Staying in touch without the feed
The feed was doing four separate jobs. Replace them one at a time: a group chat, one standing weekly thing, photos sent directly, and a birthday list you own.
Getting your attention back
A trial that removed mobile internet for two weeks improved objectively measured sustained attention. Here is a fortnight of small practice built on that, and the honest limits.
Where to get support for compulsive scrolling
What actually exists in the UK: a fellowship that names social media directly and meets daily online, free CBT-based groups, and a GP conversation about what is underneath. Plus what does not exist.
Why the feed is built to hold you
Six design features you can see for yourself, the counter for each, and an honest account of where the argument that the feed is engineered to addict you runs out.
You reinstalled the app. What now?
Reinstalling is an ordinary event, not a verdict. Find the one condition that let it back on, change that, and start again today rather than on Monday.
When do you actually pick up the phone?
One day, one tally, three columns. Find the three moments that produce most of your scrolling, and fix those instead of trying to want it less.
The first week off social media
The restlessness is normal, the boredom is the whole difficulty, and days three to five are when people reinstall. What the trials actually promise, and what they do not.
Telling your friends you are off social media
One message, sent once, with a phone number in it. The wording that stops the debate, the five people to tell individually, and what to set up before you go.
Delete it, or limit it?
A four-week Facebook deactivation raised wellbeing and cut later use. A 14-day break beat nothing on mood. How to choose, and how to stop reinstalling.
What to do with your hands instead of scrolling
Four substitutes that survive a real evening, the rule for choosing your own, and what people in the trials actually did with the hours they got back.
Is my social media use a problem?
There is no diagnosis to qualify for, so hours are the wrong test. Judge it by what it costs: your sleep, the thing you meant to do, and how you feel after.
How to stop doomscrolling
Charge the phone outside the bedroom, switch the screen to greyscale, and make your worst app take four steps to open. No deleting required.