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Get a tablet or computer to replace your phone for social media, video/movie watching, reddit browsing, etc

Sell your phone or place your SIM in a significantly older phone, or even a flip phone.

You could even download an app that dumbs down your smartphone to only taking calls and texts.

Point is, once you make using your phone unappealing, your brain will be less likely to want your phone.

I have Instagram installed only now. I spent all my time scrolling reels or watching Netflix. I am really frustrated with this now. The more I try to avoid it the more i see myself using it.

In your settings, you can/ should turn off access from your data provider to the social media sites you are using. It is reversible, but it takes a little time to remind yourself why you turned off in the first place.

Another thing that might help is setting your phone to grayscale colors, some Android phones have this built in where you can put this on a schedule. Some people lose interest in using their phone when they lose all of the nice vibrant colors.

I'd also try to fill the urge with something else, a hobby, book reading, anything to distract you.

Yes, Now I am trying that. Doesn't seem to work.

I had this problem in the "crackberry" days, the little red light drew me in.

To break this habit I stopped bringing my phone into my room. I set up a charger on a shelf outside my bedroom door, and I set my Phone on Auto shut down/auto wake up so it turned off on me when I should be going to bed.

I'd sneak my phone in and turn off the auto shut down from time to time, but after about 3 months I no longer was heavily addicted to my phone.

I only have Twitter and Reddit as my social media, and I don't follow any Meme accounts on either so I don't go down those rabbit holes. and I have a trusty old digital alarm clock in my room to wake me up if I need it, BUT I rarely use an alarm clock because I sleep well without my phone near my head and without the screen brightness just before going to sleep.

sleep w your phone out of the room. no phone in bedroom. or even no tech in bedroom period so u don't get dedicated to a tablet or laptop lol.

I think I have to do the same. Thanks.

I try to limit my time on it by leaving it in rooms I am not in.

I remember using my old Nexus 4, a 2012 Android phone, in 2021 for a week straight. Would barely use it for anything besides the occasional text and navigation. If I did use it much, the battery would make sure I'd put it down. At first it felt like I was missing a part of me, being able to watch videos and movies and browse the web at any moment, but near the end of the week it felt refreshing and liberating to not be tied to a phone, cursed to check it every so often for notifications.

I feel ya!!! Start small! Try by looking at your phone 15 minutes later in the AM, then 30 and so on. Make periods of the day phone free, when you sit on the couch try putting your phone on the table and get comfortable so you don’t want to get up. I go through periods but I notice it getting bad. Once I’m back in school I’ll start my break again!

Hey. Do This:
Tomorrow, work on 30 minutes. Replace the time with a game/outside/pushups/hashbrowns/whatever.

Keep doing that for 3 days.
After that, 45 minutes. Repeat pattern and add 15.

By the 14 th day your nights are yours again.

Yep eventually you can make the hours restrictions into days. I only check IG on Mondays / Fridays. Nothing bad has happened as a result, nobody will need you bad enough on that where it can’t wait.

Your phone must be a full featured phone. You better use a low-tech phone as the first step on dealing with your addiction.

ideally you delete things like Instagram/TikTok/Facebook which more often than not contribute to a negative mental health state, while also drawing you in for more "punishment", if you must use those social network platforms put them on a tablet or laptop so you have to set time aside for them and they aren't always available, it will make it easier to put down your phone as well.

Even to this day I wont keep books on my phone because if I start reading them there I'll always have a reason to need my phone, and when on vacation it is great to leave it in the room and take a paper book with me to the beach/pool

I know what you mean. I hate to say it, but I literally get "phone separation anxiety," to coin a phrase.

First try the 'focus mode' that your phone has pretty much already. Allow critical numbers to ring through. Turn off the ringer. Like with most 'technological addiction' the problem isn't the internet or the device it is that you don't have enough interesting stuff going on in your real life - you can focus on improving that too...like get a physical hobby, exercise, etc.

Start with small habits like no phone until you eat breakfast or no phone 30mins before bed and work your way up slowly.

Bad habits never go away, they just get replaced with newer and better ones. Phones are very stimulating so it can be hard to quit them, but try replacing it with a book or comics. Maybe buy something like a Nintendo switch or something that provides video excitement without the "social" aspect of a phone? A good single player video game can be a start to getting off there and mixing up your means of entertainment.

If that fails you start smaller and try to quit either Netflix or the reels. But don't beat yourself up too much, this is the same problem 90% of America has. Just so your best. :-)

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delete all social apps. only use the websites. Restrict you access. When you're 15 minutes into scrolling or 5, get disgusted with yourself. What's the point, none of this shit will matter 5 minutes from now. Do something you need or want to do. Remove notifications for anything non essential aka social apps and games.

If I replace all my phone time with hash browns, I will have diabetes by Friday