Brief Summary
This video provides 101 ideas to avoid mindless internet scrolling and spend time more productively. It covers improving your scrolling habits, creative activities, learning and exploration, physical activities, social interactions, organisation and planning, journaling, and games.
- Improve scrolling habits with time limits and focused content.
- Engage in creative activities like crafting, writing, and cooking.
- Explore learning new skills, languages, and places.
- Stay active with stretching, running, and outdoor activities.
- Connect with friends and family through calls and games.
- Organise your space and plan for the future.
- Reflect through journaling and goal setting.
- Enjoy games and puzzles for entertainment.
Better Ways to Scroll
To make scrolling less of a time sink, set strict time limits using built-in phone features. Focus on specific accounts you enjoy. Limit scrolling to when you're walking or standing to be more aware of the time passing. Declutter your feed by unfollowing accounts that don't add value. Leave thoughtful comments instead of generic ones. Consider using Pinterest as a more relaxing alternative to other social media. Block or indicate "not interested" on content you dislike to refine your algorithm. Turn off endless scrolling if the platform allows it. Regularly check your screen time to stay accountable and disable notifications to prevent unwanted distractions.
Creative Activities
Get creative by making trendy beaded necklaces, crocheting a simple project like a hat or scarf, or writing a poem or song lyrics. Write a decorated letter to a pen pal. Paint decorations for your room, even with beginner-friendly techniques. Experiment with making fancy tea or coffee drinks. Bake cookies, cake, or pastries. Organise a photoshoot with friends, seeking inspiration from Instagram or Pinterest. Customise your backpack with embroidery. Craft friendship bracelets or try origami, creating garlands for room decor. Write a song, perhaps using lyrics from a poem. Knit a scarf or another rectangular item as a beginner project. Tie-dye a t-shirt using online tutorials. Create eclectic jewellery dishes from air-dry clay. Cook a meal for yourself to practice cooking skills. Print out posters to decorate your walls, finding high-resolution images on Google by filtering by size. Make paper garlands using a Cricut machine or simpler shapes. Experiment with new outfit combinations and document your favourite looks. Consider temporarily colouring your hair for a dramatic change.
Learning and Exploration
Watch a documentary, such as "My Octopus Teacher" on Netflix. Use a language learning app to start or continue learning a new language. Join a free online course from top universities by searching for MOOCs. Visit the library to find a book to read, whether fiction or non-fiction, or download ebooks from your local library using the Libby app. Read a news article or a magazine. Explore Wikipedia rabbit holes for mildly educational scrolling. Watch a YouTube tutorial for a new skill, like plumbing, or find a new recipe to try online or in cookbooks. Take virtual museum tours to explore digital collections from museums worldwide. Go thrifting in person or online using apps like ThredUp for a sustainable way to update your wardrobe. Try a new restaurant in your area and order takeout. Explore the world using Google Street View. Research and plan a dream trip for the future. Try something new at Starbucks. Research your home city as if you were a tourist and visit interesting local spots. Organise saved posts about local places and food in Google My Maps.
Physical Activities
Do some stretching for a gentle and beneficial activity. Go swimming, running, or jogging at an easy pace. Learn a TikTok dance. Do a plank for as long as you can manage. Follow a yoga or workout video on YouTube. Go for a bike ride for low-impact cardio and sightseeing. Go for a hike, even if it's just a hillier route in your neighbourhood or a local park. Learn how to do a handstand, taking precautions to avoid injury.
Social Interactions
Talk to an old friend or make a new one. Leave a thoughtful comment on a friend's social media or reply to their story to start a conversation. Reach out to someone new. Talk to a family member or chosen family member. Have a FaceTime call with someone. Play a group game with friends, such as Skribbl.io or Town of Salem. Compliment a stranger, either in person or online. Wish someone happy birthday, sending cool gifts or GIFs with a virtual birthday card.
Organisation and Planning
Colour-code your Google Calendar for better organisation. Try Notion for digital planning. Sort through your backpack, especially after the school year, and get rid of old papers. Declutter a part of your room, reading Marie Kondo's "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" beforehand. Declutter your digital space by deleting unneeded files from your laptop, especially in the downloads folder and desktop. Clean out your photo library of duplicate photos and unnecessary screenshots. Start a bullet journal. Delete unused apps from your phone to free up storage space and improve performance. Deep clean your room to remove clutter. Clean out your email inbox by deleting and archiving messages.
Journaling
Journaling is a great way to have a conversation with yourself and document your thoughts. Consider these prompts: list 10 things you want in your future, create a vision board to visually represent your goals, write about what you did today including pictures and mementos, check in with your current thoughts and feelings, write about your regrets, write affirmations (positive statements to repeat), write down your goals for the next month, year, five years, decade, and your entire life, think about what happiness means to you, write a letter to your future self, or write a letter to your past self.
Games
Play frisbee, which is easy to learn. Spikeball is also fun but requires equipment. Play card games like BS (use Google to find instructions). Play board games like The Resistance or Scrabble. Skribbl.io is a fun online game to play with friends. Play an instrument if you know how or want to learn, using free online tutorials. Do crossword puzzles. Do regular puzzles, which can be mounted on your walls afterwards. Use adult colouring books.
