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Sometimes I feel like throwing away my mobile phone. Of course, I won't ever do that but my zombie scrolling addiction has been a burden on me. I just wish I could re-live the 2000's when I only used the internet on the computer. But at the same time I was still productive and did other activities.

My plan to is to save up for a Kindle that way I can read more often. Reading will be my main source of entertainment instead of using the phone. Right now I am trying to save my money on shoes and clothing so it's not an instant purchase.

On a side note I wish Reddit was wiped from the face of this planet. I know there's way worse websites but personally I am just addicted to that one. Reddit is a echo chamber full of doomers and snobs.

I watched a show on how scrolling on your phone is addictive

It was something to do with keep refreshing the page and adverts blah blah blah

If you want to read more often don't forget about the library systems, both public and academic. Depending on where you live you can usually get a library card for free to check out books and limited use the internet. Kindle is indeed nice but why pay for a book when it is probably available for free through a library. Plus, the book doesn't connect via wi-fi like a kindle so doesn't bring the ability to spiral back down into the internet madness.

Yeah physical books are better. Thankfully I am a pirate so I already have gotten my e-books for free. XD Unless if the Kindle can detect unauthorized downloads.

You have my sympathy. I've still not got myself a smartphone, though that's mostly because I don't know much about how to block all the tracking and similar horrors associated with them. But I see how addicted people get to them and that scares me off too, because I can be incredibly obsessional when I get a new toy, and smartphones seem to be designed to get people addicted to stuff and to take control off the owner and put it into the hands of con men. Windows laptops are bad enough as it is, but at least I know a lot about disabling the things that seek to control me.

I notice the potential value of a smartphone every time I take a plane across the Atlantic and have to make a connection to get to Arkansas. For a while I couldn't understand why I was the only one who didn't know when a flight had been postponed. Everybody else has alerts on their smartphones, while I have to dig out a big, heavy laptop (imagine doing that in a fast-moving queue for security screening or immigration control), boot up, sign into the wi-fi, and check my emails, which has been known to trigger Microsoft's suspicion about logging in from an unusual country, and then they lock me out of my account. But I'm aware of the downside of smartphones, and it's not trivial.

I've looked at Reddit when I've had search engine hits for my questions that lead there, but I wouldn't want to create an account. It's a shame because it would be nice to be able to comment there and to ask questions, but I think I can live without it. I've seen how toxic it can get there. This might be of some use to you:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NewToReddit/co ... different/

I've heard that Facebook can be quite toxic too, though I've never noticed it, maybe because I have some strong filters so that I only get what I want to see in my newsfeed, i.e. just posts from real Facebook friends, and I've even configured my filters to hide stuff containing certain keywords. All done on a laptop of course. But frankly I don't use Facebook much these days. I've never exactly liked it. It was better before they started monkeying around with it to make more money and to trap people into more and more engagement.

I like the idea of just reading books instead, and it's possible to download tons of good books free. I'm lucky because I like Victorian novels, and Gutenberg has most of those. I just go for plain text files, and rather than invest in a Kindle I just open them in WordPad on the laptop. Any fancy filetypes and I use a book converter to make them into something a bit more universally useable.

I've always been suspicious of modern devices, so I tend to see elephant traps in advance. It's often been a battle against the dark forces for my autonomy, but it's a battle I intend to keep winning.

Anyway, I hope there are a few kernels of useful wisdom in what I've written about my experiences. Good luck with breaking your addiction. It's a problem that can happen to anybody, and does happen to many. I don't think many of them will escape, but judging from what you've written here, you seem likely to manage it. Even I worry about my unhealthy habit of spending too much time using my laptop. It doesn't do anything for my physical fitness.