Petrarchive – Change & Good Habits

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No.12977 Anonymous 2026-09-25 10:46:32
Change & Good Habits
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** WARNING diarypost inbound **

I've been scrolling too much. And, like any addict, I find it very hard to make myself stop. I consider it a glaring symptom of this problem that, when I think of my scrolling and how damaging it is to my psyche/health/mind, I decide to turn to the problem itself to ask how to fix it. I've gotten a dumbphone, but I just start scrolling on my laptop at home (which at least cuts me off when I am away). Before anyone tells me the obvious, I recognize the first part of any good struggle begins in the mind. So, I'm going to start cultivating all-around good habits.

For instance, I'm getting into rock climbing. Rock climbing is an inherently social sport, with a pre-existing community, but with social allowance for the introverted. Seems like a good choice to me. More time with people, exercising, etc = less time to scroll. Plus it's good vigorous activity. I need the exercise these days.

However, you can't climb all the time. I've had overuse sports injuries before and they fucking suck, so I'm trying to avoid that, and that means I'm back to square one when I'm at home. Maybe I'll block reddit from my browser, like I'm a child with my hand in the cookie jar. I find it sad, but I'm more interested in stopping myself from becoming even more of a sedentary scroller than protecting my ego.

I'm interested in what the anons here are doing to better themselves these days. Also, it doesn't have to be simply digital detox related, I think it all adds onto each other.
No.12978 Anonymous>>12981 2026-09-25 11:41:52
lowkey have an ed so trying to fix that right now. I'm also addicted to electronics but one thing at a time. I wish you good luck with the digital detox
No.12981 Anonymous>>12982 2026-09-25 12:21:38
>>12978
ED = eating disorder? What steps are you taking? And thanks.
No.12982 Anonymous 2026-09-25 12:31:49
>>12981
yes. I would ignore hunger and when I did eat I would have very little and repeat. this wasn't because I want to be skinnier, I guess I should've said I'm trying to fix disordered eating instead of an eating disorder. The steps I'm taking: eating something, anything when I feel hungry instead of putting it off, one meal out of the three that I have everyday must be heavy and I'll have processed food when I can't have something cooked so I'm not denying myself food under the guise of not eating unhealthy
No.12984 Anonymous>>12985 >>12987 2026-09-25 12:43:53
Get 3 or 4 books that interest you. Read them in blocks of >= an hour throughout the day. Use a pen to annotate them closely. Get a subscription to the LRB/NYBR/New Yorker/mag of your choice and walk around with it in your bag. If you have empty space < an hour, you can read that. Also make sure to take any opportunity for social interaction if able.

I do this as a student and it works pretty well. I have a dumphone, too. I keep my smartphone turned off and only turn it back on 3/4 times a day to do banking, 2FA, or whatever.

n.b: I have no social media.
No.12985 Anonymous>>12987 2026-09-25 12:45:27
>>12984
As for laptop scrolling: I struggle with this, too. I try to shut it off after an hour or so and walk down to the living room and read something.
No.12987 Anonymous>>12988 2026-09-25 12:57:48
>>12984
>>12985
I'm not usually a multi-book reader, but maybe it's worth a try to quell the desire for varied stimulation.

I also have no social media, have deleted them all a long while ago now.

>I try to shut it off after an hour or so and walk down to the living room and read something.
Yeah, I try to shut off these devices when I'm not using them, to make more "friction" or whatever, but my brain is retarded and will just thug out a start-up because I am desperate for that lil' scroll. I think I'm mostly just plagued by desire for the least effort max stimulation when I'm bored. Yeah I read (reading Confederacy of Dunces atm) and have tried to have various other hobbies but nothing gets me like scrolling. Probably because I've got decade long neural pathways tying me to it at this point.

I miss when I was a student and it was super easy to not scroll and just go hang out with people. Now I live with my SO and we have one friend in our area, and it's hard for a YN with screen induced autism to try to make more without the cozy womb of on-campus life.
No.12988 Anonymous>>12990 2026-09-25 13:13:25
>>12987
The idea of a whole afternoon or evening spent browsing things that I will forget the next day is depressing enough to keep me off of it. It is hard, though, having grown up doing it as a habit for so long. I used be online as long as possible when I was younger. 16 hours a day during the summer, too.
No.12990 Anonymous 2026-09-25 14:05:00
>>12988
Interesting, I've been trying to alter my mind's emotional association with these habits by thinking of them similarly. Like, scrolling as a waste of time, or disgusting, or depressing, and avoid thinking of it as a temptation or something with any sort of value, even a negative one. I try to avoid thinking about the accumulative hours I've wasted and what those could have been directed towards instead.
No.12992 Anonymous>>12995 2026-09-25 16:52:18
Yeah. I'm haunted by the idea of my life summing up to I'm-a-34-year-old-NEET-is-it-over-for-me posting on /b/. I really do believe that you have to think about these things as being pervasive and malicious if you want to make a change. Because it is a drug. Even if everyone does it and no one seems bothered by it. It's like we're discovering that smoking is cancerous all over again.
No.12995 Anonymous>>12996 2026-09-25 18:19:18
>>12992
The comparison to smoking always crops up in my mind too. I've been really thinking about it, because the similarities are almost comically 1:1. I'm tempted to write some thoughts on it, but it's hard to do it without sounding cliché.

I think of these things as pervasive and malicious too, though sometimes it feels like maybe that ends up being too "entrenching". Sometimes I think I just have to get to the point where I don't feel anything about it anymore and just drop it.
No.12996 Anonymous 2026-09-25 19:09:39
>>12995
>'ve been really thinking about it, because the similarities are almost comically 1:1. I'm tempted to write some thoughts on it, but it's hard to do it without sounding cliché.

Something something the human condition etcetera

>Sometimes I think I just have to get to the point where I don't feel anything about it anymore and just drop it.

There does come a point, ideally, where through sheer inertia rather than a conscious decision you're no longer tethered to it; although I think eventually many people will also start ditching their phones through a shift in the culture. In 10 or so years it will become mainstream (at least in the West) to use a dumb-phone lest Silicon Valley wages a psyop potent enough to counter-arrest what will most likely then be considered "counter-culture."
No.13061 Anonymous>>13071 2026-09-29 19:47:24
These are all good suggestions, one thing that has always helped me get out of a rut is expressing myself creatively. Keep at least some of it 100% private, because true self expression can only happen when you are expressing solely to yourself. It's all better if you put real effort into it. On a similar vein, journaling has transformed my life through its ability to grant such wonderful perspective. Even if it's short, even if it captures the most inconsequential part of your day, write to your future self. You don't know how useful of a compass it can prove to be until you get to a place where you're actually reading through it.
No.13071 Anonymous>>13072 >>13073 2026-09-30 09:13:27
>>13061
Journaling is one of those things which I know would probably be good for me, but can't get myself to stick to. I'm a chronic journal quitter. There's probably half a dozen journals that are filled barely a quarter of the way in my life, because I never stick with it. Maybe this time I will.
No.13072 Anonymous>>13110 >>13126 2026-09-30 09:15:02
>>13071
I don't think this is something to be too ashamed of. If you go to the gym for 25% of your life that's a lot better than 0% and I think that can also apply to something like journaling. Presumably when you're doing it it's because you need it.
No.13073 Anonymous>>13111 2026-09-30 09:25:10
>>13071
I love journaling but my entries were so whiny and depressing that they emanated livia soprano aura so I had to quit. I now journal when I have a good day or some epiphany
No.13110 Anonymous 2026-10-01 18:44:28
>>13072
True, but sometimes I wonder if it's like being a depressive who goes off his meds because he feels less depressed (and doesn't like his medicine or whatever), only to become depressed again without the medication. Or something like that. Maybe I just need to take my medication whether I like it or not.
No.13111 Anonymous 2026-10-01 18:46:08
>>13073
Lol the only time I successfully journaled daily was as a teenager, and when I've read them as an adult, they were so disgustingly funny I just had to throw them away immediately. In a way, that made me feel better.
No.13126 Anonymous>>13259 2026-10-02 12:59:13
>>13072
I think journaling can be so helpful, but you have to do it consistently no matter what your mood is, or else you just end up writing when you're down and depressed. If you're only ever writing when you're going through it, upon reading it back, you will only feel worse due to the idea that your life is miserable and awful being confirmed in black and white.
No.13259 Anonymous 2026-10-09 15:30:08
>>13126
I sympathize with your position, but I also find looking at my depressive journals/diaries really funny. I sound like a complete retard. "Wah I'm so sad" but when I think back to all those times, I realize I didn't have anything to be sad about at all.