What do you do for "idle time" on your phone?
What do you do for "idle time" on your phone?
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.
I decided to subscribe to digital accessible news papers with proper articles, a left-leaning, center and a right-leaning. While articles from public domains and opinions from online forums can at times give an idea about what goes on, a well researched and well expressed article by a paid media is very well worth the money spend.
So I dropped social media from my idle-time and and now read interesting articles and feel I have a much more in-depth knowledge on current important topics and less directed by sudden breaking news opinionated clickbait titles.
Reading articles and books
My battery usage says I spend around half my time on TikTok. I also spend some considerable time here on Lemmy and chatting on Discord, Signal, etc. The third place is for reading. Sadly, I spend more time than I would like on shopping apps, and the rest are usually in the '< 1%' (phone settings, e-mails, etc.).
I guess the only healthy suggestion is reading.
RSS feeds, Gemini and Gopher. Always good stuff there, and feels cosier than social media!
I second this! Hunting, curating, and organizing rss feeds are the best!
Lemmy (Summit) Open Sudoku
MTGA. Lots of fun.
Sir, please stop recommending crack to cure OP's smoking addiction.
Hey man, I can quit whenever I like.. Just one more draft and I'll hit the big leagues
Reading a paper book, playing balatro on mobile. I'm not using my phone as much, not with the current events happening.
Check if my apps are up to date. Then remind myself fun is in real life not my phone. I'm not being pedantic it just helps to focus on my real happiness and keeping my hands busy than not and dooming in my phone.
In terms of chances:
- 90% Tiktok
- 8% Lemmy
- 2% YouTube
When I'm actively doing something (not just on my phone):
- 70% YouTube
- 10% Crunchyroll
- 5% Friends jellyfin servers
- 5% Netflix
- 10% Browser / Chatgpt / Termux / any other tool
I have some novels on royal road i keep up with. But after than i enjoy the tranquility
I read lots of books. Libby is an app to electronically check out books from your local library for free. You can also read lots of amateur stories online on various sites. Royal Road has been one of my favorite sites for regular stories that you can read in public.
+1 for Libby. Also shout out to Z-Library, Library Genesis, and the Internet Archive for all the book epubs and pdfs you can find there
Nothing. I only use a gaming PC to go online, draw, and play games on. I rarely even use my phone...
I have miniflux setup for RSS feeds, and I'll doom scroll lemmy. For games I emulate old pokemon games. You can also just get lost in your thoughts for a bit too. It can really be good for your brain to just sit with your thoughts for a while.
Lately it's been sifting through IMDB collections to find movies to watch.
That or I check the groups I'm in to see what I'm late to the party on now.
Uhhhh
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Don't replace social media with something else on your phone.
Put the phone down and walk away.
I hear heroin is nice.
Probably less addictive.
Lemmy mostly
Honestly, as someone who largely disliked social media and was typically a lurking doomscroller that was ready to quit social media altogether at the reddit app ban, what made the best change ever was becoming someone who is primarily a poster.
I post what I want, when I want, and I get to start the conversation that way. It's always a topic I want to talk about, and it's something there isn't much to argue about, and all the interactions will be 99% positive.
It's a small crowd here, so you can get people that are ready to talk with whoever reaches out to the masses first.
You can take time replying to people, and if no one is talking at the moment, it gives you time to plan a next post.
Pick a topic you enjoy and make yourself our local expert. That prompts you to keep actively learning about something you enjoy too so you can answer people's questions they ask you.
Play the NYT wordle, mini crossword, connections for the day. I have some small simple games that can be stopped at any time. My most played ones are cake sort, water sort, sudoku and sometimes minesweeper. Also scroll lemmy sometimes, it's small enough that it doesn't take long to see everything that is new, so there's no risk of getting sucked in for long
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.
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.
Dolphin is honestly such a cool emulator. I also love how it's technically two emulators at once! Never had a single issue with any of the games I've played on it. It's so solid
I read ebooks.
Libby is an absolute blessing.
Oooo, I should try that! I have been using KU, which I know isn't awesome, but did allow romance authors to break the publishing model (fascinating story: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/romance-novels/). And there's a part of me that wants to give the middle finger to publishers who took in a bunch of money from romance books to pay for books/authors that would never recoup their costs.
And a certain archive my friend Anna seems to be running. Not that I know anything about it; she mentioned it at dinner the other evening.
I hang out with all y'all jokers on lemmy
Duolingo. My whole family has caught the bug. I hear the little ba-ding! noise from all corners of the house all evening long.
Y todavía no puedo hablar bien español 😕
Lemmy
I have a few dozen mobile games
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.
I came here to see if anyone else suggested Simon Tathams puzzles - it's a real gem! Perfectly dull, all-quality puzzles with no bullshit!
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
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)
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
Wikipedia. Ballz game.
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.
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
The Wikipedia app or Wikireader
Find the lesser posted contributors to your field/s of interest, read them, post them, share your thoughts.
This means you are actively using social media, actively considering different texts in subjects you already have an interest in, and actively using your brain to make considered contributions.
This is my go to. Take a look at my post history in aussie-enviro. I continually go out of my way to find environmental or conservation organisations themselves instead of waiting only for a news site like Guardian to do a write up themselves.
I'm finding my reading speed and attentiveness has improved, and i've better knowledge recall, especially on key details. Its of course fun as well.
Read books, comics, journalist articles, chess puzzles, crosswords
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.
OpenSudoku. With extra puzzles :)
I discovered this app the other week. The UI is the best there is, and downloading extra puzzles is just awesome, and so easy. Now I have about half a million sudokus to solve. Other apps are what, a couple of hundred puzzles at most, and then it's over.
NYT Games: Wordle, Spelling Bee, Connections, Mini crossword puzzles. They refresh every day
Post on Lemmy between meetings
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 do solitaire, cryprograms, crossword and mahjong, and sometimes I'll read creepypastas from the archive like I used to do in highschool
Other than that if I know I'll have to wait somewhere and occupy myself I bring a book with me.
I also just got back on the creepypasta archive!
Very nostalgic and some of them are, earnestly, very good!!
Physical Games
Not sure what your personal in-person social circle looks like but playing physical games (board/card, etc) with people is great. Spent 2 weeks with family and we had a blast playing some games every night.
A few I really enjoyed:
- 5 Crowns
- Phase 10
- Cribbage (good grief the rules are nuts)
- Hues and Cues
- Organ Attack
3D Printing
A time sink hobby is 3D Printing. It’s a challenge enough, and can be so low cost per part, that it’s fun. Starting with a lower cost 3D printer means the cost of entry is not much. Once you get a printer dialed printing things for people and functional prints for home is great. You can also learn 3D Modeling enough to design your own prints. Definitely gonna take some time to do so.
Retro Gaming
If you like retro games setting up a retro handheld is a ton of fun and then playing the games is great too. Handhelds from Anbernic, Retroid, or Powkiddy is a low cost of entry and much higher quality than you think, and they can run up to PS1/N64/Dreamcast. Took me ~1 month to go from never having done one to having a great OS with a tailored UI (Anbernic RG40XXV running Knulli OS). Going over guides from Retro Game Corps (YouTube and website) was easy but took long enough to teach me a ton.
Gardening
Obviously depends on your personal circumstances but even if you’re in a city/apartment a lot of cities/towns have community gardens. Setting up a raised garden is pretty easy and doesn’t have to cost a ton. Maintaining it is a challenge based on your location and takes learning many different skills. We grow Lettuce, Cucumbers, Zucchini, Green Beans. We had no success with Tomatoes in our climate (although a lot of people have no issue growing them). We’ve had limited success with potatoes (another really easy to grow crop, that we suck at, lol).
Canning
My wife LOVES canning. That’s a massive rabbit hole in its own right. Cost of entry is decently mid due to having to buy canning supplies like the glass jars (called cans), lids, rings, canning pots, pressure cooker, etc. You’ll get incredible quality vegetables and fruits out of it and can can meats and other things. My wife has been canning for 5 years now and we don’t buy store bought canned vegetables and fruits anymore. You wont really save any costs but you will know exactly what you’re eating. Does take having access to fresh produce at local markets to make it as cheap as the grocery store.
I actually made a great setup for retro gaming at home. I have my Linux PC connected to a KVM over LAN to the living room TV. Hyprland lets me set keybinds to run scripts to turn off my computer monitors, turn on the TV, switch audio (still working out a few kinda with audio actually), and then launch emulationstation-DE which is a front end for launching the games on each emulator.
It's great running everything on a PC with decent specs, I have a 5800x and 6700 XT. It can do all the old games obviously, and up to PS3 and switch games, upscaled to 4K and with a bangin audio system.
Surprisingly, there's very little latency issues or lag over the kvm. Or if there are I can't notice them.
It might be worth a go to play the handheld ones on my phone however. Playing GBA and DS games on my big living room TV seems a bit silly haha
A few reasons I prefer the exclusive handheld game route.
- Gets you away from your internet connected device. No distracting notifications coming in
- It’s dedicated to it so it’s really good at it.
- No battery life hit to your phone.
- Higher learning curve (this goes to time filler which is what you wanted).
- Sitting on the couch, playing it outside/while traveling is great with it.
Organ attacks a good one.
Same here, Manga and lemmy. I've been slowly trying to add discord to the rotation but I find it taxing. It's so hard to keep track of which friend group is which and I can't label servers with my own label
I mean, people were fine without social media before, I dont think we need those. :) At least not the big tech ones.
Tighrope most days https://www.britannica.com/quiz/tightrope
Other than that just Lemmy.
Keep meaning to try learning Chess so I can play it online a little.
I play 20questions, and then get upset at the contradictions in my answers to others'
Read using REadEra, play Forge of Empires - plus Lemmy via Voyager.
I read comics/manga, browse Lemmy and read news mostly, and not in any particular order. Otherwise I do games like Wordle or just look up how to do home projects on YouTube.
So go into learning more about your hobbies?Reading, honestly. Though I don't read on my phone, too many distractions. I read whenever I'm out and about and waiting, which isn't much these days.