No Scroll October - Update

Hello, hello to everyone who is doing No Scroll October with me! How has it been for everyone so far? Truly, I'm very interested in knowing.

I'll start...by admitting that I did in fact break a couple days ago. I had a rough day where I was irritable and ragingly pissed off for no reason all day, so at the end of the night I gave in and scrolled TikTok for a bit. What really freaked me out was how my irritation went away immediately when I started scrolling. It was spooky. And even though I did feel "better" scrolling, it also strengthened my resolve to keep off scrolling for the rest of the month because I was so frightened by how not scrolling affected my mood.

A few other things I've noticed:

• I have no idea what's going on in the world right now. I have no idea what celebrities are up to (other than what my podcasts subscriptions mention) and I have no idea how things are across the world. I'm assuming things are still bad everywhere?

• I'm noticing just how much I reach for my phone and when/where it comes up. I've made a few swaps that I'll highlight below, but it's crazy especially in week one just how often I would pick up my phone and mindlessly start to open Reddit or TikTok

• I'm realizing what I do miss the most about scrolling are the 'hacks' and how the algorithm would cater so specifically to me. I miss learning about little life hacks and tips (in beauty, food, lifestyle, all of it)

• This has pushed me to be more social, which is nice. I went to an event at my local Press Club last week, and have found myself going out to coffee shops more because I want to add more stimulation to my days

I also want to share some of the swaps that I've been making for scrolling. I'm not yet at the nirvana stage where I'm knitting and cooking instead of using my phone haha, but some of these are helpful

• Morning: I love to look at my phone in the morning (aka scroll), but now I replace it with responding to texts, and catching up on photo stream updates and going on Pinterest. Still not A+ morning routine, but it does feel better than immediately putting algorithm noise into my brain.

• While eating: Instead of scrolling, watching a YouTube video on a topic I'm into, or reading a library book I have out on rotation

• Throughout the day: I'll play an iPhone game if I want a quick 5 minutes on my phone (Elevate and I Love Hue)

• Before bed: I'm still a sheep who looks at a screen right until my eyes close, but now it's either my Kindle, or playing Romance Club games on my phone (it's so corny haha but I've been playing Romance Club for like 8 years now, they're like Episodes but in my opinion better - little Choose Your Own Adventure romance stories)

So let me know how the first 10 days have been for you! If it helps, I was looking up how hard it is to break a habit and they say days 1-17 are the hardest so...another week of this before we (hopefully) reach NIRVANA STATUS WHERE EVERYTHING IS COLORFUL!