How to Stop DoomScrolling | Techcrunch

The world is sometimes bad, but it feels even even if you can’t stop staring at the all-consuming abyss, it’s a 6-inch smartphone screen, following you through space and time. He mocks you with his compact, light structure that is small enough to get into your pocket and take everywhere, and his call for cheeses is so strong that for some reason we cannot sleep without our phone on our bedside tables.

While the time The horrors around usYou may think that you will feel more relaxed and more careful and balanced if you have not taken your phone dozens of times a day to hurry. This is confusing with our brains To mix our day with flashes in the most extreme, engagement, luring Tiktoks, just to roll over to X or Bluesky and see Crushing News titles.

Like any bad habit, doom is difficult to kick. But it’s not hopeless. So how do you stop doomscrolling? We have some ideas on how you can set up for success.

Understand that this is not your fault

First of all, you are not the problem. The problem is that our lives have become deeply intertwined with technology companies who want to capture as much of our time. If I use my Apple Watch to track a workout, I eventually see text messages to cut while I try to catch my breath after running up a steep hill. If I continue to spotify to listen to a specific album, I open the app and immediately see recommendations for podcasts and audio books that I usually don’t care. Or if I download Snapchat only for a group chat where my friends send pictures of their pets, then each pet photo comes with some advertising, an outward notice of notice or an AR marketing filter that I do not register for. No wonder our phones make us feel crazy.

I do not believe that Mark Zuckerberg is sitting in his lair – probably within his “methes” – dreaming of personally worsening my life. But it is the inherent nature of consumer technology companies that our attention is what keeps them sailing and the more we pay attention, the more savvy their investors are and the prices of the shares are increased, etc. Even with the knowledge of how these companies work, it is still difficult to disturb our bad habits. I will still open my Instagram account to see what my friend sent me, just to regain my mind 10 minutes later after watching dozens of reels.

Set up the time limit on screen and take them seriously

The first few years after Apple introduced the iPhone screen feature, I chose intentionally not to include it – I was afraid of what I could learn about myself. But this fear itself told me that I had a problem. Knowledge is power and if we know which applications suck the greater part of our time, then we can limit how much time we spend on them.

Here’s how to set time limit on the screen for specific iOS applications:

• Open the settings app.
• Scroll down to the time of the screen, which is marked by an icon of clocks.
• Here you can see your daily average on the screen and set railings for yourself to hope that you are reducing this average.
• There are several different ways when using a limit, you can reduce your screen time: stay and application restrictions.
  • Stay Sets a schedule when you can use certain applications. You may have set a stay for the hours you usually sleep, or maybe you are creating a more adaptable daily schedule. If you are going to Instagram during an hour too much, it may be time to set a limit.
    • Instead of choosing which apps to limit during a stay, you set which apps you want Always allowwhich is also available in the menu to limit use. If you have friends and family abroad, for example, you probably want to make sure you can always access WhatsApp. Or, if you are like me and sometimes you need audio books to fall asleep, then you may allow unlimited access to Liby.
  • Application Restrictions is where you can set how long you want to spend on specific applications per day. You can set individual restrictions on specific applications, or maybe you can collect the Application category together (Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Tiktok, X, etc.) and set a complete deadline for these applications.

The built -in Apple screen tools are effective, but they are a little easy to circumvent; If you are watching a great Tiktok and suddenly take a pop -up window that your time is up, you can just touch a button to give yourself another 15 minutes … and then do the same in another 15 minutes.

Some people choose to use third -party applications to motivate them to reduce their time on the screen, which can handle the potential pitfalls of the existing Apple functionality.

Here are some apps that are designed to limit your screen time:

• ScreenIt is available on iOS and Android, allows you to create pop -up windows that appear before you open certain applications. So, before you open Instagram, for example, you can see a 10-second pop-up window that reads: “Is this important?” You can also get the app to prompt you to take deep breaths before opening applications, and it plays your success, remaining under the limitations of time. Currently, my friend is working with a 144-day series, which they refuse to sacrifice for a quick impetus to unscrupulous dopamine.
• OpalIt is available on iOS, Android and the network, focuses more on the increase in workplace or school performance. The app is more adaptive in limiting screen time than Apple’s built-in features. You can focus not only on times, but also on how often you open an application (eg, you may only want to open the Instagram app three times a day).
• RootsIt is available to iOS, not only focuses on how long you spend on your phone, but also on the quality of this time. Some users especially love the “monastic mode” of the app, which can be activated to make it impossible to circumvent any of the limitations of its application – even if you get to delete the application. But if you were really diligent with your limitations, you can unlock “cheat days”.
• Tap the grassAvailable to iOS, it does what its name suggests: it makes you touch the grass. To use certain blocked applications, you need to literally go out and take a photo of the grass. No, home plants will not work. If you want to avoid going out, you can buy a “skip” for a certain price, only 99 cents. Half of Skips receipts go to support recharge Efforts.

We have rounded some physical devices This can help you stop watching too many screens.

So, you opened Tiktok and the time on the screen has refused access to access, but now you don’t know what to do. You may be in a queue in the cafe and you need distraction. And surely, in an ideal world, we could just get bored without spontaneous burning, but it’s not the perfect world.

Here are some other things you can do on your phone that do not include social media:

• Read a book. No, really. Of applications as iBooks and KindleYou can change your settings so you can scroll to read a book instead of brushing page by page. You literally scroll, but instead you may learn something.
  • You don’t want to buy books? You don’t need it! Liby It connects to your library card to allow you to access ebooks and audio books from your phone.
  • I don’t know what to read? I’m sorry, but you may need to understand it on booktok.
• Play games. Of course, games can also be addictive, but at least the games will not inform you that the world has become a new, unexpected way. Each application copies any other application, but in the case of bites of bites, it’s good, it’s a good thing.
  • Thehe New York Times games The app will allow you to play fast games like Wordle, Strands and Mini Crossword, even if you are not a subscriber. But the games of the gray lady were so successful that other applications accepted the bait.
  • Hear me. Thehe Games of Linkedin They are actually really fun. Of course, you can get a jump from a post from your old, bad boss, but in particular tango is the risk.