Girl, we need to talk. It’s 2 AM, your eyes are drier than your DMs, and you’re seven layers deep into watching someone’s cousin’s roommate’s breakup drama unfold in real-time on Twitter. The screen time notification pops up—8 hours and 47 minutes—and you’re like “that’s gotta be a glitch, right?”
Narrator: It was not a glitch.
Look, I get it. The world is literally on fire (both metaphorically and like, actually), and sometimes dissociating into the void feels like the move. But scrolling through 47 different apocalypse scenarios while your water bottle stays empty and your plants slowly crisp up isn’t the vibe we’re going for.
So here’s your no-BS guide to breaking up with doom scrolling and remembering that you’re a person who deserves to feel good. Revolutionary concept, I know.
1. Set App Limits (Yes, Actually Use Them This Time)
I know you’ve downloaded and deleted Freedom seventeen times. I know you set Instagram limits and then just click “ignore for today” like it’s nothing. But here’s the thing—you gotta actually commit to it, bestie.
Try this: Pick your poison app (you know which one), and set a REAL limit. Like 45 minutes max. When it locks you out, don’t override it. Just sit with the discomfort. Feel it. Let it humble you. Then go do literally anything else.
2. Create a “Hell No” Hours Policy
No phones in bed. I said what I said.
Those first 30 minutes after you wake up? Phone stays on the charger. Last hour before bed? Same energy. This is YOUR time to exist as a human being, not a content consumption machine.
Make your bedroom a no-scroll zone. Read a book (an actual book, not BookTok reviews OF books). Journal. Stare at the ceiling. Have an original thought. Wild, I know.
3. Find Your Delulu Happy Place
You need a hyperfixation that isn’t “staying informed” (read: spiraling). Pick something so random and specific that the internet can’t ruin it for you.
Embroidery. Baking sourdough (yes, we’re bringing it back). Learning Italian for no reason. Building Lego sets. Whatever makes you enter that flow state where you forget to check your phone because you’re too busy being, dare I say it, present.
4. Touch Grass (Literally Please)
The most unhinged thing our generation does is forget that outside exists. You don’t need to become a hiking girlie overnight, but you DO need to remind your body that it’s a three-dimensional object that exists in physical space.
Take a hot girl walk. Sit in a park. Garden. Feel the sun on your face and remember that you’re a living organism, not just a brain in a jar consuming information.
Bonus: You literally cannot doom scroll as effectively when you’re moving your body. Physics says so.
5. Curate Your Feed Like Your Mental Health Depends On It (Because It Does)
Mute, unfollow, and block with ENTHUSIASM. That account that posts 47 rage-bait stories a day? Gone. That influencer whose “hot takes” make your blood pressure spike? Blocked.
Your feed should spark joy, not cortisol. Fill it with cats, niche memes, people who actually inspire you, and maybe some of that cottage core content for the vibes.
If seeing it makes you feel worse about yourself or the world, it’s gotta go. This is self-preservation, not censorship.
6. Romanticize Your Mundane Life
Main character energy starts with treating your regular Tuesday like it matters. Make your morning coffee an experience. Light a candle for no reason. Do a face mask while listening to your comfort playlist.
Take yourself on solo dates. Go to that café. Sit in a bookstore. Pretend you’re the protagonist of an indie film about a girl who’s healing and figuring it out.
Document it in your private photo album, not for the ‘gram. Let some moments just be YOURS.
7. Sleep Like It’s Your Job
I’m gonna need you to stop wearing sleep deprivation like a badge of honor. “I only got 4 hours of sleep” isn’t the flex you think it is.
Your body needs rest. Your brain needs rest. Eight hours, bestie. Non-negotiable.
Get a silk pillowcase, make your room cold and dark, do the whole hygiene girl bedtime routine if that’s your thing. Whatever it takes. Because nothing—and I mean NOTHING—you see at 3 AM on your phone is worth feeling like a goblin the next day.
8. Actually Eat Real Food
Iced coffee and Anxiety™ is not a meal plan. Your body can’t run on vibes alone.
Cook something. Meal prep if you’re feeling ambitious. At minimum, eat something with protein and vegetables. Drink water that isn’t from the bathroom sink at 11 PM.
Food is fuel, and you can’t expect to feel good when you’re running on fumes and whatever was on sale at the vending machine.
9. Schedule “Worried Girl Hours”
Here’s a brain hack: Give yourself designated anxiety time. Sounds counterproductive, but hear me out.
Set aside 20 minutes a day to doom scroll, spiral, and think about every possible bad thing that could happen. Timer goes off? That’s it, you’re done. Box up those thoughts and move on.
Your brain loves a schedule. When those anxious thoughts pop up at random times, you can be like “nope, we have an appointment for that later.”
10. Do Absolutely Nothing (And Don’t Feel Guilty About It)
Radical concept incoming: Sometimes self-care is literally just existing without being productive.
Lie on your bed and watch the ceiling fan. Take a bath that’s too long. Nap in the middle of the day like a cat. Sit on your balcony/fire escape/front step and just… be.
You don’t have to optimize every moment. You don’t have to be “on” 24/7. Rest isn’t something you have to earn. You’re allowed to just exist.
The Real Tea
Listen, breaking the doom scroll habit isn’t about becoming some zen meditation girlie who never uses her phone (though honestly, respect to them). It’s about recognizing that you’re a human being with a body and mind that need care, not just a brain being slow-dripped cortisol through a glowing rectangle.
The world will still be a mess tomorrow. The discourse will still be discoursing. Your FYP will still be there. But you? You need to be okay. You need to feel alive. You need to remember what it’s like to be present in your own life.
So please, I’m begging you—put the phone down. Drink some water. Go outside. Do one thing today that makes you feel like a person and not just a content consumption vehicle.
You deserve to feel good. You deserve to take care of yourself. You deserve more than watching the world end in real-time while your own life passes you by.
Now close this tab and go do literally anything else. I believe in you, bestie. 💗
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go water my plants and pretend I haven’t been putting it off for a week.
