Is it really that darn phone?

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I tend to do is look at my phone. As I go about my day, I watch YouTube while I eat, blast music on my walks, find myself scrolling Pinterest during class and then go on social media some more when I get home. Like many of us, in every moment of free time or boredom, I am drawn to using my phone to fill the void. 

Recently, I have wondered whether I am the one in control of how I use my phone, or whether the addictive nature of apps like Instagram or Snapchat has begun to control me. This sense of powerlessness about one’s phone usage and the desire to reclaim it seems to be prevalent among today’s youth.

For example, a survey from 2025 on consumer behavior from The Harris Poll in collaboration with Quad found that 81% of Generation Z individuals often desired to disconnect from digital devices more easily.

Whether by replacing smartphones with retro flip phones, embracing landline-style telephones, or going back to physical media with vinyls, CDs and print newspapers, it seems that the tide is turning: Gen Zers are slowly becoming more cognizant of their digital device usage and some are making active efforts to use their phones as little as they can. 

Inspired by this anti-phone movement, I decided to challenge myself to five days of minimal phone use, engaging with one offline creative activity each day instead. 

My experiment included four goals. 

First, no scrolling on social media. Second, only using my phone when I really needed it. For example, if I had to use Maps to navigate somewhere, that was fine, but if I wanted to use it for something that wasn’t truly necessary, like listening to music, then I didn’t. Third, make art. And finally, finish the week with a screen time lower than the previous of almost five hours per day. 

Although I ended up completing all my goals, there were challenges along the way. The biggest hurdle was getting used to life without external stimulation, and feeling left out or disconnected from my friends also proved difficult. Still, I came to realize the underrated value of living in the present and stimulating my mind through creative endeavors. Ultimately, I proved to myself that through commitment, I can develop a healthier relationship to my phone. 

Day 1: Hooked on crochet instead of my phone

This day definitely came with adversity. I was adjusting to using my phone less and the differences to the previous week were extremely stark, considering I was taking a complete break from social media.

In full honesty, when I woke up that day, the first thing I did was pick up my phone. I realized my mistake pretty soon after and immediately got off of it, vowing to be more aware of my tendencies moving forward.

In committing to my goals, one thing I found especially helpful from the start was deleting social media apps from my phone completely. Without seeing the notifications from these apps, I felt less of a temptation to look at them. 

There were some pretty immediate effects from my changes in phone usage.

It was an interesting experience to actively live more in the present; whether it’s music, a podcast, an audiobook or a TV show, I am usually playing something while I eat, work or get around. As part of this challenge, I intentionally basked in the silence, with my own thoughts and real-life interactions as my only entertainment. 

I noticed that my perception of time was different. Normally, I frequently look at my phone and see what time it is. Since I was looking at it less — sometimes even leaving it in another room altogether — I was much more aware of my environment but much less aware of the exact passage of time. 

I also definitely felt the loss of not going on social media and scrolling as a way to decompress. 

As someone who loves to update my friends through my private story, losing the ability to update them on my day felt a bit grim. I use it to share fit checks, pretty views and my slew of random thoughts on the daily, and I see my private story as a reflection of the real me. Unable to post to it, I found myself wishing I could share notable parts of my day with my friends. 

Also, scrolling had been a nice way to take the edge off after a hard day of classes, so it was weird not to have that crutch anymore. 

In search of another way to relax, I read for a while, which was pleasant, even if it gave me less of a dopamine hit than scrolling. I also did my creative activity of crocheting heart-shaped ear muffs. It was fun to start a new project, practice my crocheting skills (as I am still new to the craft). 

Doing these other activities instead of scrolling had its advantages. When scrolling, it’s easy to get sucked in, and suddenly, although I was planning to only be on my phone for 30 minutes, I would find myself stuck on it hours later. In contrast, that loop wasn’t an issue with these other activities, which meant that I wasted less time and easily went back to being productive. 

As a result of my lack of scrolling, I saw less content on my phone that might cause me to ruminate, which left my mind less cluttered. Ultimately, this made me feel more like myself because my thoughts were more in my own control. Not having social media as a fallback, I had more time to think, and — surprisingly — my mind was able to relax.

This showed me that the “relaxation” I was used to from scrolling wasn’t truly calming. In the moment, it feels nice to think less and get a dopamine rush, but those effects aren’t satisfying long term as they can leave you more jittered up than before. 

Day 2: Scrapbooking over scrolling

This day was an improvement over the day before, as I found it more natural to be on my phone less. It had already become less foreign to not be stimulated all the time, although it still felt a bit weird to not consume content while going about my day. 

Specifically, it was hard knowing that my friends were sharing things about their lives that I was not seeing, as it made me feel disconnected from my friendships. Of course, people could reach out and text updates one-on-one, but it was rarer. We rely so deeply on social media to connect with people, but maybe we need to strengthen our connections off social media as well.

I felt FOMO not just for what my friends posted, but for other content I care about too, like a new “The Broski Report with Brittany Broski” podcast episode or season of “Maxton Hall” that I had to watch on a delay. Both of these elements show how digital technology has its upsides and can genuinely contribute to positive experiences when they are used intentionally and responsibly.

But despite the FOMO, I found myself comparing myself less to the lives of others.

It was precisely because I was more tuned out that I was able to just focus on what made me happy. I felt my mental health improving as being disconnected allowed me to be more grounded in my own reality and feel positive about how I lived my life. 

Exercising my creative muscles by filling in pages of my travel scrapbook also left me feeling more positive. I’d been meaning to do this project for a while to document my experiences studying abroad. By doing this challenge, I finally carved out the few hours of my day necessary to organize the pages with different photos, stickers and postcards from my trips. 

This allowed me to reflect on my recent fun experiences, and, through my intense focus on this creative endeavor, reduce temptations to look at my phone. By the end, I felt both accomplished and relaxed.

Day 3: Painting rather than ruminating

On this day, my cravings and FOMO from the day before felt much tamer. I had also become more detached from what was happening on social media and much less bothered by not being on it. 

While before, a lack of noise or visuals left me feeling uncomfortably understimulated, that was no longer an issue. Instead of feeling bored, I just felt engrossed in whatever I was doing as well as calmer overall. 

As in the days before, the urge to scroll to give my mind space wasn’t completely gone. Especially after doing something particularly mentally strenuous, I felt tempted to do a mindless activity that would require little cognitive effort. But, this pull became easier to resist and it felt less odd to replace it with other relaxing activities. 

My chosen creative activity for the day was pottery painting, so I ventured to a ceramics studio on my street. I settled on adding a collage of red line designs to a heart-shaped container that I now use as storage for some of my jewelry. I found this enjoyable as I got to socialize, relax and make some functional home decor. Overall, spending my time being creative left me much better off than spending my time scrolling.

Day 4: Snowflakes are in, Snapchat streaks are out

In continuation of the pattern from day three, I grew even more accustomed to being on my phone minimally, and any need to watch or listen to online content had greatly subdued. Moreover, my FOMO was much less prevalent by this day. 

The only disappointing part of this day was that I lost my four-year-long Snapchat streak with my best friend. I was trying to avoid this outcome by using Snapchat for Web on my computer once a day only for this purpose, but then I got so wrapped up in the challenge that I forgot about it. Losing the streak helped me see how insignificant a count of how many days in a row I’ve sent a selfie to someone really is. The true depth of my friendships exists beyond that. 

This highlighted how features like this are just another way for social media platforms to gamify themselves and make users more addicted to them. Once the illusion around these features dropped, they were no longer as effective and I felt relieved from the pressures of being on these apps. 

I also extended my absence from scrolling to my computer, as avoiding content consumption on my phone but then intaking through alternate means felt like it would defeat the whole point of my experiment. Accordingly, I ended up steering clear of the same platforms on my phone as on my computer, those being primarily Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Netflix. 

This significantly reduced my distractions and assisted me with staying on task with my schoolwork ahead of finals season. Using a site blocker made me realize how often I was trying to access pages only out of habit. With the chance to pause and rethink, I was able to stop myself from using them carelessly and unintentionally. I recommend a similar tactic for anyone looking to do the same. 

Although I had another busy day, I still made time for a new creative activity: cutting out paper snowflakes to make a winter-themed garland. As with the other artistic projects I took on this week, I found this to be peaceful and fulfilling. 

Day 5: Drawing and enjoying the journey

On this last day, I had a four-hour train ride ahead of me, which I knew was bound to test the strength of my commitments to being off my phone. 

Normally, when I travel, I watch something on my phone for entertainment, but I didn’t have that option this time. I did end up using my phone to listen to music because the concept of traveling for that long in complete silence felt daunting. Other than the music, though, I stuck to minimal external stimulation and allowed only my own thoughts to entertain me.

I ended up doing my creative activity on the train to pass the time. This involved sketching various buildings and structures from photos I had taken recently. I have loved drawing since I was a kid, but had never had experience with drawing buildings specifically, so it was fun to try something new. All in all, it was a pleasant experience and made me more connected to other people, as passengers sitting near me were intrigued by my drawing. 

My main takeaway from this day was that time off screen didn’t make my journey feel longer, but rather enriched my experience. For instance, because I spent my time drawing, the ladies sitting by me complimented my sketch, and I got to hear about one of their grandsons who also draws. Had I used my phone, I would have missed out on such heart-warming interactions that came about from me making art instead of scrolling.

Post-challenge reflections

Doing this challenge revealed a few major truths to me.

The first is that it’s all about willpower. If you want to use your phone less, and you follow up that goal with concrete steps to make that happen, whether it’s deleting apps like I did or some other tactic, you will get there. I saw this in my own results, considering I successfully cut down my screen time by 42%. There will surely be ups and downs along the way, but it will get easier day by day.

The second is that what really matters is the intention behind digital device usage. There can be legitimate positives to being on social media, such as keeping up with friends, so it may not be necessary to quit these platforms completely. 

I found it important to distinguish when I did something only out of habit and when I did it because it was genuinely helpful to me. It wasn’t about what I used my devices for, rather why. 

For instance, during this week, I was working on a paper about how social media algorithms further political polarization and I had to reference specific posts. In this case, I genuinely needed to use social media for a class assignment, so going on it was an intentional choice done for my benefit, not a purely instinctual action without consideration of the consequences.

That said, I’ve realized it’s also useful to develop close relationships outside of social media. Connecting with friends one-on-one, whether by text, voice memos, calls or in-person hangouts, can make us rely less on these platforms for connection, making it less intimidating to reduce time on them. 

Lastly, artistic activities are a wonderful alternative to scrolling that can foster self-fulfillment and meaningful social interactions. Creativity does not need to be expensive. In fact, most of the crafts I made were with items I already owned. If you’re looking for an offline distraction like I was, it is worth incorporating whatever creative hobbies interest you more into your routine to replace at least some scrolling time.