r/digitalminimalism

I was diagnosed with ADHD last year after extensive screening. The past few weeks, I’ve been venturing into short-form video content free life. I’ve deleted a number of social media apps from my phone, and my screen time is down almost 50%. I already feel my attention span improving. I don’t know how to tell my therapist that I feel like the majority of my issues might be heavily rooted to phone addiction, rather than an ADHD. I know that the diagnosis still probably stands without the phone addiction, but, there is a little voice in my head that is telling me this was just phone addiction the whole time. Have any fellow ADHDers also experienced this dilemma when venturing into digital minimalism? (Edited to include that I also I have other symptoms: executive dysfunction, poor short term memory, directional issues, time blindness, object permanence issues, diagnosed overall in-attentive type )

I recently deleted Instagram and TikTok after realizing my screen time was around 6–7 hours a day. I always knew I used my phone a lot, but I don’t think I fully admitted to myself how much of my time and attention it was actually taking.

The weirdest part is that I genuinely thought I enjoyed it. I’d scroll whenever I had a free moment, post stories, check who viewed them, see who liked them, sometimes notice who didn’t like them lol. There was always this tiny reason to pick my phone back up.
Then I deleted the apps.
My screen time dropped to around 3–4 hours pretty much naturally. I didn’t even have some super strict plan for replacing social media. I just suddenly had all these little pockets of time back.

And one of the biggest changes has been reading.
I’ve never really been someone who reads for fun, but instead of reinstalling Instagram when I had free time recently, I picked up a book. I got completely hooked. I found myself wanting to pick up my book the same way I used to automatically reach for my phone. I just finished my first book in what felt like no time, and I’m already excited about what I’m going to read next.

It made me realize that I wasn’t necessarily “too busy” for things like reading. I was spending those little pieces of free time consuming other people’s lives.
And honestly, one of the biggest realizations has been: who cares?
Who cares who watched my story? Who cares who liked it? Who cares who didn’t? Why was I giving any of that so much space in my brain?

I’m also a mom, and I’ve noticed that I feel much more present. I’m not saying I never use my phone anymore—I obviously do, and 3–4 hours is still plenty. 😂 But I’m much more conscious of why I’m picking it up.
I thought deleting social media would leave this huge empty space and I’d eventually get bored and go back. Instead, I’m realizing there are so many things I actually enjoy doing when I’m not constantly feeding my brain the easiest possible stimulation.
I’m not even sure I’ll stay off Instagram forever. But right now, I don’t really miss it.

Has anyone else deleted social media and been surprised by what they naturally started doing with the time instead?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been following this subreddit for a long time, and as a family with three older kids we’ve spent years decluttering our home. It’s been a great journey. We own less, we feel lighter, and life at home is calmer.

Now I’m trying to declutter digitally as well, but I’m running into a different kind of chaos. I’m generally happy with the tools I use, yet the mix of hardware, software and ecosystems is starting to drain me. It feels like everything works together just enough to keep me going, but not enough to give me any real peace of mind.

We have Android phones, an iPhone, Windows machines, a Linux laptop, an iPad Pro, a NAS, and multiple cloud services. I use Microsoft To Do for tasks, but I also use Obsidian to build a second brain. I switch back and forth, experiment for a few weeks, and then end up stuck in the middle with two half‑systems instead of one solid one. The same goes for email clients, storage locations, and photo libraries — twenty years of pictures scattered across the NAS, OneDrive and now iCloud.

I’m considering moving everything into the Apple ecosystem just to create one coherent environment and finally simplify things. But part of me hesitates, because it feels like handing my entire digital life over to one big tech company.

I can’t imagine I’m the only one dealing with this kind of digital fragmentation. I’d really love to hear how others approached this and what solutions worked for you.

My social media universe has been facebook and reddit, I have never used any other social media sites. I’ve been on both of those sites for about 15 years, which is a haunting amount of time, and ideally the upper limit of my social media lifespan. How long does this go on?

These days, I maintain a facebook account almost exclusively for marketplace, so to be honest I don’t really have much problem with that, I don’t lose a lot of time there.

The big one for me is reddit. I’ll cycle between phases of steady daily use, then getting fed up, deleting my account and going without, until I eventually get sucked back in, because of the below.

The “problem” with reddit for me is that it has become the repository of useful information on specific topics or hobbies, information that in the past was more concentrated or prevalent on dedicated standalone forums. I’m a musician and av tech, and so rather than jumping from site to site about specific instruments or gear, there’s a sub for most everything on reddit.

The useful side of Reddit is undeniably helpful, but The problem is that I will always get roped into some god-awful front page trash, and before I know it I’ve lost a couple hours, day upon day upon week upon month… the accumulated mental energy and time spent by collective humanity scrolling random nothingness on social media over the last couple of decades is just staggering to think about.

Elsewhere, I notice that when/if I get sick, or if I’m on holiday sometimes, I’ll reach for my phone and comfy doom scrolling ensues.

I was wondering if anyone has had long term success leaving reddit behind, or has any reddit-specific tips? I would ask for tips on avoiding the bloated engagement bait on reddit but I think the best long term would be to leave it behind, for me personally if the door is open any amount it ends up letting everything in.

today I learned Sam Altman has a 9% ownership stake in reddit, things like that make it less appealing I guess!

A week ago, I misplaced my phone on the bus and genuinely got depressed because I’m basically addicted to my phone.

Everything revolves around my phone. I’m usually on my phone from dawn til dusk. Whether if it’s YouTube or Spotify or watching anime or movies or whatever. Can’t forget the constant cycle of social media apps. Either WhatsApp or Instagram or whatever.

Now I was forced to actually do shit. I was stuck in this limbo where I was doing shit like meeting people or going outside while wishing I had my phone. Made a friend who I would invite to my apartment and we would play Co-op video games and no lie, that shit was fun. But I was bored as fuck without the never ending cycle of apps and was drinking and smoking a lot too. But I was doing stuff.

Finally, I go onto the iLost website and voila, my phone is posted there and I’m overjoyed. Fast forward, I have my phone now and I feel more worse. More alone. Just days spent in the house just doomscrolling. Aside from calling my mom, I really don’t wish to connect with anyone. With all the connectivity in the palm of my hand, I feel worse. It’s like my eyes have been opened to how truly alone I am.

Hi, I have looked everywhere on Reddit and found some *similar* threads but not exactly what I have been looking for.

What I want to do is simple.

A button on my iPhone where if pressed, it does the following:
-Turns on grayscale
-Makes apps I choose disappear (this would be the instagrams of the world)
-Only allows apps I choose (for example, maps)
-Have a preset timer where this feature will be turn on (no way of turning off) until X time or date.

Is this something I can set on my phone? I have been playing around with settings for about an hour now and haven't come to something like I am describing.

I appreciate any guidance. Thanks!

I was on all the main platforms and completely addicted.

I deactivated my Facebook account 3 years ago. Twitter and TikTok followed about a year later.

Just instagram and Reddit left now but I have massively cut down on my Instagram time and now spend less than an hour on there each day (I could easily spend 4 or 5 hours per day on there in the past). I rarely post anymore.

My life has become immeasurably better especially since leaving FB and Twitter. I used to get sucked into so many arguments with ignorant strangers. I would often be left in a horrible mood. Days out were picked and curated to look good through the lens of social media. I would doom scroll Twitter and feel permanently negative.

Initially I replaced my social media time with Duolingo. I can now hold a conversation in German. I then completed a bunch of crafts that have been sat on shelves for years. I’m learning to juggle and spin staffs and poi. I work out going to aerial classes 3-4 times a week. I started to cook from scratch again. My relationship with my husband and children has improved. Days out are now enjoyed and I’ll take a photo to send to my mum and dad and then put the phone away to be in the moment.

Seeing how much life has improved makes me so sad that I wasted so much of it looking through a screen and I am still annoyed with myself even now that I can’t quite let go of instagram and reddit. I just need to take the plunge and delete them both. Even having lived with the benefits of giving it up, social media addiction has such a strong hold on me.

Hi all,

I uninstalled Instagram and TikTok about 2 weeks ago, as short-form content was rotting my attention span. But I've found I'm still wasting hours, just now on Reddit, and although it's probably not as bad as mindlessly scrolling reels, I intend to enjoy my hobbies again.

I used to read 50+ books a year; now I can't read more than a few pages without needing a break. I used to paint and draw, but now those hobbies feel daunting, as much as I want to do them.

I have tried in the past setting my phone to greyscale and having time locks, but neither of those worked.

For those who cut back on social media successfully, how long did it take to get your attention span back and start being able to focus on your hobbies?

I have been in this sub for a while now and have seen many posts. I have noticed a pattern and I wonder if anyone else here has?

I feel that digital minimalism has been hijacked. The intention from the beginning for all of us was to lower our screen usage and become more present. However, I feel that with the introduction of endless notepads and iPods with headphones and record players creating a so called 'load-out' to replace our phones we have replaced one obsession with another. We are now obsessed with finding the perfect way to reduce our screen time, scrolling endlessly on reddit looking for the solution in others post. Replacing one addiction with another!!

The intentions are true and I am sure you all mean well. I just feel that many in this sub have become intoxicated with the romantic image of being 'free' from our devices rather than actually putting their phone down and going outside.

Just me??

thoughts would be appreicated. I would love a discussion

Edit:

Perhaps this behaviour originates from the modern consumerist mindset of 'products solve problems'. We feel we need even more stuff to solve the core problem at hand which is an unhealthy relationship with the technology you have.

I’m a college student and I feel like I have a pretty bad scrolling habit.

The weird thing is that I don’t even really like social media. I don’t like the culture around it, I don’t post much, and I genuinely want to spend less time on my phone. But somehow I always get sucked back into scrolling.

I deleted TikTok years ago, but now Instagram Reels has basically replaced it. My biggest problem is that scrolling has become my default whenever I’m bored or before I go to sleep. I’ll pick up my phone intending to check one thing and suddenly I’ve been scrolling for way longer than I wanted.

I’ve tried a few things already:

• Deleting Instagram from my phone, especially during finals
• Setting app time limits
• Staying off social media completely for periods of time

The problem is that when I remove Instagram, I usually just replace it with YouTube Shorts, scrolling on my laptop, or using my iPad. So I feel like deleting one app doesn’t actually fix the underlying habit.

I’ve even considered getting a flip phone or a basic phone to use when I’m outside so that I physically can’t scroll when I’m bored.

I also really dislike how normalized constant phone use has become. People are on their phones at meals, while hanging out, while walking around, basically everywhere. I don’t want my life to feel like that, but I also realize I’ve developed the exact habit I dislike.

For anyone who successfully cut back heavily or quit short-form social media:

• What actually worked for you long term?
• How did you deal with boredom or the urge to scroll?
• What did you replace scrolling with so you didn’t just move to another app?
• Did gradually reducing your use work better than quitting cold turkey?
• Has anyone tried switching to a dumb phone or flip phone while still keeping a smartphone at home?

I’m not necessarily trying to disappear from the internet completely. I just want social media to stop being my automatic response whenever I have nothing to do.

It turns YouTube into a dumb app where you have essentially no algorithm anymore and going to subscriptions panel lets you just see chronological posts like it’s 2010 again.

When I open the YouTube app now there are NO suggested videos and it’s just a blank search bar. It’s BORING in the best way.

One of the only snag drawbacks is not being able to save your place in a video for later - but considering how much you get outside of that, it’s unbelievably worth it. I’ve pared down my subscriptions a lot also, so it feels like I’m truly just seeing what I want to see and often experiencing necessary friction of opening YouTube and having no new videos to watch.

It’s probably been suggested before, but it’s a huge net benefit especially as YouTube has kind of dominated what was once social media time.

Hope this helps you guys - going to go write a letter to my penpal 😄

I’m a 31 yo woman. Over the past decade, I’ve attempted to delete my social media accounts many times. As a local public figure in my country, I felt watched constantly. Ex-partners would watch me, estranged family members would try to see what I was up to and gossip, and girls I went to school with would watch my stories without even following me. I found myself constantly paranoid.

Not to mention, I would even use social media to lurk when I was bored, I hated that about myself. I despise that behaviour in others but I would find myself just going through profiles of people who I disliked who have hurt me in the past. Friends, abusive family members. Almost like just checking if they got their karma yet. And even when they do, It doesn’t make me feel better. It felt so slimy that I’m watching. I make an effort to keep others out of my mind if I dont like them. I don’t gossip ever, but ironically when I was having a bad day I’d just go look at the lives of people did me wrong a decade ago, almost like trying to rage bait myself (it almost felt like self harm lol!)

Even setting my accounts to private wasn’t enough, I still felt like I was being watched (if I was doing it, why wouldn’t others?) I ended up deleting an account I’d had since 2011, which had over 300k followers in 2020, and it felt so freeing. Of course I then got another Instagram and the cycle started again 2 years later. I got it back again because dating without a social foot print was so difficult (regardless of how known I was). Everyone wants to see pictures, or that you’re a real person. It felt like I basically didn’t exist to people if I didn’t have a profile. I noticed if someone cares about you having social media, they also are someone you should stay clear from. The chances of them being very chronically online is a high chance. Most likely they probably wouldn’t be good partners. Most people are looking for another person to lurk on without talking to. A connection to them is very conditional to them only reaching out once in a blue moon when you post a nice photo of yourself.

Honestly, dating anyone via the apps is soul crushing. People treat each other so unintentionally, like they’re a dime a dozen. In my experience as a woman, the men I would speak to rarely put any effort into having conversations. They only wanted access to your social media, would ghost you, but would still lurk.

I felt icky about people feeling entitled to watch everything you do while not wanting any real connection.
So, since 2021, I was deactivating and reactivating my accounts almost every other month. It became almost like a compulsion. I’d even make burner accounts just to scroll through Reels and watch things just so I didn’t have to use my real account. Even though I hated what I was watching, I couldn’t look away! I’d waste hours.

But this year, I finally permanently deleted all my accounts. I feel so free. I wish I had taken this seriously sooner because I feel like I have my life back. I’m not capable of using it. I remind myself all the time it’s not normal to constantly be watched or perceived. It’s not right to be able to know the kids names of your high school bully just by one search. It’s not normal to be able to know if your friends husband has a p*rn addition or subs to OF just by looking through his following. The less we know the better. These apps are exploiting human curiosity and it can’t be healthy to know this much about people.

My advice is take it day by day.
Every day you refrain from reactivating before the deletion date celebrate. It’s an accomplishment every day you make it without using it. Be proud of yourself because you are very strong. It’s highly addictive. So everyday that goes by you are getting a piece of your life back.

https://preview.redd.it/8ewlzmvqc4kh1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6555a6d4bd974f8102ddc8341dc865f1bbda6ffc

After working in actual offices for more than 10 years, I finally had enough.

2 years ago I said to myself, "Let's try something else."
On a random Friday, instead of going to the office, I took my laptop, hopped on my bicycle, and headed out.
15 minutes later I was sitting in the middle of the woods.

My first attempt with a hammock was pretty uncomfortable for working, but the core idea felt right.
I instantly knew I wanted to keep doing this.
On Monday, I resigned from renting a co-working space and went all-in on an outdoor setup.

I finally forced myself to document the process.
In this video, I picked a spot by the water that works best when it hits 30°C (86°F).

My entire setup fits in one backpack:

• Foldable chair (Decathlon Quechua 500 M)
• Picnic blanket + fleece blanket
• Insulated water container
• hammock
• 140W powerbank (mainly to keep my phone alive while hotspotting)

The setup cost less than 150 USD/EUR total.
My M1 MacBook easily gives me 6 to 7 hours of actual work, and finishing the workday next to the trees leaves me feeling grounded instead of drained.

I wonder if anyone else here has made a similar shift to slow down their work environment.
Happy to answer any questions about how it works in practice.

This is pretty much what I show on the video:
https://youtu.be/Jyd8uMtxE3Y

Do you have any special recommendations what everyone should have in their pocket and at home to no longer be dependent on the digital modern life?

Minimalism and Bullet journal. You think at first it’s all about feel present, authenticity and reducing consumption. You end up on videos and posts about which expensive stationary to buy to make your bullet journal so pretty it’s not anymore possible to write freely inside. These videos are also advocating that buying more stuffs is more minimal than using your phone to do so. What’s the point of a paper journal so fancy you’re not daring anymore to write it it?

So instead of reducing consumption, you end up with more fancy stuff you don’t really need. :-/

I think all these videos and podcasts miss the points raised in books like Cal Newport Digital Minimalism or Marie Kondo Art of Tidying Up.

We don’t need to buy cameras, Mp3, e-readers, maps and so on in order to remplace our phone. We can do, if it bring us joy. Some people will gladly enjoy taking pictures with their cameras. For these people, buying and using a cam alongside their phone is a way to find a hobby. It’s thus in line with the philosophy of digital minimalism. Yet it’s not the same for everyone. It’s maximalism, not minimalism, to tour with a bag full of devices, when you were fine with only your phone.

That’s why I think both books should be read alongside. We should try to be minimalism and use joy to sort our personal devices.

I write brilliantly, believe it or not. And that’s all gone down the fucking drain.

I used to have such an imaginative mind. I even still play pretend when I get the chance.

But something about this stupid smartphone has got me in a horrible chokehold. Main reason is because I don’t have any friends at all.

Starting anything feels so hard. I used to love drawing and reading and writing. But that feels like too much work. Anytime I try to not be on my phone I become depressed thinking about all that’s wrong and how alone I am.

There’s so many things, so much clutter in my mind that I need to do and get rid of!

What the hell is wrong with me! I’ve tried the app limits but the emptiness of my life leads me right back here…

It disgusts me

How do you all deal with the urge to check Instagram every 5 minutes? Genuinely losing hours a day

I’m so curious to hear from those who did manage to beat it.

What have you noticed? How have you sustained it? Do you still get instances of FOMO?