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.

  • Lemisset@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 hours ago

    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.

  • HouseWolf@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    3 hours ago

    Lately it’s been sifting through IMDB collections to find movies to watch.

    That or I check the groups I’m in to see what I’m late to the party on now.

  • tiny@midwest.socialEnglish
    1·
    8 hours ago

    I have miniflux setup for RSS feeds, and I’ll doom scroll lemmy. For games I emulate old pokemon games. You can also just get lost in your thoughts for a bit too. It can really be good for your brain to just sit with your thoughts for a while.

  • SwearingRobin@lemmy.world
    1·
    6 hours ago

    Play the NYT wordle, mini crossword, connections for the day. I have some small simple games that can be stopped at any time. My most played ones are cake sort, water sort, sudoku and sometimes minesweeper. Also scroll lemmy sometimes, it’s small enough that it doesn’t take long to see everything that is new, so there’s no risk of getting sucked in for long

  • Monster@lemmy.world
    5·
    19 hours ago

    PPSSPP and Dolphin. Playing through the entirety of Paper Mario: TTYD, Luigis mansion, Sims 2, and Killzone wasted a good chunk of idle time for me.

    • 🎨 Elaine Cortez 🇨🇦 @lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      1 hour ago

      Dolphin is honestly such a cool emulator. I also love how it’s technically two emulators at once! Never had a single issue with any of the games I’ve played on it. It’s so solid

  • DigitalDilemma@lemmy.mlEnglish
    10·
    1 day ago

    Mostly tiktok scrolling. It’s got a bad rep, but there’s a huge amount of seriously talented people on there doing amazing and creative things. I’m a 50-something year old guy and it quickly figured out I like videos about mine explores and restoring vintage vehicles. Once you learn to downvote stuff you don’t like, it’s quick to learn and aside from the comment bots or obvious trolls (Typically pro-Russian or Pro-Trump, if there’s a difference) it’s generally a positive thing, in moderation.

    I totally get your desire about avoiding socials and have experienced the mood swings it can bring too. That’s made me quite tuned into how the algorithms are steering me. For me (and everyone’s experience is different) - Facebook is mostly bland generic stuff but quite useful for local content - just avoid the drama llamas), and use an advert blocker. Reddit is mixed. I used to be on there a lot and contributed and modded a bunch of stuff, but quit for a year after spez screwed over the app people. I skim it a bit now, but don’t give it much mind. X is awful, won’t go near it. Lemmy is less of a shitpost zone than most but still has too few people to be significant. We’re all helping with that though.

    Lemmy aside, I think most algs will figure you out pretty quick. If you get involved in nasty commenting, it’ll feed you more of that. If you do the odd positive thing (as I try to) then it can be less toxic - but with all things, remember why you’re there. The more you feed it, the bigger to you it becomes. Balance is important, and be aware of how stuff is affecting you.

    Anyway, beyond TT, crosswords, some news sites and the occasional candy crush.

    Good question though, I’m reading other comments as it’s harder to find stuff outside of the main channels now.

  • wewbull@feddit.ukEnglish
    34·
    1 day ago

    Don’t replace social media with something else on your phone.

    Put the phone down and walk away.

    • anon6789@lemmy.world
      20·
      1 day ago

      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.

    • eldavi@lemmy.mlEnglish
      6·
      1 day ago

      switching to lemmy has made my social media consumption SIGNIFICANTLY less doomscroll-ey

        • eldavi@lemmy.mlEnglish
          3·
          5 hours ago

          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.