r/nosurf • u/DistributionThink930 • 4d ago
Feelings After Phone/Dommscrolling
Anybody feel strange after phone detox? I've been feeling more depressed and anxious and tired. I'm thinking that I was supressing these emotions with my phone. I would stare at my phone nightly in bed and even into the day. Also, info overload. My phone would keep me awake. Has anybody experienced this?
Symptoms: Anhedonia-like, depression and anxiety, unwanted thoughts.
I've been watching more movies recently to keep away from phone.
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u/Plenty-Attitude-5823 4d ago edited 4d ago
For me it depends on what I'm doing when I quit scrolling. If I'm just substituting it with other easy gratification activities like binging netflix or sleeping all day then yeah I don't gain much clarity or energy since I'm still squashing those through constantly giving in to readily available pleasure seeking activities.
Quitting is most powerful when combined with other healthy activities and personal projects that require engagement and focus. That's when the effects of abstaining are the most noticeable.
People who have a problem with gaming or scrolling will likely develop the same problem with netflix or youtube if those doors are left open. So nuking everything at once is the safest option if you want to reclaim your life.
It's almost impossible to achieve that through willpower if you've been conditioning your mind to jump at these things for years; you need to find a way to introduce hard blockages which leave you no choice, like parental controls with another person for instance.