New Habits – Instead of Scrolling

The news cycle is already getting to my heart. It’s not even been 24h.

It’s time to protect my mental health. First step will be to curb the information I consume and how much time I spend on Instagram, Twitter and Threads.

I *loooooove* the internet. I have made countless friends and meaningful connections here. Yet, the current version of these digital gardens is hurting my mental health.

Here is my honest attempt to curb the time I spend mindlessly scrolling and instead create new habits.

Here’s a growing list of things I’ll try to do instead:

1. Grab a book

2. Text or call a loved one

3. Pull up a random Wikipedia page

4. Listen to an audiobook

5. Read a poem

6. Play a soothing game on my phone

7. Do a brief meditation and check in with my heart

8. Pet my dog

9. Go for a brisk quick walk

10. Do 5 squats (yeah right)

11. ________ <— your suggestion here

25 Comments leave a comment below

  1. This is a very good list. Yesterday I visited the bookstore (an action on my list) and bought two more books (on your list)-

    The Bandit Queens, by Parini Shroff
    A woman in India is believed to have killed her husband, and surprisingly good things happen because people believe it.

    Murder Your Employer, by Rupert Holmes
    People attend a school where they learn how to do just that.
    (Author Rupert Holmes wrote The Pina Colada song in the seventies, and also wrote songs and produced albums for Barbra Streisand, wtf!)

  2. I’m going to copy my comment from “over there” to here because This Is The Good Place. :-)

    – Unearth your MP3 collection, add to it (Bandcamp is great for this), dust off an iPod (or buy a used one supercheap), load it up with favorites and take along for a walk in lieu of an iPhone (wired earbuds are fine)

    – Pick a theme and make playlists

    – Post on your website :)

    – Plan a weekend far in advance to surprise yourself/fam

    – Write postcards from the edge (or your hometown, or both if that is the case)

  3. PERFECTO!!! decidi lo mismo en mi pais, soy de Argentina, sufro las noticias falsas y malas como udas, las redes sociales terminaron siento antisociales en el peor de los sentidos

  4. -Put on a rockin tune and have a little living room dance party. Some suggested songs:
    ‘I Love you Always Forever remix’ by Nora En Pure
    ‘Hold on – extended version’ by Paul Roux
    ‘Self Control’ by Eelke Kleijn, Lee Cabrera

  5. I am choosing to use my internet time to learn. There’s a geologist in my state (washington, USA) who is doing a series of lectures on local deep history and I am following along instead of doomscrolling news sources that I can no longer trust. Nick Zentner in case you are curious. Also, I find that poetry helps. I’m not naturally drawn to reading poetry, but in these times i’d rather be out of my comfort zone pursuing art than out of my comfort zone reading “reality”. ymmv. good luck. I enjoy your site and I wish you well.

  6. Practice Tonglen, even for him

  7. Since before the election I stopped reading every news source except Reuters and I’m keeping it that way. I still subscribe to the NY Times but only for the features.

  8. I am nourished by anything written by Parker J. Palmer – I love his Facebook posts and poems and my faith in humanity is daily restored in my reading of his book “Hidden Wholeness”. I admire his integrity and courage. Maybe he might provide nourishment for your/ other souls too.

  9. I need to put my phone in another room. Inevitably I pick it up and start doom scrolling. More activity, less scrolling.

  10. I deleted instagram from my phone. I can re-install it in a couple of weeks if I want to, but I honestly do not miss it.

    I love to sew, and I recently began to try a new hobby: sashiko embroidery.

    I love the idea of making a playlist!

    Eat more fruits and vegetables, with intention.

  11. Love this list! Here’s a few of mine:
    – Paint
    – Pet my dog (a lot)
    – Tidy up
    – Encourage others to paint/make art

    I’m on Bluesky now, I like that I can mute words and tags. I’m not on any other social media right now because it’s very triggering.

  12. After the election I stopped looking at all news…completely. I realized we have reached a point that is so unspeakably horrible that my constant concern can’t do anything to change things. We live in a post-facts, post-truths world now and it’s never going back. Let’s be honest about it, there is no going back. The internet is a toilet filled with conspiracy garbage and AI has erased what was left of reality. In the face of these realizations I am surviving by only existing in my community. I am done attempting to make the world a better place on a global scale.

  13. Gift a charitable scratch-off ticket to everyone in your life! The best way to feel good is to do good! givelottolove.com

  14. Same. I don’t have the mental energy to focus on this for the next four years. I’ve unsubscribed from many news feeds and turned off news notifications on my phone. Music, books, restaurants, and going outside in the fresh air all sound incredible.

    When my brain occasionally wanders to the new administration I remind myself: this too shall pass, roll on 2028.

  15. Cute animals videos on youtube
    Videos of interviews with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda
    Figure skating videos
    Walks/enjoying the bits of nature in NYC

  16. go out to watch a bird/tree/flower

  17. Watch silents movies.

  18. 1) I am listening to more audio books that TEACH me something.
    2) I am volunteering once a month at a local church that has a breakfast for the homeless. Also, I am a Master Gardener and this summer I will be working in a community garden to raise food for our food bank.
    3) I am learning to crochet! I hope to be able to make chemo hats and baby blankets for our local neonatal hospital unit.

    I keep this in mind: I can’t solve all the world’s problems, but I can make my corner of the world a better place, and inspire others to do the same.

  19. My item is to ‘rest for now but not for long’. I know that only action will revive me, but I also know that I need to recharge to be able to go for longer. I remind myself of a Ta Nehisi Coates gem: “I did not tell you that it would be okay, because I have never believed it would be okay. What I told you is what your grandparents tried to tell: that this is your country, that this is your world, and you must find a way to live within all of it”. I don’t need to know that we will win to know that we must resist.

  20. Well, I’m Spanish (Andalusian) so I won’t be innovative:
    Enjoy food (with people much better)
    Walk just for the sake of walking
    Meet more people

  21. Taskmaster on YouTube.

  22. It’s hard, from the outside as well. Hard to imagine a stub in which the first female multiracial US president would rock instead of watching Jon Stewart going crazy in Bannon’s flooded zone. And I find myself watching old movies and reruns of Ally McBeal (which did not age that well) as well.

    However – it’s not the option. Fleeing to the past, fleeing to the cave, is not the option. Because the consequences of these politics will be real and they will come fast. The option is to learn from the right. The Heritage Foundation, the project 2025, the very assumption that power IS power to change things in a way that you want to see the world shaped. Is it my world-view? No, Kleptocracy is not. But I wish the democratic and left side would have as much conviction, unity and presence as the right has now. I know that strong leadership and «democracy» do not really go together, but either we learn to defend freedom and democracy as strongly and organized as those attacking it – or it will be done.

    Just think of a system where what we all feel would be right for the world was pushed as hard and powerful, as connected and unilateral and crazy-like as what we see now for the wrong goals. Imagine a world where AttackAttackAttack and FloodingTheZone were done for things that would propel society forward….

    The thing, in the states now, is to prepare for Midterms and get a bit more aggressive than Chuck Schumer is, not in repeatedly saying that Trump is blathisblathat, but what are YOU fighting for, what is right, was is strong. Make people believe it, burst into the other folks bubbles, get your own plutocracy media friends and so on. It can be done and it would be fun.

  23. I have a pinterest folder of memes, cute animal pictures, autocorrect fails that never fail to make me laugh, when I need a quick boost.

  24. wondering where you got your couch?