A couple weeks ago, I deleted social media off my phone. Insta and reddit was all that was left, but I noticed how much of a useless time sink they were becoming. My daily mood has also improved.
Now, I’ve been reading manga and playing chess online to fill the gap. But I’m still looking for suggestions on what else there is to do besides doom scroll. It’s not like I’m outlawing the internet entirely, I still have interests and hobbies etc, but I’m open to just about anything.
I read lots of books. Libby is an app to electronically check out books from your local library for free. You can also read lots of amateur stories online on various sites. Royal Road has been one of my favorite sites for regular stories that you can read in public.
+1 for Libby. Also shout out to Z-Library, Library Genesis, and the Internet Archive for all the book epubs and pdfs you can find there
Honestly, as someone who largely disliked social media and was typically a lurking doomscroller that was ready to quit social media altogether at the reddit app ban, what made the best change ever was becoming someone who is primarily a poster.
I post what I want, when I want, and I get to start the conversation that way. It’s always a topic I want to talk about, and it’s something there isn’t much to argue about, and all the interactions will be 99% positive.
It’s a small crowd here, so you can get people that are ready to talk with whoever reaches out to the masses first.
You can take time replying to people, and if no one is talking at the moment, it gives you time to plan a next post.
Pick a topic you enjoy and make yourself our local expert. That prompts you to keep actively learning about something you enjoy too so you can answer people’s questions they ask you.
switching to lemmy has made my social media consumption SIGNIFICANTLY less doomscroll-ey
How is so?
I was like most Americans doom scrolling things things like r/latestagecapitalism and a r/aboringdystopia because I was aware that things were fucked; like most of us are.
It felt like the fuckery was permanent and that there was nothing I could do but accept that this was reality and try to make the most out of it; filling me w despair about life and leading me to doomscrolling all the time.
Lemmy showed to me in writing that this fuckery was predicted almost 2 centuries ago and that there’s actually very few people perpetuating the fuckery (for their own benefit) and they’ve engineered this system to create the mass false belief that all the fuckery is permanent and that there is nothing we can do about it except push for small, ineffectual changes.
Lemmy, tiktok, and rednote have shown me that people like me are living significantly better lives simply because the ultra rich are not allowed to perpetuate the type of fuckery that was keeping me trapped in a doomscroll loop.
Rednote, in particular, was eye opening for me: I learned from them that most people on that side of the planet assume that life altering medical bills, housing unaffordability, & student loans like mine were nothing more than anti-american propaganda from their governments.
It’s like refined sugar both addicting and difficult to avoid
I only technically have smartphone. its either not on me or turned off in a foil pouch.
The pouch also lets people know that you’re totally sane.
not only my phone case but my wallet. Not sure how someone could tell at a glance though.
wait does this mean your head/brain are unprotected?? risky
No its not made to do wireless communication.
guys he doesn’t know
I read ebooks.
Libby is an absolute blessing.
And a certain archive my friend Anna seems to be running. Not that I know anything about it; she mentioned it at dinner the other evening.
Oooo, I should try that! I have been using KU, which I know isn’t awesome, but did allow romance authors to break the publishing model (fascinating story: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/romance-novels/). And there’s a part of me that wants to give the middle finger to publishers who took in a bunch of money from romance books to pay for books/authors that would never recoup their costs.
My friend Anna started up an archive of some sort; you should check it out. At least that’s what she told me over dinner the other night.
Reading, honestly. Though I don’t read on my phone, too many distractions. I read whenever I’m out and about and waiting, which isn’t much these days.
OpenSudoku. With extra puzzles :)
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It has all the old really popular ones from the mid-naughts!
I also just got back on the creepypasta archive!
Post on Lemmy between meetings
Don’t replace social media with something else on your phone.
Put the phone down and walk away.
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I hear heroin is nice.
Probably less addictive.
This was my philosophy, then I realized I prefer crossword puzzles and sudoku on my phone because I can do it one-handed so I can pet my cat at the same time.
I also tried watching shows on my TV instead of my phone but it’s harder to block ads.
I mean, people were fine without social media before, I dont think we need those. :) At least not the big tech ones.
Tighrope most days https://www.britannica.com/quiz/tightrope
Other than that just Lemmy.
Keep meaning to try learning Chess so I can play it online a little.
Oh you can just play chess, no problem. You will learn along the way… playing humans is more fun than against the computer… also try the other game modes like 4players, solo and anarchy chess…
Is this Phil Dunphy?
A Modern Family reference. Nevermind, its a bit dated now i guess.
The Wikipedia app or Wikireader
I play 20questions, and then get upset at the contradictions in my answers to others’
