Comment by joeguilmette
1 hour ago
I recently did this! I fixed my phone habit and my TV habit, and I just read no, the family has silent reading parties instead of movie night.
Here’s what I did: 1. Install Jomo on the phone. There are other apps, but basically it makes me wait 5s before I can open a brainrot app, and then I can only use it for 5min, and every time I do this I have to wait an additional 5s. It resets at midnight. This introduces the necessary friction.
2. Paper books. The house is now full of paper books. Book seems interesting? Buy it. Books everywhere. Real books.
3. The actual habit. I stack habits. Right now I have a daily workout routine. First thing I leave the house and either run or go to the gym. I bring my book, and afterwards go to the cafe across the street for a coffee. At night, I read before going to bed. Once you finish a few books this way, you’re in. TV now is actually hard to pay attention to, and I feel kind of… dirty doomscrolling now (like eating junk food, it tastes good but you feel gross during the experience).
If you want something to start with: https://bookshop.org/p/books/true-grit-charles-portis/5ac454...
I bought a tiny e-reader [0] and carry that as well as my phone. When the temptation to doomscroll triggers, I pull out the e-reader instead and read a book.
I tried attaching the book to the phone as their marketing suggests, but that didn't click somehow. Having both out means I would check the phone and then not look at the book.
Working so far, but it's only been a couple of weeks, so let's see.
[0] after reading this HN post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48662381