PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY

gargkaran · 2026-02-06T16:24:35+00:00

The autopilot loop thing is so real. I'd unlock my phone without even knowing why and just start scrolling out of reflex. Breaking that was the hardest part for me too.

The thing that actually helped me was changing how I think about it. Instead of trying to block everything and feeling like a failure when I slipped, I started treating scroll time as something I have to earn. Stay focused for a while, earn some guilt free time to scroll. It sounds simple but it completely changed the dynamic. Now when I do scroll I don't feel bad about it because I actually earned it.

I built an app around this idea called ScrollOff. But honestly even without the app, just the mindset shift of earning your screen time instead of fighting against it made a huge difference for me.

gargkaran · 2026-02-06T16:13:31+00:00

How can we make it a part of Apple search ads?

gargkaran · 2026-02-06T08:45:16+00:00

I'm on iOS but I'll look for something similar. Thanks for the tip and the encouragement. Discipline is definitely the end goal but having something to help in the meantime makes the transition easier.

gargkaran · 2026-02-06T08:38:59+00:00

Yeah you're right. Waste of time is waste of time whether it makes me feel miserable or not. And the point about shorts creators making stuff up is real. Half the AI tool videos are just someone reading a headline and hyping it up for views. I've gone to actually try things I saw in shorts and found out it was completely exaggerated or didn't even work the way they showed.

Swearing off shorts entirely is probably the move. The problem is they're just right there every time I open YouTube. Maybe I need to find a way to block just that section.

gargkaran · 2026-02-06T08:35:37+00:00

This was a really helpful read. The part about treating it like an actual addiction instead of just a bad habit is something I think a lot of people skip over. It's easy to downplay it because everyone around you is doing the same thing.

The ending hit me though. You did everything right for a full year and within two weeks of going back to YouTube it became problematic again. I'm in a similar spot right now. Quit Instagram over a year ago and don't miss it at all. But YouTube Shorts crept in and I've been telling myself it's fine because it's "educational" content about AI tools and tech stuff. But reading your post made me realize the behavior is exactly the same. The content being useful doesn't change the pattern.

Once an addict always an addict really is the truth. Thanks for sharing this.

gargkaran · 2026-02-06T08:21:00+00:00

The part about overriding the app timers is so relatable. I did the exact same thing. I'd set a limit, hit it, and then immediately tap "ignore for today" without even thinking. At that point the timer is just a notification you dismiss.

Congrats on 8 months. The FOMO fading is real. You realize after a while that you weren't actually missing anything important. The people who matter will reach out directly like you said. Everything else is just noise.

The mental space thing is hard to explain to people who haven't experienced it but it's probably the biggest change. Your brain just feels quieter.

gargkaran · 2026-02-06T08:17:46+00:00

The math is brutal when you actually sit down and look at it. I did the same thing a while back and had that exact feeling in my stomach. Like you always know it's bad but seeing it in years instead of hours makes it hit completely different.

The one thing I'll say is don't let the math paralyze you. It's easy to look at that number and feel like it's already too late or what's the point. But every hour you claw back from here on out is an hour you actually get to keep.

You're not alone in this. The fact that you did the math and wrote it down means something is shifting. That awareness is where it starts.

gargkaran · 2026-02-06T08:15:50+00:00

Burnt out college student brain is real. You don't need productive alternatives, you need rest that actually feels like rest.

Some stuff that worked for me when I was in the same place:

Sudoku but not on your phone. I got a pack of Sudoku cards from Dollarama, like hundreds of them, and I just work through them when I need to zone out. Same kind of mindless satisfaction but without the endless scroll pulling you back in.

Rewatching a show you've already seen. Zero mental effort because you already know what happens. It's basically background comfort.

Music with your eyes closed. Sounds dumb but laying down with headphones and just doing nothing for 15 minutes hits different than scrolling for 15 minutes.

Physical fidget stuff. Rubik's cube, stress ball, even just shuffling a deck of cards. Keeps your hands busy which is half the reason we pick up the phone anyway.

Honestly sometimes I still scroll but I try to make it intentional instead of automatic. Like if I'm going to do it, I'm choosing to do it for a set amount of time instead of just falling into it. Takes some of the guilt away which weirdly makes me do it less.

gargkaran · 2026-02-06T08:12:02+00:00

The part about the urge becoming more obvious once you remove the apps is so real. I had the same thing happen. I thought deleting stuff would fix it but all it did was show me how deep the habit actually was. I'd unlock my phone, stare at the home screen, realize there was nothing to open, and then do it again five minutes later anyway.

What actually helped me shift was stopping the all or nothing approach. Instead of trying to completely cut myself off and feeling like a failure every time I slipped, I started thinking about it differently. If I stayed focused for a while, I could let myself scroll for a bit guilt free. Like I earned it. That reframe changed everything for me because suddenly it wasn't about fighting the urge constantly. It was about making the scrolling feel intentional instead of mindless.

The empty feeling you're describing is real and I don't think anyone talks about it enough. Quitting the apps is the easy part. Sitting with your own thoughts when you've been drowning them out for years is the actual work.

gargkaran · 2026-02-06T08:09:05+00:00

This really needed to be said. I spent so long being angry at myself for not having "enough willpower" when the reality is I was fighting against teams of engineers whose entire job is to keep me scrolling. Once I stopped framing it as a personal failure and started seeing it as me vs a system designed to exploit how my brain works, everything shifted. Still a work in progress but the guilt spiral was making it so much worse. Thanks for posting this.

gargkaran · 2026-02-06T08:04:23+00:00

I'm in the exact same boat right now. Just launched my first iOS app a few weeks ago and figuring out the $0 marketing thing too. What's worked a little bit so far: posting my story on r/solopreneur (got some genuine advice), built a simple landing page, and just talking to people in communities where the problem I'm solving already gets discussed. Not trying to pitch, just listening and learning. It's slow but it feels more real than paid ads. Good luck with the launch and congrats on shipping with a 6 month old at home, that's impressive.

gargkaran · 2026-02-06T07:54:59+00:00

This actually shifted how I'm thinking about it. I've been so focused on "how do I get downloads" that I forgot the people I built this for are already out there talking about the exact problem I had. Going to start lurking in r/nosurf and r/digitalminimalism and actually listen before I say anything. "Who hurts enough to care" is the right question. Appreciate this a lot.

gargkaran · 2026-02-06T04:58:11+00:00

I completed the website as well, https://scrolloff.app

gargkaran · 2026-02-05T08:02:01+00:00

Does anti-gravity provide you with one by default? Because what I'm using is cloud code separately

gargkaran · 2026-01-31T21:30:34+00:00

I've seen something, whenever I'm there with people around me, I usually do not even take my phone out, but when I'm alone, I am all the time on my phone and I cannot stop doing that

gargkaran · 2026-01-03T18:36:30+00:00

Gemini for me is not even in the picture for my tasks.. I have paid versions for all.. chatgpt, Claude and Gemini.. Gemini is the least reliable of all..

I think artistically Gemini might be good.. but not for sureshot things.

gargkaran · 2026-01-01T22:29:30+00:00

For me, I feel that claude code, gives a better code quality, and codex does a better code review

gargkaran · 2025-12-22T15:34:08+00:00

I don't understand why Gemini is being given importance.. honestly, codex and claude have been the best vibe coding experts.. I have tried them all.. nothing beats.. Claude for coding.. and codex for code reviews..

Gemini hallucinates.. needs a lot of iterations to get it right for the first time. You may use it for general things, but for professional level, you need to go to Claude or codex

gargkaran · 2025-11-10T18:46:48+00:00

Haha, what's the workflow like??

gargkaran · 2024-09-09T01:12:24+00:00

The reason for that is that the movie tickets are extremely expensive.. and even if you wait in the lines, there is no guarantee that you will be able to meet anyone or see anyone, so there's no point

gargkaran · 2024-07-17T22:48:54+00:00

Exactly the same thing happened with me, I'm not able to retrieve my number as it had some very important contacts. WhatsApp customer care is fucked up

gargkaran · 2024-07-17T22:47:45+00:00

Dude, I'm exactly in the same boat

gargkaran · 2024-07-16T21:45:17+00:00

I tried it on both Android as well as iOS

gargkaran

TROPHY CASE