and spending time with me. He watches reels only when he is in the washroom. I kid you not, I have been living with him for more than 8 months now, and I witness this every single day.
And entertainment? While he is stretching out, he will play an episode of a TV series or a movie. Or when we have dinner together each night, we will watch a couple of episodes of How I Met Your Mother or whatever else we have in progress. Watching him made me see that the difference wasn’t about having more free time. It was about deciding where that time goes.
Where I Was Going Wrong
I, on the contrary, was someone who would close Instagram just to open it again. I got so addicted to the reels and the doomscrolling that I didn’t keep track of time and ended up regretting it later. My office cab ride alone was a minimum of 1 hour each way, so at least 2 hours a day were gone. Whether I was trying to read a book, doing my work, or commuting, I would reach for reels to distract myself. It had become my guilty pleasure. It wasn’t a habit I was proud of, and I certainly wanted to change it for myself.
How I Quit Doomscrolling
First, I started watching meaningful content on my cab rides instead of scrolling reels. What counts as meaningful content? It doesn’t have to be educational all the time; I know that can get boring easily. For me, it is travel planning videos if I have a trip coming up, an explainer video if there is a topic I want to learn about, or an interview on any random subject of interest. All of these so that my attention span doesn’t get compared to a goldfish’s.
I even started carrying books with me for the commute, for days I didn’t have something lined up to watch or listen to. Two of the books I got through this way were Verity by Colleen Hoover and Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney. If you have motion sickness and can’t focus on the fonts, you can switch to a podcast or an audiobook. And on my way back home, I would talk to my mum or anyone else I needed to be in touch with. It didn’t happen overnight. It took me a good 4-5 months before this became natural and the urge to scroll faded.
Slow Living Habits You Can Take From This
- Swap the scroll, don’t just quit it. Replace the time you spend doomscrolling with something that adds to your day, like a book, a podcast, or a video you actually chose.
- Don’t look for a separate hour for family time. Build it into your existing routine, like a shared dinner or a phone call on the way home.
- Use your commute on purpose. Instead of putting on songs, listen to interesting podcasts or educational content, depending on your personal goals.
- Give it time. Breaking the habit took me 4-5 months, so don’t expect it to stick in a week.
If you want to quit doomscrolling, start with one commute and see how your day goes. You don’t need to delete every app or change your whole life. Start with one commute and see how your day goes. If you’re also working on building better habits, here’s how I stopped postponing things and got disciplined.