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.

  • Lemisset@lemmy.world
    1·
    2 hours ago

    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.

  • HouseWolf@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    3 hours ago

    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.

  • SwearingRobin@lemmy.world
    1·
    6 hours ago

    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

  • Monster@lemmy.world
    5·
    20 hours ago

    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.

    • 🎨 Elaine Cortez 🇨🇦 @lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      2 hours ago

      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

  • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.ml
    2·
    21 hours ago

    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.

  • DigitalDilemma@lemmy.mlEnglish
    62·
    1 day ago

    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.

      • AtariDump@lemmy.world
        1·
        21 hours ago

        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.

      • sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 day ago

        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.

        • AtariDump@lemmy.world
          1·
          21 hours ago

          My friend Anna started up an archive of some sort; you should check it out. At least that’s what she told me over dinner the other night.

    • sicarius@lemmy.world
      4·
      1 day ago

      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.

      • Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world
        2·
        1 day ago

        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