u/Lower_Living3183

Started noticing this over the last few weeks and it's messing with me.

On work calls where I'm not actively talking, like just listening in, I start scrolling.

I am like half listening, catching enough to not get caught off guard because it is my job after all , but also im also scrolling, I feel its relaxing but exhaustingggg. 

Idk, I try to sit with the call, it feels like it not making me engaged enough. 

I think its like If I'm not fully and completely engaged then, I want to fill the rest with stimulation.

Anyone dealt with this specifically on calls? ?

Started noticing this over the last few weeks and it's messing with me.

On work calls where I'm not actively talking, like just listening in, I start scrolling.

I am like half listening, catching enough to not get caught off guard because it is my job after all , but also im also scrolling, I feel its relaxing but exhaustinggg. 

Idk, I try to sit with the call, it feels like it not making me engaged enough. 

I think its like If I'm not fully and completely engaged then, I want to fill the rest with stimulation.

Anyone dealt with this specifically on calls???

Started noticing this over the last few weeks and it's messing with me.

On work calls where I'm not actively talking, like just listening in, I start scrolling.

I am like half listening, catching enough to not get caught off guard because it is my job after all , but also im also scrolling, I feel its relaxing but exhaustingggg. 

Idk, I try to sit with the call, it feels like it not making me engaged enough. 

I think its like If I'm not fully and completely engaged then, I want to fill the rest with stimulation.

Anyone dealt with this specifically on calls? ?

Started noticing this over the last few weeks and it's messing with me.

On work calls where I'm not actively talking, like just listening in, I start scrolling.

I am like half listening, catching enough to not get caught off guard because it is my job after all , but also im also scrolling, I feel its relaxing but exhausting. 

Idk, I try to sit with the call, it feels like it not making me engaged enough. 

I think its like If I'm not fully and completely engaged then, I want to fill the rest with stimulation.

Anyone dealt with this specifically on calls? 

So I'm a PM and I've noticed a pattern which happens when im working.

The minute I get a hurdle on the task, I reach my phone. Not because I need to check something on my instagram. 

Then I come back to the doc a few minutes later, still stuck, AND now I've also lost my train of thought.

It feels more like the second there's any friction in a task, my brain just goes "nahh we gotta run" and takes the easiest exit available, which is my phone.

Anyone else notice this while working? 

So I'm a PM and I've noticed a pattern which happens when im working.

The minute I get a hurdle on the task, I reach my phone. Not because I need to check something on my instagram. 

Then I come back to the doc a few minutes later, still stuck, AND now I've also lost my train of thought.

It feels more like the second there's any friction in a task, my brain just goes "nahh we gotta run" and takes the easiest exit available, which is my phone.

Anyone else notice this while working? 

So I'm a PM and I've noticed a pattern which happens when im working.

The minute I get a hurdle on the task, I reach my phone. Not because I need to check something on my instagram. 

Then I come back to the doc a few minutes later, still stuck, AND now I've also lost my train of thought.

It feels more like the second there's any friction in a task, my brain just goes "nahh we gotta run" and takes the easiest exit available, which is my phone.

Anyone else notice this while working? 

So I'm a PM and I've noticed a pattern which happens when im working.

The minute I get a hurdle on the task, I reach my phone. Not because I need to check something on my instagram. 

Then I come back to the doc a few minutes later, still stuck, AND now I've also lost my train of thought.

It feels more like the second there's any friction in a task, my brain just goes "nahh we gotta run" and takes the easiest exit available, which is my phone.

Anyone else notice this while working? 

I used to think my problem was Instagram. I use it for an hour a day, its not bad at all, compared to others.

But here's another problem: I'll be working, and I've got a movie tab open. I work for like 10 min, then I switch to watching the movie for 15 20 min. Then back to work. Then back to the movie. Then Instagram for a bit. Then back to work.

I'm never doing one thing for more than 10-15 minutes before I go do something else.

By the end of the day, I did not work that much, I did not use insta that much, I did not complete the movie!!

But mind is extremellyyyy exhauseted, 8 9pm, I feel done.

Anyone else deal with this? Not addicted to any one thing, but just doing this? Any suggestions or tips?

I used to think my problem was Instagram. An hour a day, most people would say that's not even bad.

But here's what is actually happening: I'll be working, and I've got a movie tab open in the background "for later." I work for a bit, then I tell myself I'll just check the movie for a few minutes. Then back to work. Then back to the movie. Then Instagram for a bit. Then back to work.

None of these things individually would kill my day. An hour of Instagram, fine. Watching a movie in the evening, fine. But the switching is what's actually wrecking me.

I'm never doing one thing for more than 10-15 minutes before some part of my brain goes "let's check the other thing real quick."

By the end of the day I've technically "worked" for 6 hours and watched maybe 45 minutes of a movie and scrolled for an hour, but my mind is extremellyyyy exhauseted

Anyone else deal with this? Not addicted to any one thing, but just doing this?

I'm trying to build my first ios app and I already know what I want to make, but every time I sit down to actually start, it just feels too big. Like I don't even know what the first real step is, so I end up doing nothing instead.

I know I want to build this thing, I'm not lazy or unmotivated, the wanting is there. It's just that the whole project feels too big and scary to even approach, and being a first timer makes it worse since I don't know what I don't know yet.

How do you guys get past that feeling when something feels too massive to even start?

Had a weird moment last week. I was sitting at a red light, picked up my phone for maybe 10 seconds before realizing the light hadn't even turned green yet. My hand just went there on its own, no thought involved.

It wasn't really about the time wasted, it was realizing my hand moves before my brain decides anything. That felt like a different problem than just "I scroll too much."

Anyone else had a moment like this, something small that clicked?

Six months ago I was spending close to 3-4 hours a day on Instagram and YouTube Shorts on my phone. Decided to reduce it, set hard limits.

It worked. My phone screen time is down.

But here's the thing, I just moved the behavior to my laptop. Same content, bigger screen. Netflix binge instead of Shorts binge. Reddit rabbit holes at my desk instead of in bed. The total time wasted didn't really change.

Curious if anyone else went through this phase. Did it eventually sort itself out or did you have to actively tackle the laptop separately?

Not looking for app recommendations or productivity systems, more interested in how people actually think about this psychologically.

For the longest time I thought I was being "disciplined" by refusing to ship anything until it was perfect. Turns out I was just scared.

Examples from my own life:

• A project I sat on for 3 months tweaking, that a colleague built a rougher version of in 2 weeks and actually launched
• Emails I've rewritten 5 times that probably read the same as the first draft

At some point I realized perfectionism isn't high standards. It's just procrastination in a suit.

The question I now ask myself: "Will this be meaningfully better if I spend 3x more time on it?" Usually the honest answer is no.

So where do you draw the line? Do you have a rule, a gut feeling, a framework? Or do you just ship and cringe later?

Mine is 1 hour on Instagram. I stick to it maybe 4 days out of 7.

The other 3 days I either ignore the notification entirely or tell myself "just 5 more minutes" which somehow becomes 2 hours.

Curious if anyone here has actually cracked this, not just set a limit but genuinely respects it consistently. And if so, what made it click?

Also wondering: do you use any app/method to enforce it or is it purely willpower?