Sometimes, I hate my phone and I believe we all feel that way. Or rather, I hate Social Media platforms that are designed to be addictive. Yet, deleting them isn’t really an option, because it’s how our whole society works now. It’s how we connect with our friends and how we learn and find inspiration and how we stay on top of everything that is happening in the world.
I personally don’t struggle with Social Media all the time, but there are phases where I just can’t seem to stop myself. I have tried out so many things over the past few years and many of them have worked. I just think that, once something works, we stop to pay attention to it and then we slip back. But if there is one thing that keeps me going, it’s the knowledge that it’s worth trying.
So let’s begin!
Social Media Statistics
First, we will start with some nice statistics, because why not:
- In the first quater of 2026, the average person spent around 6h and 51min per day on screens (https://www.demandsage.com/screen-time-statistics/)
- In 2025, the average person spent 2.5h per day on Social Media (https://www.demandsage.com/screen-time-statistics/)
- TikTok, YouTube and Instagram are the most used Social Media apps (as of october 2025) (https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2026-global-overview-report)
- The Keles, et al. study from 2020 found that the use of Social Media can increase the risk of depression, anxiety and psychological distress (https://law.stanford.edu/2024/05/20/social-media-addiction-and-mental-health-the-growing-concern-for-youth-well-being/)
Why we scroll
- escape mechanism: As long as you scroll, it’s as if there are no undone chores or assignments, you can pretend that working out is not that important and you can refuse to believe that there is no time anymore for the nice evening routine that you planned. As long as you are watching funny videos about people you don’t know, it’s easy to pretend that none of your struggles actually exist. I think that is what keeps us scrolling, because the second we stop, we are confronted with the guilt and all the stuff that still needs to be done.
- procrastination: Procrastination is a form of escapism as well. The reason why scrolling through a for-you-page is so effective for procrastination is that it makes us forget about the task that we are supposed to do. If we procrastinate by watching TV or by simply doing nothing, there is still room in our minds for the guilt. But because of the constant entertainment while scrolling, everything else is pushed to the back of our mind.
- dopamine kick: Short-form-content is the most easily accessible source of dopamine that we can get nowadays. The dopamine kick actually doesn’t come so much from the content itself, but more from the fact that you never know what you will watch next. Every time you start thinking about closing the app, there is the pressing question: “What if the next video is a really funny one?”. And it doesn’t require much effort: you don’t have to go anywhere, you don’t have to be patient and wait for plot-twists or for the engaging part of the story, because if you don’t like what you see, you just keep scrolling.
What it does to our Brain
The problem with those constant hits of dopamine is that your brain gets used to them and it becomes the new normal. That’s why, after a while of regularly scrolling on Social Media, nothing else is fun or interesting anymore. There is no food that you crave and things you used to love now feel boring. And even scrolling isn’t so exiting anymore, it’s just tolerably entertaining.
How to Stop
This is a reddit post I found on the topic and I think there are a few interesting things in there:
I made doomscrolling something I had to earn instead of something I had to resist. Set up my phone so my distracting apps are locked by default every morning and only unlock after I complete a few daily habits. Exercise, reading, whatever I set. Once those are done, everything opens up. The shift from “I cannot scroll” to “I can scroll after I handle my stuff” changed the whole psychology of it. It stopped feeling like deprivation.
I turned on grayscale mode. This one sounds too simple to matter but Instagram in black and white is genuinely boring. The colors are a massive part of what keeps you engaged. Try it for a weekend and see what happens.
I charged my phone in the kitchen instead of my bedroom. This killed the morning scroll and the bedtime scroll in one move. Those two were probably 60% of my total screen time.
I replaced the reflex. Every time I caught myself reaching for my phone out of habit, I would pick up a book instead. Not because I love reading. Because it was the closest non-screen thing within reach. After a couple of weeks my brain started defaulting to the book instead of the phone.
I still use social media. I just do not let it be the first thing I do in the morning or the last thing I do at night. That boundary alone cut my screen time in half without feeling like I gave anything up.
- Dopamine fast: I mentioned earlier that your dopamine levels get messed up when you spend a lot of time scrolling. During a dopamine fast, you don’t engage in any activity that gives you dopamine boosts easily. So that means no social media, no tv-shows or movies, no music, no reading fiction, no extremely sugary foods etc.. It sounds harsh and it kind of is, but 2-3 days on a weekend are totally possible and you will feel the difference when your dopamine levels are back to normal.
- Make scrolling a chore: I’ve never heard of anyone else who does this, but it worked for me. Every day, I watch exacly 5 short-form-videos. No more, no less. The key is to make yourself do it even if you don’t want to. That way, it starts feeling like a chore. I remember reaching for my phone once and then thinking: “Oh, no, I already did the 5 videos earlier; I don’t have to go on Instagram anymore”.
- Screen Restrictions: There is a free app called “Screen Zen”, where you can put in screen time limits and a timer that makes you wait a certain amount of time before the app actually opens. You can write a message to yourself as well to remind you of your goals.
- Find the Cause: When you slip, write down exactly why you reached for your phone and why you started scrolling. It helps recognising patterns and addressing the underlying problems.
- Accountability Partner: Get someone to check in with you for your screen time and if you spend more than a certain amount of time on Social Media, you have to pay them a set amount of money. It’s easier to resist if there is an actual immediate cost to it.
Healthy vs. Unhealthy Social Media Use
When dealing with something that is literally designed to capture your attention, it’s hard to find the balance. I think it wouldn’t make sense to delete Social Media permanently, because there are just too many positives. We can use it to learn (although sources must be checked!) and to connect and to express ourselves, but we shouldn’t let it control us.
I hope you found some of the tips in here useful and I’ll see you next week 💕
