Panache

One of the biggest guilt that we have at the end of the day is we wasted another good day scrolling on social media platforms. You try to sleep at night with that guilt but you can’t. To escape the guilt, you scroll a bit more. You sleep late and then start your day late. Again, jumping into the same scrolling cycle from one app to another.

At times, you realize how you have been wasting your life with this. But you can’t find a way out of it. Here’s just the formula to help you with that.

Read below to plan your day to avoid doom-scrolling. Instead of one day, build a system so you don’t scroll away your life.

Avoid screens in the morning.

As per a survey done in 2024, about 60% to 80% of people use their phones in the first 15 minutes after waking up in the morning. No wonder, it affects their energy levels, as well as their happiness.

While you are asleep, your body works. It creates a reserve of dopamine (happy hormone) in your brain. Because you need this hormone to even get up from your bed. Many people tend to bed-rot because they do not produce enough dopamine to have the motivation.

However, when you use screens and jump to scrolling as soon as you wake up. You are depleting your dopamine reserves first thing in the morning. As you scroll and watch content, you feel satisfied because of the dopamine and serotonin spikes in your brain.

You may think, scrolling gives you the motivation to get out of bed. But that is far from the truth. In reality, you have already exhausted half of your dopamine reserve. And are most likely to not feel any motivation throughout the day. You would crave the dopamine hit you received in the morning. Therefore, unconsciously switch to scrolling.

Also Read: 10 effective ways to “digital detox”.

Try to get organic dopamine.

Most psychologists, therapists, and wellness instructors will ask you not to use your phone in the morning. They would go so far as to tell you to avoid screens as soon as you wake up. And they are right about it.

Instead of a dopamine hike like a drug. You need to take things slow and practice using organic dopamine. How are you going to achieve that? Completing small tasks makes you accomplished and satisfied.

Resist the urge to use your phone in the morning. Once you keep the screens away, that will be counted as your first win. Get out of your bed and make it. Check your second win. After that, pour a glass of water and hydrate yourself. With these three wins, you will feel a substantial change in your mood.

Now, all you need to do is to make these practices a habit. And maintain that habit for sustainable living. You can add other tasks like meditation, journaling, planning your day, or preparing a healthy breakfast.

You would immediately observe a change in your body and mind between the two days. One day you deplete your energy using phones and the other day when you are mindful of your routine.

Also Read: How to boost dopamine naturally?

Kick-start your day.

Another argument to avoid phones in the morning is to save yourself from content overwhelm. Instead of thinking about your routine, life, and how to spend the rest of your day. You jump right into the artificial world dictated by the algorithm.

Most importantly, this world is infinite. Instagram has 500 million active monthly users. And TikTok has 1.58 billion monthly users. When millions of people are creating and posting content, it is definitely content overwhelm for a single user.

So, instead of jumping into the wormhole and consume whatever you are served. Be mindful about what you are going to consume that day. You can kick-start your morning with a downloaded podcast. A video about meditation, wellness, or workout.

Kickstart your day by doing something that boosts your energy. Something, that you really feel good about. It can be as small as making your bed or choosing your outfit. And as big as cleaning the house, journaling, and planning your month.

Also Read: How to approach journaling as a newbie?

Keep your phone away while working.

The worst aspect of smartphones is their accessibility. When you have the distraction in your hand, you are bound to get distracted. That is why, it is essential to keep it away from your reach.

One of the most notable authors, Stephen King keeps his phone in a separate room while he works on the six pages daily. He does not allow any kind of distraction like an internet connection or other screens in the room where he works. No wonder, he has been able to write so many novels.

Your brain is built in such a manner that it avoids hard tasks. If you don’t know what to do next, you will jump to your screen. If you face any difficulty in your current task, you are going to jump to your screen. A ring of notifications on your screen will distract you no matter what.

Before you know it, you find yourself scrolling through the app. Boring tasks often make you crave the dopamine hit. Therefore, keeping the phone or screen away while working is ideal. Also, keep the notifications off of any app that can be distracting for you. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc.

You will find yourself more productive than ever when you do it. See the change for yourself.  But don’t consider scrolling as a reward after having a fulfilling day. Try to stay on track for be mindful.

Work on your task motivation.

If you keep getting distracted while working, you should deep dive and find out why. Ignoring your instincts and spending time on social media is not a solution to that. You need to work on what will motivate you to work on that task.

You can think about the reward after you complete the task. Imagine the satisfaction or delight you will feel after being productive. This can be your driving force.

You can also think about it in this way is your mind and instincts controlling you or are you controlling yourself? Because your mind will push you to get the dopamine hit. But you need to practice self-discipline after realizing that you can’t be dependent on that.

Create a barrier.

As mentioned above, you are programmed to jump to the screen with the slightest sniff of inconvenience. Your mind will crave the comfortable dopamine consumption instead of sitting and solving the problem. And if you are trying hard to do the otherwise, kudos. You have been trying to win over your basic instincts.

There is another practice that can help you in doing the same. You do not need to delete the apps completely. Create a barrier between your unconscious switching on the app. Just log out of your account every time you log in. Your brain will register it as a tedious task and will avoid doing it in the future.

Similarly, create a timer in your app. On YouTube, you can set a reminder that will remind you to take a break after you have scrolled for a pre-decided time. These practices will not only make you a conscious user but will also save you from getting lost in the algorithmic world.

Don’t scroll mindlessly. Choose the content you watch.

TikTok created a poison. They started streaming short-form content, every other app jumped to the same bandwagon. Soon, Instagram had reels and YouTube had YouTube shorts. Many people don’t realize that watching short-form content is more harmful to them than indulging in long-form content.

Therefore, you need to avoid watching short-form content as much as you can. You can still indulge in long videos. Watching something on streaming platforms, or long videos on YouTube will not affect your attention span.

When it comes to long-form content, you already decide what you are going to watch. It is not a sudden flow after 2 minutes. But YouTube shorts can be distracting because they keep emerging after every scroll. So, add the long-form video to your “watch later” playlist. And watch them later when you can.

Also Read: A strategic plan to cure “brain rot”

Scrolling is poison for escapism.

Most people don’t turn to scrolling because they want to. But they do that because they are looking for escapism. But you need to realize that you can’t scroll your way out of stressful situations. Because this type of escape is more lethal than you can imagine.

Your brain jumps to scrolling in the times when something stressful happens because it craves that instant dopamine hit as it happens with drugs. But it is up to you to realize that it is not healthy. And not sustainable at all.

Make sure you avoid it at the moment because this will make you feel worse afterward. You will feel guilty to use escapism as your resort as well as turning to something that makes you even more lousy.  

Choose comforting content to watch before bed.

Everyone resorts to some content consumption before bed. We are all human. Everyone feels sorry about doing it and still does the same. Scientifically, it affects your sleep cycle. And your brain remains over-active when you consume content just before you sleep.

The ideal state is to replace the screen before you sleep with something else like a book or music. You should create an environment to have deep sleep. Get into comfortable clothes, dim the lighting, remove distractions, etc.

But we all are humans and we are stuck to our phones. Therefore, choose the content you want to watch before you go to sleep. Do not start a new movie or show in the evening. And do not watch something with violent music or action.

You can download some nature sounds, or comforting ASMR, an audiobook with whispering sounds will also help you relax before you enter into REM sleep.

What if, everyone is on the phone?

One of the most difficult tasks for us is to go against the flow. What to do if everyone else is stuck to their phones? You will also take out your device and indulge in pleasure-seeking behaviour.

But this is how it will turn into addiction. Even when you are among people, everyone else is on their phone while you’re sitting and getting bored. Try not to watch short-form content.

You can open an article and read about it. Clear your gallery or check your emails. There is a lot you can do when you are not scrolling. But make sure you do not jump to watching short-form content.

Conclusion.

The word “doom-scrolling” has the term doom in it. It is the endless black pit where you lose yourself. It creates brain rot, unhappiness, anxiety, and other mental or emotional ailments that you can’t even imagine.

Our brains are not prepared for this. And it is our responsibility to keep us sane and protected from such harm in any way possible.

Also read: 9 signs you need to quit social media.