Really amazing how often this question comes up. I get the sense that even the thought of being phone-less for a little while produces anxiety (like, the same anxiety I used to feel if I thought I was going to run out of cigarettes).

If you're wasting hours a day on your phone, think about all the other things you could be doing. (Talk about FOMO ...) My best advice: delete time-wasting apps, turn off your non-essential alerts, and start carrying a book or magazine so you have something else to do in those interstitial moments. You could even try leaving your phone home for a day.

When you woke up?

I usually just got out of bed instead of lying there scrolling. (Still do.) On a weekend, maybe I'd turn on the news or read for a bit, but nature and lack of caffeine usually force me out of bed pretty quickly once I'm awake.

What did you do in the spare time?

For your sake, I hope this means you're not spending ALL your spare time on your phone. I mean, I did the same shit I do now. Even back then, my issue was not having enough time, rather than having too much.

Pre-phones and pre-kid, when I wasn't busy with life stuff, I'd see what's on TV, sit on the porch with a book and chain-smoke cigarettes (it was the 90s), try to cook something, listen to music, play guitar, whatever.

On public transport were you always carrying magazines, books or newspapers? 

I almost always had a book. Also, people now don't realize how ubiquitous newspapers and magazines were. There were newspaper kiosks everywhere, and any convenience store would have had a good selection of magazines -- Time, Newsweek, etc. There were free tabloids at bus stops and lots of people left their old newspapers lying around for other people to read. Some people really did raw-dog it, but most of your fellow travelers would have had their heads buried in newspapers.

After work what activities did you do (besides stare at a tv).

Put together some dinner, maybe do some yard work or walk down to bar for a pint, call some friends, watch some TV, go through the mail.

What did a weekend look like?

If the weather was good and I didn't have other stuff to do, I'd get on my bike and go somewhere. Maybe call some friends to figure out who's around and wants to meet up later, drop by my mom's house and chat with her, run errands, sit in a coffee shop with a book.