5 Ways to limit mindless scrolling

Photo credit: @glencarrie via Unsplash

I spend far too much time glued to my phone and this is a habit I’m working on.

How many times have you thought you’ll ‘spend a few minutes on Instagram’ before being amazed at how much time has been wasted just mindlessly scrolling?

We rely on our phones so much that I cannot believe I grew up with a landline (no computer until I was in my teens) and that was completely normal! Imagine not being constantly contactable? No e-mails and Whatsapps beeping on your phone. No notifications reminding you that there is catching up to do on various social media platforms.

But how to limit a habit that is eating into far too much of my time? Well here are my 5 tips.

1.) don’t start the day with SOCIAL MEDIA

Most of us have our morning alarms on our phone. It is easy to start scrolling the moment we reach for our phones to turn the alarm off.

These days I check my Whatsapp for messages, then put my phone down and go have coffee. Insta will still be there afterwards.

2.) set a time limit and then an alarm

For this I actually set an alarm to remind me that my planned time is over. I did try setting a reminder on my phone which let me know when I’d spent too much time on Insta but I found you can just keep scrolling once you set another reminder. So now I set an alarm - a clock or a timer - and get up to switch it off.

3.) re-arrange your phone screen

I’ve moved social media apps to a different screen so it isn’t the first thing I see when I unlock my phone. Small steps but it can make a difference.

4.) DO SOMETHING ACTIVE OR JUST AWAY FROM A SCREEN

Whether it is a workout or doing some gardening after work - I aim to do something instead of sitting at my desk on my phone or laptop. Simply going to the kitchen to make some tea, empty the dishwasher or making a grocery list is becoming a habit or mine. It forces me to switch off and do something physical.

5.) Practice mindfulness

Being present in a moment is so much better than viewing someone else’s on a screen. I’m making it it a habit to soak up experiences instead of trying to watching people from around the world document theirs.

It is a work in progress because the thing with constantly scrolling is it requires little from us. You sit (or slouch more likely) and just mindlessly devour bite sized crumbs left by anyone from celebrities to someone you went to school with. Scrolling, clicking like or commenting takes very little effort. It is a temporary respite from an inbox and tasks competing for your attention.

But what do you get out of it? That is what I keep asking myself. What is this wastage of time actually costing me?

Do you have any tips that work when you try to limit your screen time?

xx