Defeating Doomscrolling

Is your phone stealing time from you?

Smartphones are the perfect trap for ADHDers: a pocket-sized novelty machine that delivers mini dopamine hits 24/7, it’s visually and audibly stimulating, an anytime social media and entertainment portal and the perfect device to do a deep dive on any hyperfixation. There’s nothing wrong with a little doomscrolling when you feel like it but our phones were designed to keep us connected, and instead, they can be the very thing that isolates us.

If spending time on your phone is costing you sleep and maybe even your wellbeing, then you may want to try some of our hints and tips.

So where do we start?

First, you need to be aware of how much time you are currently spending on your phone. Then, you want to decide how much time you are willing to spend on your phone per day and also when you don’t want to be on your phone.

Creating some boundaries and removing the temptation where possible puts you back in control and more aware of when and why you might be reaching for your phone. When you are picking up your device, you may want to put some measures in place to help prevent you getting to the doomscroll stage in the first place! Or at least to stop you getting stuck there.

Here are some ideas to help you manage your phone usage:

You decide how much time

• Take a look at your digital wellbeing settings, where your phone is automatically tracking how much time you’ve spent being social or productive and your most used apps.

• Schedule phone time - pick a time of the day you are happy to have a mindless scroll

• Set goals to reduce your overall screen time

• Set bedtime mode - quiet hours for notifications (9pm and 7am)

• Mute notifications and group chats when you need to work or sleep (nobody minds).

• Set app timers to limit time spent on social media and entertainment (max. 1hr 30 minutes per day for example)

Make your phone less attractive

• Remove chargers from your bedside and keep your phone out of easy reach

• Switch your display to black & white or monochrome to make it less exciting (normally in accessibility settings)

• Turn on flight mode or turn off the wi-fi/mobile data during focus times

• Physically put your phone out of sight (under a book or your crochet) to activate the ADHD advantage of out of sight, out of mind and redirect to something you’d rather do!

• Place your phone screen down on your desk or next to you so you can’t see notifications

• Put it on silent mode or vibrate only

• Group your apps

• Remove Home Screen shortcuts to your time vampire apps

• Try to keep some activities restricted to other devices such as laptop/tv and certain rooms

• Remove payment details from some apps to add in extra steps to deter the impulse instant-click purchases (ADHD tax hack!)

Unleash a slightly unhinged approach

• Give your phone it’s own time out basket or drawer where it has to go stay to think about what it has done if it has been distracting you

• Recruit a trusted phone confiscator who will take care of your phone for you whilst you concentrate and only bring it to you if there is an important call

• You can turn the phone off occasionally

• Schedule a phone free day or afternoon

• Put a photo so horrifying/embarrassing (within reason) that you don’t want anyone to see your lock screen or homepage. Your phone is more likely to stay in your pocket or face down!

• Set alarms at common times when you know you’re prone to going down a YouTube rabbit hole or the doomscrolling-forever-escalator.

• Train the dog (or a child) to steal or bat the phone out of your hand! (at your own risk)

• Uninstall your apps so you have to install them or log in via the internet to use them.

• Create a reward system. If the time spent on your phone or app is less than your chosen amount then have a small list of rewards you can unlock if you hit a streak.

Not all of these will work for everyone but perhaps there’s one or two suggestions here you might be helpful.

Seeking the doomscroll

Sometimes, spending more time on our phones tells us that we might be seeking comfort, connection or an escape from daily stresses. Whatever it is you need, you can use your ADHD traits to your advantage; make the things you want to be doing as easy and accessible as possible and the things you don’t want to be doing as boring as possible so your brain decides it can’t be bothered!

Making the phone less visibly appealing, by turning off notifications and making it grayscale for instance,or making the path to your social media apps more difficult by removing shortcuts, grouping apps and not auto-saving log-ins gives you more autonomy over your screen time.

You own your phone, it does not own you. Have fun experimenting with trying out some of these ideas and let us know if you have methods - as simple or as unhinged as you like - that you’d like us to add!