I have actually won against doomscroll. I used to spend 5-6 hours per day, and it peaked at 10 hours per day for some days of the year.
I realized that doomscrolling is not only clever algorithms trying to get me hooked, but also a symptom of deeper problems that I had.
And I realized that I was unhappy because I spent most of my doing things that I didn't like. I was deep frustrated. I did not want to spend my brain's precious energy on doing things that I didn't want to do.
I changed my path. Stopped caring about outside forces. Became happier. This was the hard part.
The easy part is what I learned from Cal Newport's book "Deep Work". It asks you to implement timeblocks. I implemented a 20 minute timeblock for browsing social media. I would not touch social media outside that timeblock. It really worked. I implemented timeblocks for studying, coding, personal time, and the resistance towards doing these things weathered away once I started. So, the urge to doomscroll went down, too.
I read some books, and consumed other resources that talk about our mind and our brain. Also some books on Theraveda Buddhist teachings. When you see your "self" as a bunch of neurons contextualised by your environment, outer stimuli, and as these are bound by biological laws, you stop being hard on yourself. You forgive yourself, gently. Then managing emotions, urges, etc. become easier.
Reducing the number of apps that you use also reduces time spend in doomscroll. I gave up Facebook 4 years ago because the content was too low quality, and gave up Quora some months ago for the same reason. Now all I have is Reddit. I keep Facebook as a non-professional networking too. I open it if I have something to say to particular someone, and spend maybe 10 minutes per month on it.
I also started meditating. That also helped big time. I will highly recommend it. Books that helped-
- What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula
- Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
I've had some success with time blocking (which I usually do by Google searching for "30 min timer"). But I'm curious what you do about asynchronous interrupts? e.g. you block out your morning carefully, then 1h into things a guy you called three weeks ago to ask if he would estimate for painting your fence shows up and wants to spend 30min looking at the job asking questions. Now your time blocks are scattered to the wind. I find in my life that interrupts of this nature are quite frequent. Almost every day. (and: no you can't ask the painter dude to schedule a time next week. He'll never show up).
I suggest that you read the related chapter from Cal Newport's book. That would be helpful in understanding more about timeblocking.
Daytime is the worst time for focused work- in my personal experience.
Either go deep into the night or wake up really early.
Or any time when you cannot expect interruption.
Focused work also works best when you have someone looking out for you- could be a partner or parents when you are young.
I take those responsibilities in the house that have clear, regular timings. Even if they are harder.
I combine timeblocking + pomodoro, so I get breaks. I walk, drink water. I never read or pick up my smartphone.
Whether you are at work or at home, you have to be vigilant about 2-3 hours of focused, isolated work. You have to carve the time out. You know better about your situation. So I will leave that to you.
Don't do meetings, or open emails, or browse social media in this time.
I was never able to go beyond 6 hours of very productive, innovative time. That was the peak. The usual looks like 1.5-2 hours per day.
It also does not have to be a big chunk. The time can be divided into two. But don't do more.
And, I will also state the obvious- no matter how much time is gone from your block, do the rest honestly. Be vigilant about it. Do not be a time-use purist. That harmed me a lot when I was in HS. I would plan to spend 4 hours on something, and if one hour were gone, I would do none of the rest 4. Don't be like that.
Check out the app Sorted on iOS (not sure if on Android). You can set all your tasks for the day and all their lengths (great for timeblocking), a default buffer between each task, and then autoschedule all the tasks throughout the day. If one gets interrupted, you can re-schedule them for the rest of the day after a certain time.
I realized that doomscrolling is not only clever algorithms trying to get me hooked, but also a symptom of deeper problems that I had.
And I realized that I was unhappy because I spent most of my doing things that I didn't like. I was deep frustrated. I did not want to spend my brain's precious energy on doing things that I didn't want to do.
I changed my path. Stopped caring about outside forces. Became happier. This was the hard part.
The easy part is what I learned from Cal Newport's book "Deep Work". It asks you to implement timeblocks. I implemented a 20 minute timeblock for browsing social media. I would not touch social media outside that timeblock. It really worked. I implemented timeblocks for studying, coding, personal time, and the resistance towards doing these things weathered away once I started. So, the urge to doomscroll went down, too.
I read some books, and consumed other resources that talk about our mind and our brain. Also some books on Theraveda Buddhist teachings. When you see your "self" as a bunch of neurons contextualised by your environment, outer stimuli, and as these are bound by biological laws, you stop being hard on yourself. You forgive yourself, gently. Then managing emotions, urges, etc. become easier.
Reducing the number of apps that you use also reduces time spend in doomscroll. I gave up Facebook 4 years ago because the content was too low quality, and gave up Quora some months ago for the same reason. Now all I have is Reddit. I keep Facebook as a non-professional networking too. I open it if I have something to say to particular someone, and spend maybe 10 minutes per month on it.
I also started meditating. That also helped big time. I will highly recommend it. Books that helped-
- What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula
- Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
- Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright
- Mastery by Gordon Leonard
- Learning How to Learn (Coursera)
- Mind Illuminated by Culadasa
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- Pragmatic Thinking and Learning by Andy Hunt