I’m not sure what else to say, but yeah that’s it.

Like I’m 48 and I grew up before cellphones. I can remember having a landline and a rotary phone, and sometimes I wanna throw my phone off a bridge, but I can’t because the bank needs an app, the government needs an app, everything NEEDS AN APP!

I’ve started to carry my phone less; like I’ve gone an entire day without having it on me and it’s completely fine.

I’ve deleted all of my apps except for WhatsApp, but I need it to talk to family back in Mexico (I also hate how that’s become the default app for everyone to chat?)

But yeah rant over just glad I am loosening the leash on this iPhone.

I’m typing this on my desktop BTW

An edit on what a "no carry" day looks like:

I wake up on my day off, eat breakfast. Leave my phone in my bedroom.

Grab my bicycle and my wallet, ride downtown. Go to a cafe, sit and enjoy a coffee. Ride around, look at the water and the ocean (west coast best coast), go pick up a few groceries, ride home.

The worst is when I get home cuz there's like 15 group chat messages on WhatsApp from my family. Like there's one group we have called ¿Quién sabe? which just means "who knows?" And it'll be dumb shit like a recipe they cant find or something, im like stop sending me this stuff lol I dont care.

P.S. I love my family more than life itself but my tia can google some shit sometimes. And all the chats fill up my phone like I legit couldn't even use my phone once, cuz all the storage was full of just birthdays, or some party, or my Tia sending 37 voice messages about what's happening in her street lol. So I gotta go through these chats and clear the chat so I have space again

Last night, I had a realization.

For a while now, I’ve stopped using social media and started assigning each thing a specific purpose.
I had a lot of issues with stalking, comparing myself to others, and even with my own self-image. For a long time, I could spend an hour deciding whether to post a picture of myself on my story, even though I know I’m a beautiful woman. Now, I realize it didn’t really bring me much. Except for one thing: keeping up with people I care about.
Friendships have changed through social media. I feel like we have lost the habit of telling people things directly. Instead of messaging someone and saying, “This happened to me today,” we post it online and hope they see it.

I have never felt more whole than I have since deleting Instagram. But I have also never felt as alone.

Now, my phone is mainly for messaging. My eyes are for taking pictures.
My MacBook is for researching, working, and sometimes watching a few YouTubers I genuinely enjoy. I use medical textbooks and a notebook instead of relying entirely on online platforms. Recently, I bought an iPod Shuffle, one without a screen, and it gave me such a strange sense of freedom. It changed the way I listen to music and podcasts: no notifications, no endless choices, no temptation to switch apps every few minutes.

My conclusion is that multitasking devices overstimulate us when we use every feature they offer. They affect our emotions more than we realize.
Oddly, without all that stimulation, I feel like my beauty has grown. It feels as though my body is thanking me. I can focus on one thing at a time.
I’m not saying we should cut ourselves off from everything. I just think we need to separate things more intentionally and learn to protect our attention.

I’m proud to have understood this at 20. When I was younger, I was addicted to my phone. I spent entire days in bed with it. It was like the remote control for my life.

This is mostly a venting post, but I do wonder if anyone else feels the same way.

I'm a young gen Z and next year will be my tenth year of my digital minimalism journey; It started out with a bit of curiosity after discovering a video that talked about the truth of digital life, it progressed into downloading/printing thousands of pages of research and books that talked about phones, social media and the psychology behind these addictions.

I deleted social media permanently, but my family was PISSED off because they wanted to "keep up-to-date with what you are doing", which felt like an invasion to my privacy (something I value). A few years later, I found myself starting university and being pressured by my family, friends at university and lecturers to join social media as "it's good for you". Whilst connected I found myself feeling overwhelmed, stressed out, unable to concentrate, focus and a lot more things. So, I finally gave up most social media sites (thinking about deleting Reddit) and found myself both relaxed and happy again.

Having had the ability to see how much happier without social media I am, I have made the decision to stand up for myself, stay offline and turned my iPhone into a dumbphone (I have WhatsApp and the other built-in apps I can't delete). I find myself spending an hour every day on my device, but my family are still complaining that I am purposefully being harder to communicate with and stay in touch with and they don't understand why I am a digital minimalist and think I am being a conspiracy theorist. I have sent them book recommendations and research I have discovered, but nothing seems to face them.

I know I can't change their mind and they can't change my mind, but sometimes I can't help feel like a consipracy theorist - even friends are calling me one. I'm not making anything up when I state why I explain based on published research.

Does any other digital minimalist feel this way? Does anyone in general have any advice? Apologies for a ranting/depressing post.

Hey everyone! I’m considering doing a bit of a social media detox and was wondering if anyone has been in a similar position to me and found that stepping away from social media genuinely helped their mental health and overall wellbeing.
I’ve realised there are two main things I struggle with when it comes to social media.
The first is the constant comparison. I don’t really post much myself but I feel like I absorb so much of what I see online. I’m constantly seeing other people’s lives, how successful they seem, what they’re doing, what they have, etc. and even though I know it’s just a highlight reel I still find myself comparing and feeling insecure about my own life.
The second is how much I consume. I feel like I’m constantly being exposed to things I suddenly want or feel like I need whether that’s clothes, products, experiences or just the next thing everyone seems to be buying. Sometimes I genuinely don’t think I’d even want these things if I hadn’t seen them online in the first place.
I’m starting to wonder how much of an impact all of this is having on me mentally and whether I’d feel lighter and more content and more confident if I just stepped away from it for a while.
I’ve started by limiting my screen time to 45 minutes a day but I’m curious about people’s experiences with going further and cutting social media out altogether.
Did you notice a genuine improvement in your mental health and ability to stop comparing yourself to others? Did you find yourself becoming more content with your own life and less interested in constantly buying things or keeping up with everyone else?
I’m also curious whether anyone noticed a difference in their social skills or relationshipslike finding it easier to have conversations in person, being more present with people, or feeling less reliant on online interactions.
I’d love to hear your experiences, especially if you were someone who struggled with insecurity and comparison before taking a step back. I’m really interested in whether the difference was noticeable and whether it was worth it! 😊

This post is to motivate myself as well as anyone who isn't sure about deleting social media, especially Instagram.

Eight days ago I shared here that I'd be scared to feel FOMO if I deleted Instagram, but I still wanted to do it because I can feel my attention span is so short and the endless scrolling made me anxious. I ended up deleting it and keeping it only on my laptop to save me from scrolling. And guess what, it was the right decision!

Even though it's only been a week, I'm already starting to feel better. The first day, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The second day was tough because I felt boredom for the first time in a loooong while and I didn't know what to do with myself! I felt like an addict wanting their daily dose of dopamine.

From the third day, everything got better. My sleep started to improve, I found other activities to do instead of scrolling and I'm slowly getting my attention span back (although it's still far from perfect).

I have no problem with Reddit because I only check a few subs including this one, but I still put a blocker with a limit of one hour per day just in case. Other than that, I don't have any other social media.

I know I'm only at the beginning of my journey, but I really don't want to go back. If you're thinking about deleting Instagram, do it! I haven't felt so rested and relaxed in a while.

Digital minimalism has always been something I've wanted to achieve. I've tried and failed many times, but I think I've finally found a setup that actually works for me. So I thought I'd share it here! (This is my first post on Reddit)

My everyday carry:

• Apple Watch Ultra 2
• Wallet with a tiny notebook and pen
• AirPods Pro
• Hisense A9

As a journalist and writer, I've always been drawn to digital minimalism. I wanted to spend less time mindlessly consuming content and more time thinking, writing, and coming up with ideas. But every attempt ended in failure, and the culprit was always the same: doomscrolling.

I rarely carry a bag unless I absolutely need one. Without a bag, my iPhone 13 Pro Max usually ends up in my right back pocket. It's heavy, bulky, and constantly gets in the way. And whenever I sit down, I naturally take it out of my pocket and hold it in my hand. That's usually where the doomscrolling begins.

I've tried Screen Time limits, grayscale mode, and aggressively deleting apps. None of it really worked. Once the phone was in my hand, making it less enjoyable to use didn't seem to matter much.

I've also bought a few e-readers over the years, but carrying another phone-sized device without a bag was a hassle. More often than not, I'd just leave them at home.

My most recent purchase was the now somewhat outdated Hisense A9. It has cellular connectivity, so I can download books wherever I am, but it wasn't reliable enough to be my main phone. Installing LineageOS fixed quite a few issues, but there are still plenty of apps that don't work.

Since I couldn't be bothered to carry it around every day, I originally bought it mainly for reading at home and using it as a writerdeck.

What I really wanted wasn't to disconnect completely, but to stay just connected enough. And that's when I started seeing the potential of the Apple Watch.

With a cellular plan, the Apple Watch handles all the essential stuff when I'm out: calls, messages, emails, and so on. I can also stream as much music as I want, so it basically doubles as my iPod.

Now my iPhone mostly stays plugged in at home (it needs to stay powered on for SMS forwarding). It's basically become a landline that I can pick up whenever I need to order food (Korea is a delivery paradise), browse secondhand marketplaces, use banking apps, or do anything else that actually requires a smartphone.

Interestingly, relying on the Apple Watch for essential communication has also made my Hisense A9 much more useful.

I now use it for longer text and email replies, scanning QR codes, taking photos with its not-so-great camera (which actually produces some lovely retro-looking shots), maps, ChatGPT, and pulling up membership cards when grocery shopping.

The nice thing is that none of these are absolutely essential. If I leave the A9 at home, I can live with the inconvenience. And for quick trips around the neighborhood, that's exactly what I do. Since it's technically still a smartphone, doomscrolling is definitely possible. But the black-and-white E Ink screen makes it just inconvenient enough to keep me from falling down that rabbit hole.

As a journalist, being able to jot down ideas or the opening sentence of an article is really important to me.

For capturing ideas, I've gone back to analog. I keep a tiny notebook tucked into my wallet. I've been eyeing the Rite in the Rain On-the-Go notebook, but it's hard to get where I live, so I ended up making my own card-sized notebook.

For the pen, the Zebra T-3 fits perfectly in my wallet.

Knowing that I won't miss an idea even when I go out with nothing but my Apple Watch gives me a surprising amount of peace of mind.

I've also been curious about the idea of turning the Apple Watch into an iPod-style device, so I've ordered a RePod case to try it out.

But for someone like me who prefers carrying as little as possible, I suspect wearing it on my wrist will still be better than adding yet another thing to my pockets.

There's something really satisfying about having calls, messages, email, and music all available right on my wrist. It feels a bit like living in the future that early smartwatches promised us.

And in a funny way, it also brings back memories of the old iPod Nano, which could double as both a wristwatch and a music player.

I guess I've finally found my sweet spot between staying connected and staying away from my phone.

Hi! I’m Laura, an artist and doctoral researcher at BAU, Barcelona.

I’m researching how people save, organise, revisit and delete digital content: photos, screenshots, bookmarks, saved posts, documents, browser tabs and more.

I’d love to hear about your everyday habits, whether you keep almost everything, regularly clear things out, or rarely save anything.

The survey is open to anyone aged 18 or over, in any country. It is in English. Participation is voluntary, and it does not ask for your name, email address or social media username. Apart from the consent questions, all questions are optional.

https://tally.so/r/7XXE7R

Thank you for contributing to my research! Please avoid sharing identifying information in your answers :)

I don’t get it. I go to Reddit to talk about various things, I go to Netflix to watch movies and tv. Why do both of these places have games available? Does anyone actually play them‽

Cell phones are a tool for making people more individualistic, and it’s working.

Throughout history, one of the greatest concerns of those in power has been the fear of the population, since ordinary people vastly outnumber those in positions of power when it comes to uprisings or revolutions.

For a long time, attempts have been made to control this through the distractions we already know so well: entertainment, sports (especially soccer), fashion, controversies, and whatever happens to be the current topic of conversation.

But now, everyone has a small computer in their hand: a cell phone that can become addictive, with distractions available at all times, right in their pocket.

The excessive use of cell phones also breaks down family relationships and friendships by taking up time that used to be spent talking to one another. And, as crazy as it might sound, it’s also a way of suppressing our bodies, keeping us still, at home, distracted by thousands of entertainment options.

Hey everyone,

Hopefully this is the right place to post something like this, but I’ve been thinking about deleting Instagram for a while now, and I’m curious whether anyone else has had similar thoughts or gone through the same experience.

I’ve had Instagram since 2019, but I only really started using it properly in 2022. Before that, I didn’t have many friends on the app and mainly used it to follow things I was interested in, such as actors, film pages, and updates about upcoming movies.

Over time, though, it’s become one of my main sources of information about what’s happening in the world and what’s going on in my friends’ lives.

Lately, however, I’ve started questioning whether it’s doing me more harm than good.

For one thing, there seems to be an endless stream of negative news and content about how the world is falling apart. I understand that these things are happening, and I’m not suggesting we should ignore them, but do I really need to see 200 reels about everything going wrong in the world every time I open the app?

I also found myself scrolling for hours without really getting anything out of it. I’ve actually managed to address that part by deleting Instagram from my phone and keeping it on my PC instead, which means I only check it occasionally.

But the bigger issue is that I’m worried about what I’d miss if I deleted it altogether.

I have a relatively small circle of genuine friends, and I enjoy seeing them achieve their goals, share memories, go on holidays, and experience good things in life. I like seeing my friends happy, and I don’t want to lose that connection.

At the same time, I sometimes wonder whether constantly seeing everyone else’s highlights can affect how you feel about your own life, particularly when you’re not quite where you want to be yet.

I know social media doesn’t show the full picture. People generally share the good moments rather than the difficult ones, and I’m guilty of doing the same. I understand that what we see online is only a small part of someone’s life, but I still wonder whether constantly consuming these carefully selected moments has an impact on us, even when we know they don’t tell the whole story.

Something else I’ve been thinking about is how our relationships on social media have changed.

When Facebook first became popular, people were referred to as friends. Now, on Instagram, we have followers. I know that’s just terminology, but it does make me wonder when the idea of connecting with people gradually became more about following them.

I’ve also seen people talk about having hundreds of views on their stories but only receiving a handful of likes on their posts. What does that say about the connections we have online? Are people genuinely interested in each other’s lives, or have we just become accustomed to watching from a distance?

Maybe I’m overthinking it, but sometimes it feels as though we’re keeping up with each other without actually keeping in touch.

Before social media became such a big part of our lives, you might have contacted a friend and asked, “Hey, how are you? What’s been happening?” They’d tell you about their holiday, something exciting they’d done, or what was going on in their life. You’d have an actual conversation and learn about their experiences.

Now, you might see their holiday pictures, leave a comment, or like a story, and that’s the end of it. You already know the highlights, so there’s less reason to reach out and ask about them.

Of course, social media makes sharing things incredibly convenient. You can update everyone at once, keep up with people you might not otherwise speak to regularly, and have somewhere to store and share photographs. I can see the benefits, and I’m not suggesting that social media is inherently bad.

I just wonder whether something meaningful has been lost along the way.

I’d much rather have regular phone calls, texts, and proper conversations with my friends than simply watch updates about their lives. I want to hear their stories, understand how they’re doing, and have conversations that go beyond a quick like or comment.

So, for those of you who have deleted Instagram or stepped away from social media altogether, what has your experience been like?

Did you feel better for it? Did you find other ways to stay connected with your friends? Did you feel as though you were missing out or being left behind, particularly when so much of what happens in people’s lives is shared online?

And for those who have stayed off social media long term, do you feel that your friendships have become more meaningful, or have some relationships naturally faded away?

I’m not necessarily looking for people to tell me to delete it or keep it. I’m genuinely interested in hearing other people’s experiences and perspectives.

It feels as though we live in a world where we’re more connected than ever, yet I sometimes wonder whether we’re actually becoming less connected in the ways that matter.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

*I just wanted to put this here as I might not be able to respond to you all.

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to EVERYONE for taking the time out of your day to respond and share your own experiences, but also for the way you all responded. It was so positive and very headful, and I felt less scared or had the fear of loss that I had when posting it. So thank you to all of you for all the help.

I am trying to get rid of my phone on my EDC, but I am always a bit afraid of going out without a maps app. What do you do to replace it?

It seems like everyone in the comments would agree with me

Just wanted to share how my homescreen currently looks.

I have used minimalist launchers before, but it never really clicked, so I just went back so Samsung's standard launcher which personalized icons and a better organization.

Lately, I havve been feeling completely overwhelmed by my phone usage and the constant digital noise. Just felt kinda defeated. I did read some of the sharing post here about people making a switch to a dumb phone instead of normal smartphone. Mostly I heard about the positive side of people actually seeing the result in reducing screen time as well as their digital footprint, getting to live fully offline. Ngl I wanna to do the same thing

I also think the main reason to go back to a dumb phone is you can only function with necessary features like texting/calling, and no more apps to scroll mindlessly. Therefore, it can be the perfect solution to fix my attention span and social media addiction. Still, I’m hesitating. The other side of me wonders how sustainable it is when you might need stuff for maps, banking (pretty sure this is one of the biggest reasons), transit on a daily basis etc…. Keeping 2 phones is basically just going to bring me back to the old habit of doomscrolling anyway.

So, I’d really appreciate appreciate hearing about you guys' experience with the dumb phone route. How can you balance this, cutting down screen time without giving up too much (not necessarily 100%) tech conveniences? or if there is no balance, please give me a wake up call. Thank you so much!!!

i'm interested in what happens after the first week of using one.

a reminder might help at first, but eventually you get used to dismissing it. something stricter might work better, until it blocks you at an inconvenient time and you decide you're done with it.

for anyone who's used a blocker consistently, what made the difference?

i'm particularly interested in bedtime. did you block just a few apps for a short period, make overriding the block more difficult, or find that a different approach worked better?

what did you actually keep using once the excitement of fixing your screen time wore off?

I would like to start having a more conscious use of the phone and technology in general. Can you tell me how you balance your digital life with your analog one? I would like to start tomorrow, today as a starting point I paid out the installments of a purchase made months ago. I’m using an iPhone 15 pro Max, but I feel too addicted and I would like to buy a dumbphone (I saw the punkt mp02 on the net and I really like it) balanced with iPad. Thank you everyone :)

Hey guys! While this might be somewhat against digital minimalism - I got a smart Garmin watch for my birthday over a year ago and honestly it helped me so much with my phone addiction.

I realised that every time I went ahead and checked the time on my phone, I would automatically open it and go on social media, check all of my messaging apps or open any other app without thinking about it.

But!! Ever since I got the watch, I check the time on them AND when someone texts me, it shows up on them. That way, most of the time, I can have my phone at the bottom of my bag and not have the urge to use it, since I know when someone texts me or what time is it.

They're not the smartest watch out there, you can track your steps, sleep, sport and some other small things on it and it shows you when someones calling you/texting you.

So my days are usually mostly phone free since I dont have to check it all the time!:)

I finally bit the bullet and bought a Brick to cut my phone addiction and be more productive + intentional with my time. My dopamine is most definitely not normal as well! I’m starting at least with no scrolling until noon then can’t scroll again after 3pm (It got bad!)

When I’m WFH and have a break or am just sitting eating breakfast, I definitely would be scrolling social media around then. Besides reading, what can I do around then? Need to learn how to be bored again. Sit in the silence maybe?😳

Hey, I'm starting my digital minimalism joruney and was considering buying an mp3 player to replace spotify with. Any recommendations?

This used to be such a fun app, but now it’s all hateful misogynistic bullshit. I used to go on there to watch videos related to my interests, baking and cooking videos, crafts, normal trends and stuff like that but 2025 and 2026 have been the absolute worst years of TikTok. Every time I go on there now, it’s full of AI slop, bp, Looksmaxxing, teenage boys posting comments about how abortion should be banned and periods should be daily.

Also lots of racism and hate in general on there. It is the worst app to ever exist and has ruined so many people’s mental health. It’s literally unavoidable, these trends have started on other apps as well. I hate lncel culture so so SO MUCH. No, I don’t want to see yourself smashing your face, stop acting like a lunatic and stop filming videos of yourself eating raw chicken in a random forest.

I just find it so disgusting that nothing at all has been done about this because it’s been going on for almost 2 years now or even more and I remember four years ago I could post a completely innocent comment and it would get banned for no reason at all. Now you can say racist and misogynistic terms and no one will bat an eye. It’s unbelievably ridiculous and TikTok has set women back so much. I don’t even use social media that much, but it’s literally in real life too, ai slop sold everywhere and teenage boys making these disturbing jokes. I’m really worried about the future generation, and I’m saying this as a 19-year-old. I hate it. I wish it was never created and I just wish that one day I would wake up and everything would go away.

Si soy sincera, no me acuerdo demasiado bien cuándo fue la primera vez que decidí pasarme al móvil de tapa, ya sabéis, el típico donde solo van las llamadas y con suerte te da para sacar fotos de máximo dos píxeles. Creo que fue hace cuatro o cinco años, un poquito antes de empezar bachillerato.

Tampoco sé decirte las razones, pero fue sin duda una de las mejores decisiones que he tomado en toda mi puñetera vida. Si algo he aprendido en esta vida es exactamente eso, que voy a estar bien sin la jodida pantallita, no solo bien, sino mejor.

El creernos incapaces de no poder estar tan siquiera 24 h sin una pantalla a nuestro servicio es la mayor mentira de nuestra generación; bueno, más que mentira, parece más bien una excusa que cada uno de nosotros nos ponemos para justificar la adicción. Que la inaccesibilidad a la ventana que supone internet no me ha hecho ser más inconsciente de la realidad, todo lo contrario, ahora puedo parar y observar para posteriormente hacer un juicio de valor con mínimo de sentido, coherencia.

Aunque, siendo sincera conmigo misma, tampoco es que me parezca el mayor error que ha podido cometer la humanidad, claro está. Peor sería ser joven en los noventa y que tus colegas mueran por un pico de caballo, peor sería morir de tuberculosis. Aquí cada uno se queja sobre lo que le afecta, y yo personalmente estoy harta de ver cómo se agota nuestro tiempo en pos de las grandes tecnológicas, nuestra vida pasando delante de una combinación excitante de colores en RGB.

Lo que os estaba contando, que estuve más de un año con aquel móvil de tapa, pero tras una situación inoportuna, decidí volver a encender mi teléfono. Resulta que me mudé durante medio año a Pamplona a un piso preciso en el casco viejo. Solo tenía un pequeño inconveniente: yo estaba ahí de estudiante y el piso carecía de wifi, y claro, tampoco pensaba contratar absolutamente nada. Terminé compartiendo los datos del móvil a modo de conexión y, como no, mis horas de pantalla se triplicaron.

La cosa es que, tras una pequeña crisis de no saber ni cómo ni qué hacer para sentirme más tranquila, tras unos cuantos días sin poder bajar el ritmo de las pulsaciones de mi corazón por la cantidad de ansiedad acumulada, he decidido volver a creer que sí que hay opciones, que existe una posibilidad de estar mejor.

Porque quizás tenga muy poquito dinero como para hacer más de dos sesiones de terapia con un psicólogo, pero tengo algo que espero nunca perder: mi agencia.

La capacidad de romper el ciclo y apagar mi móvil hasta que sea necesario. La capacidad de poder comprenderme desde la introspección, la claridad de mi propia mente. La capacidad de encontrar el apoyo que necesito en las personas que me han cuidado durante todos estos años, no en un PDF de cinco páginas de un cualquiera autoproclamado gurú, mucho menos en un video de 15 segundos donde lo único que me aporte sea una frase tan simple y tan vacía que por lo mismo cualquiera puede identificarse con ella.

Throughout the years I've put in a lot of work trying to avoid short form content. I've deleted tiktok, stayed away from youtube shorts completely. Reels used to be the same thing, avoidable. I've had different ways of doing this before with different reel blockers and different versions of instagram, but as the app updates and reels get pushed further down your throat in every way, im kind of running out of ways to avoid them. I've found myself back to doomscrolling, and even when i get something like a reel blocker that closes the app when i open the reels page, they still pop up on the main feed.

I can't really delete instagram since its my main form of communication with people, and i still like to see what my friends have posted occasionally and to hear about different events.

Basically, how do i go about avoiding reels when it feels like the entire app is based around them now?