I Don't Want to be Online Anymore
By Bea Becker ‘25
I started quitting my phone about fifteen months ago. Like many of my peers, I was spending multiple hours of each day scrolling on TikTok. My screen time felt out of my control, so I downloaded the onesec app, which adds six long seconds of a loading screen before allowing you to open an app you’ve identified as time-wasting. It's annoying. And it annoyed me into remembering that I didn't really want to be scrolling. Within a month, I was pretty much off TikTok entirely. Of course, I almost immediately started filling in that time void with other social media, my screen time barely budging. Early this summer, however, I realized that I had to get serious about getting offline. I wanted to change my relationship to my phone altogether, not just shift my time from one app to another.
Maybe you're happy with your relationship to your phone, but maybe you're like me, and you're not. You've done some screen time math and it's not looking so good; you feel like your phone stands between you and…name a thing. Either way, you want to change. Here's how:
Understand your reasons. Wanting to reduce your hours on social media is a good start, but it's a lot harder to achieve your goals if you don't know why you have them in the first place. I wanted to be more grounded in the real world, and I wanted to use my time more intentionally so I could get back to things I actually enjoyed. The behavior I most rejected in myself was my using my phone as a source of entertainment instead of a tool, and that philosophy guided the choices I made.
Use baby steps mindfully. Take advantage of screen time analytics; use your understanding of when you use your phone most and why; evaluate your goals to identify which behaviors in particular you want to change. I knew that I didn't like being on my phone in public, and I didn't like "second screening" (playing tetris or scrolling reels while watching something else, one of my worst habits). So I started consciously putting down my phone any time I noticed myself checking it while watching something, and keeping my phone in a bag or pocket when I was outside.
Know what to protect. In the process of reducing your screen time, you can also make the screen time that stays more meaningful. I like reading newsletters in the Substack app, so I didn't put a limit on its time. I know that I like watching reels my friends send me, so I left a few minutes a day to check Instagram. Don't set limits that you'll resent.
Make it hard to use technology mindlessly. If you can't bring yourself to delete certain apps, at least remove them from your home screen or hide them in a hard to reach place. Turn your phone grayscale. You can find all sorts of tips for this online, but your mileage may vary.
You're going to have to use that extra time for something. As you're quitting your phone, you may start to feel a new-old feeling: boredom. If being on your phone has become one of your main hobbies, you'll have to find something else to do. That passtime will depend on who you are, but finding new ways to use your time is one of the most fun parts of this process. This summer, I found that my newly reclaimed time could be used to play music, read, or make linocut prints, all things that I wanted to do more but hadn't made time for.
Advanced level: Sever the bond. These days, it's common to see people walking around with their phones in their hands or phones on the table in class (though it seems many teachers are finally cracking down on that this year). Where we go, our phones go. But if you really want to free your mind from the grip of your online existence, you have to break that connection. I'm absolutely still working on this, but my efforts to divorce myself from the device have brought me some meaning. Whether it's leaving my phone at home to go for a walk or keeping paper notepads around my room to keep track of things, learning to treat my phone as a tool instead of a home base has made the way I spend my time more thoughtful. I don't have to check my phone every five minutes, because I don't really even want to.
If you're thinking that this sounds hard, it is, but it's easier than you might think, and it's worth it. My days feel more full because, since I'm not getting sucked in by the internet in the same way, I do a lot more different things. Time spent waiting or in transit feels richer than it used to, because I'm paying attention to my surroundings. Less of my time is spent watching sensationalized content, and so the mundanity of life has regained its charm. An offline life is a tough sell in a world of constant sensation and information. There's no shortcut away from that fact. But for those who want it, I hope that the fear of being disconnected from the online world won't stop you from trying.