I’ve got a problem. I think probably most of us do. I am a chronic doom scroller. I cannot tell you how many times I pick up my phone to intentionally send a text or check the weather only to find myself 6 episodes deep in the Shawna-verse.

IYKYK

My scroll of choice is still probably Facebook. I get it…I’m old. The drama of it all still gets me ramped up. I got hooked on TT during Covid. It was becoming a many, MANY hours a day habit. I dwindled down my friends’ list to actual friends and family. The girl I met that one time at a restaurant while on a cruise in Alaska no longer deserved my energies. But then real people I know called me out on it…like co-workers and neighbors.

Like…if someone removed me and I was uncertain why…no big blow ups or anything…I would assume it was a decision made with intent. I would not be asking all about it and making it weird. 

I removed FB from my phone all together and went to Instagram to simply share photos. But I was constantly getting notified of people commenting on myself duplicated IG/FB posts and curiosity got the best of me.

Then, I deleted ALL the social media apps from my phone. But I found that I then had difficulty interacting and communicating with things like my kids’ PTA, scouts, and the HOA. And where was I supposed to fine new recipes? A cookbook is great. But I need the visual stimulation of those videos to really get me cooking. And how on earth would I have learned about African net sponges and using body oil with my moisturizer. I’ve been doing it all wrong my whole life and never would have known if not for social media.

So I set screen time limits on my phone like I’m a child. I get 45 minutes a day then I need to very intentionally put in a code to approve additional time. That helps me be more conscious of my scrolling. But it doesn’t stop it.

I use social media for all kinds of things: digital photo albums or scrapping booking of my kids’s lives, current events, the aforementioned recipe hunting, real social connections with long distance friends and family. But it’s just one wrong turn and you are in an endless loop of cat videos and an echo chamber of your own belief system.

That last one is what really made me decide I MUST disconnect from being so damn connected. Whatever your beliefs, the algorithm with zero in on them lickety split. And then, how are you supposed to learn anything new?

There are a few very intentional things I’ve done to drop my scrolling from 4-6 hours a day down to 41 minutes!

• Put on those screen time controls
• Group d my notifications to 1x in the AM and 1x in the PM
• Put my phone on silent but set those people whom I’m willing to accept a phone call from on Emergency Bypass ringtone
• Set a rule of waking my brain and body before rotting both with the scroll
• Set my kids’ tablets to zero minutes for anything but Libby I rare book check out app) and music—those they get unlimited —they will call me out for being on my technology if they cannot be on theirs
• Made a list of books I wanted to read on Goodreads and checked them out/put them on hold through the Libby App
• Created a challenge on Goodreads to read a certain amount of books by the end of the year
• …and finally…revisited my old hobby of crocheting. I’ve started a BIG project over the last couple of weeks. I’m having to much fun.

I’m making all the pieces from The Very Hungry Caterpillar book using THIS wonderful pattern I purchased on Etsy. I’m only 1/2 way done but I’m really enjoyed myself. And my scrolling is nearly non-existent!

5/5⭐️ highly recommend disconnecting in order to feel more connected with…everything else