A couple weeks ago, I deleted social media off my phone. Insta and reddit was all that was left, but I noticed how much of a useless time sink they were becoming. My daily mood has also improved.
Now, I’ve been reading manga and playing chess online to fill the gap. But I’m still looking for suggestions on what else there is to do besides doom scroll. It’s not like I’m outlawing the internet entirely, I still have interests and hobbies etc, but I’m open to just about anything.
Uhhhh
PPSSPP and Dolphin. Playing through the entirety of Paper Mario: TTYD, Luigis mansion, Sims 2, and Killzone wasted a good chunk of idle time for me.
yucata.de (online boardgames)
Shattered Pixel Dungeon
Simon Tatham Puzzles
Lichess app - Puzzle of the Day
Gurgle app (wordle)
https://wikitok.vercel.app/ (endless mood-scroll Wikipedia)
Doomscroll the news, play some games, check if there are any updates to social media accounts. If I’m feeling ambitious I’ll follow rabbit holes on wikipedia or google some obscure science subjects.
Emulate classic games
slap a controller on that bad boy and practice your street fighter 2 combos. That’s an easy half hour right there
Read books, comics, journalist articles, chess puzzles, crosswords
Mostly tiktok scrolling. It’s got a bad rep, but there’s a huge amount of seriously talented people on there doing amazing and creative things. I’m a 50-something year old guy and it quickly figured out I like videos about mine explores and restoring vintage vehicles. Once you learn to downvote stuff you don’t like, it’s quick to learn and aside from the comment bots or obvious trolls (Typically pro-Russian or Pro-Trump, if there’s a difference) it’s generally a positive thing, in moderation.
I totally get your desire about avoiding socials and have experienced the mood swings it can bring too. That’s made me quite tuned into how the algorithms are steering me. For me (and everyone’s experience is different) - Facebook is mostly bland generic stuff but quite useful for local content - just avoid the drama llamas), and use an advert blocker. Reddit is mixed. I used to be on there a lot and contributed and modded a bunch of stuff, but quit for a year after spez screwed over the app people. I skim it a bit now, but don’t give it much mind. X is awful, won’t go near it. Lemmy is less of a shitpost zone than most but still has too few people to be significant. We’re all helping with that though.
Lemmy aside, I think most algs will figure you out pretty quick. If you get involved in nasty commenting, it’ll feed you more of that. If you do the odd positive thing (as I try to) then it can be less toxic - but with all things, remember why you’re there. The more you feed it, the bigger to you it becomes. Balance is important, and be aware of how stuff is affecting you.
Anyway, beyond TT, crosswords, some news sites and the occasional candy crush.
Good question though, I’m reading other comments as it’s harder to find stuff outside of the main channels now.
My daily habits are: Check Lemmy (repeatedly), do all of the daily NYT games, open two Pokémon TCG packs, and do a single lesson on DuoLingo.
Like minds
Lemmy
I hang out with all y’all jokers on lemmy
There’s always some number of browser tabs, old apps, or miscellaneous files that accumulate on my phone. I like to clean those up during otherwise wasted time like waiting in line or while on public transport.
I have anki decks that i don’t use on everyday basis especially for that. You can spend from 2 seconds to hours on this.
Wikipedia. Ballz game.
Various solitaires via LÖVE Solitaire.
Simon Tantham puzzles
And, due to a Lemmy post I saw the other day, a game called Slice and Dice.
Yes slice and dice! I would hate to know how many hours I’ve played on that game over three different phones.
If you haven’t tried them yet, slay the spire and balatro are also brilliant.Slay the spire has so many hours on my PC. I absolutely adore that game. For some reason I bounce off of Balatro, it doesn’t hook me in the same ways and I’m not sure why. I don’t feel smart enough for it lol