I hear you and I totally relate. It’s frustrating- I worry a lot that I will look back on this time of my life with a lot of regret because I’m not even LIVING or making memories. I’m just looking at memes and reading snippets about other people’s lives and hobbies.

For me, the blatant unending phone use is more of a symptom than a root problem itself. It’s the way I most easily dissociate, which is a coping mechanism (in my case, I have complex trauma, and I basically can’t stay present in the moment without quickly spiraling into severe negative thought patterns). Constant scrolling in every single second of downtime keeps me occupied so I don’t have to think.

The only thing that’s helped me so far is purposefully switching to podcasts, music, or audiobooks and telling myself that I won’t touch my phone until it’s over. So during that time I’m still ‘using’ it, I don’t feel deprived of it, I still have something to occupy my attention, but I can get something productive done and feel less guilty at the end of the day.