it was temporary; we survived
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I hope you can find a way around it.
My playgroup I run alongside a community center here and I’m continually in discussions with their community development officer about how we can shift off Facebook but we don’t have a good way to quickly send out communications to everyone who attends on a casual basis. People don’t have to be on Facebook to attend but they won’t get updated when we have to cancel a session. From the CDO’s perspective facebook is a trade off. You have to deal with the awful algorithm but you are able to reach people who would otherwise not be accessible and would potentially remain unaware of support that is available to them.
The school stuff I probably could just ignore but then my kid misses out which feels like higher stakes than me missing out.
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I think where I am struggling is with my phone use away from my kiddo. But during naps/bed around spouse and any other times.
I have deleted all of my apps that give me the hit of dopamine and I still find myself wanting to scroll. So then I open the GROCERY STORE APP and scroll coupons? Or YNAB, or other “productivity” apps just to get the hit. Honestly sometimes I feel like I have read all of OMD and just keep hitting refresh to see if someone updates.
I find I’m on my phone before bed and first thing in the morning. I’m also currently pregnant and when the insomnia hits I try and avoid my phone to go back to sleep but when I pick it up I’ll be awake for 2-4 hours.
I need a better mindless break. I clearly enjoy reading on the internet and I’m trying to transfer that to books but it’s not the same dopamine hit.
Maybe some phone free blocks would help and banning my phone from the bedroom? I’m kind of scared to do that as right now the easiest way to fall asleep is to Great British Bake Off in the background 
Thanks for starting this group! It’s a complex problem that impacts us all differently.
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Has anyone tried tactics like this? I don’t want an actual dumb phone for safety reasons (ya girl needs MAPS lol) but I’m intrigued
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Setting my phone to black & white definitely makes it less appealing to scroll! I turn that on at 10pm.
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oh hey, it’s me! Although tbh I actually read this on the computer, not the phone. But it’s the same experience, just a different machine that’s not in my pocket
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Yes. For me it’s Buy Nothing, and if I’m desperate… the weather?
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I feel so fucking seen lmao. The weather app has the WILDEST ads and videos
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My husband bough me a tiny semi smart phone after I begged (ran whatsapp). It was great. But it took crappy pictures, couldn’t play music or podcasts or do any admin. It woukd be great in a different phase for me
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It is so weird how well that works. BRB, turning the filter back on (turned off to do something with pictures and forgot to put it back).
Is yours an automatic setting?
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Yes, it’s an option in Android’s bedtime mode which can turn on at a set time every night. I also like that it gives you an option to “extend by 30 mins” which is better than turning it off entirely for the night – usually I’ll get done whatever I need to, get lost in the internet, but 30 mins later I’m reminded to stop again.
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I banned my phone from the bedroom after about week 17 of pregnancy. It’s helped a lot (and now I find myself reaching for my book again to get that dopamine hit, although it took a bit of time to retrain).
Same. It helps, and if the screen changes color it’s a reminder to go tf to sleep.
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I struggle with getting back into the swing of reading or non phone activities, because it’s so much harder for me to start and stop reading a book for example than stop looking at something on my phone when I have a kid need come up. I’m home with 2 little kids. In fact, when I’ve tried to read a book instead I find myself more irritable because it’s annoying to be interrupted with that activity? It’s easy for me to put down my phone super quick. But then I also don’t really care for the effects of too much social media scrolling?
Those are my undeveloped thoughts and not sure if anyone can relate. Those 5 minute spurts during the day of child care where no one needs anything and you don’t want to stare at the wall/kids or do chores. Im not sure what I think about it or if I want to adjust at all yet.
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I do not want to adjust that 
. It’s my sanity and adult time. But by banning my phone from the living room, I go to it when I have a chance vs ignoring and choosing the phone. I try to do longer form content (videos or books) in the bath or in bed. Sometimes longer car rides
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I have some easy pick-up set-down crafts for stop-go (like simple knitting where I can just do a few stitches and then set it back down).
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Does anyone know if that’s an option on iphone? I have “night shift” but it doesn’t make much difference to me.
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I’m on Android so useless.
Uh. Anyone here on iPhone?
Settings > accessibility > display and text > color filters > color filter on > grayscale
This makes everything grayscale all the time, I’m not sure if there’s a way to selectively or temporally turn it on.
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I can’t remember how I did it but I have it set that I can turn it to greyscale on my iPhone by tapping the back of my phone three times.
Unfortunately it doesn’t work for me. Sometimes I accidentally turn it on and don’t notice until I go to take a picture and I’ll have been scrolling on and off all day.
I think so much of my online time is reading text that the colours don’t matter so much.
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Tiny victory today!
During the 15 minute break from my all day meeting I walked around the property to the lake and listened to the water and the birds instead of looking at my phone! Got a tiny bit of exercise, fresh air, and nature.
Baby steps!
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