Latest news with #doomscrolling
CNET
16 hours ago
- CNET
Your Phone Should Always Be Face Down When It's on the Table: Here's Why
Picture this: You're having lunch with a friend at the neighborhood cafe. They're sitting in front of you, but it feels like they're not even there. Why? Because they're staring at their phone. Everyone has probably had a similar experience, whether they're the one getting phone snubbed or doing the snubbing themselves. I've been guilty of paying more attention to my screen than my companion, and I feel bad about it afterward. There's nothing wrong with replying to an urgent Slack message or pulling up a funny TikTok to share. But I know I probably spend too much time staring at screens, and a lot of that time is unhealthy doomscrolling. These days, when I'm not using my phone, I try to be more deliberate about keeping it out of sight and out of mind. If I do need to keep my phone at hand, I always have it face down. It could help save your phone battery I have a few reasons for making sure my phone screen is turned away. The first one is practical: Because my screen is face down and won't turn on for each notification, I can save a little bit of battery charge. A single notification won't mean the difference between my phone lasting the whole day or dying in the afternoon, but notifications can add up, especially if I've enabled them across all of my apps. If I'm in a lot of group chats, my screen might end up turning on dozens of times throughout the day (and that's on the low side since many teenagers have hundreds of notifications a day). It also shows that you pay attention Keeping my phone face down is also a good rule of social etiquette: If I'm hanging out with someone, I keep my screen hidden from view as a subtle way of showing that I won't be distracted by it. I don't want incoming notifications to light up my screen every few seconds, especially if I'm in a bar or other dimly lit setting. I want to keep my eyes on the person I'm talking to. "Eye contact is one of the most powerful forms of human connection. Neuroscience research indicates that when two people make direct eye contact, their brain activity begins to synchronize, supporting more effective communication and increasing empathy. This synchrony can be disrupted when attention shifts to a phone, even briefly," says Michelle Davis, clinical psychologist at Headspace. When I'm with the people I've chosen to spend time with, I want to be fully present with them. A sudden notification will tempt me to glance at, or worse, pick up my phone in the middle of a conversation. It minimizes your phone's presence I also have a more personal reason for keeping my phone face down, and I suspect that other people have had this same thought: My phone takes up too much space in my life. I mean that quite literally. My phone is bigger than it needs to be. That's been especially true since I upgraded from my iPhone Mini to a "normal-sized" iPhone. Yes, I got a much needed boost in battery life, but I also got a screen with more pixels to lure me into the next news headline or autoplaying Instagram reel. A small smartphone isn't something that really exists anymore. My phone is bigger and better at grabbing my attention. It competes against my friends and family, books and movies, the entire world outside of its 6-inch screen. It often wins. But there's still one small thing I can do to minimize its presence: I can keep the screen turned away from me whenever possible. It can sometimes feel like there's no escaping from my phone. Whether that ever changes, or phones evolve into a new form factor, I can't say. I can't control everything about my phone, but I can control whether the screen stares at me when I'm not staring at it.
WIRED
a day ago
- WIRED
7 Ways to Limit Your Endless Doomscrolling
Jun 19, 2025 7:00 AM It's easier than ever to step away from the smartphone with these tips. Photograph:If you actually measure the amount of time you spend scrolling through algorithm-led social media feeds each day, it will probably add up to more hours and minutes than you'd guess. Time can quickly slip away while you're checking up on friends, celebrities, the news, and the viral memes of the day. The term doomscrolling has sprung up to describe this behavior, which, let's face it, isn't usually the most edifying or the best for our mood. It's no surprise that the word began to gain traction at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, a period of lockdowns and social isolation that we're still feeling the effects of. There are ways to fight back against doomscrolling though, some of which are built into your phone and can be enabled with a couple of taps. See how much time and mental well-being they can help you reclaim. (The Android instructions below apply to Pixel phones running Android 15 or later. If you're using something different, you should be able to find similar features and settings, though they might not be in exactly the same place). Turn Off Notifications News and social media alerts can drag you into apps when you weren't even thinking about checking them. Disabling notifications can keep you from getting sucked in. You can shut off notifications altogether or just quieten them. On Android, head to Settings, then tap Notifications > App notifications. On iOS, from Settings choose Notifications to see an app list. Delete Apps For a more extreme approach, you can delete these apps from your mobile devices entirely, which stops you from checking them at all. On Android, you can drag an app from the app drawer up to the Uninstall button at the top of the screen. On iOS, tap and hold on an app in the app library, then choose Delete App from the pop-up menu. Deleting apps on an iPhone Courtesy of David Nield This may just lead you to check these apps more often on the web—but you can always delete your accounts entirely. This is usually not too difficult to do: In the case of X, for example, head to the website and log in, then click More > Settings and privacy > Your account > Deactivate your account and follow the instructions. Put Your Phone in Another Room You could consider putting your phone in a different room during parts of the day—especially at bedtime, to avoid doomscrolling when you should be sleeping. Note that several studies have shown that just having a phone in the same room with you can have an impact on your attention and focus, even if you don't actually pick it up and use it. Set Screen Time Limits Modern phones come with built-in tools that allow you to limit your screen time, so you can put restrictions on how long you use specific apps and how long you're on your phone overall. Of course, you're able to disable these limits as easily as you can enable them—it's your phone after all—but you can use them in combination with your own willpower to change your habits. If you're on Android, you can open Settings and choose Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls, then App limits, to put some restrictions in place. Over on iOS, from Settings tap Screen Time, then App & Website Activity. On both platforms, you get a pretty detailed breakdown of how you've been spending your time on your phone. Scroll Something Else If you must spend time on your phone (what else are you going to do on the subway platform?), you can replace social media and news with apps like Calm for mindful meditation; Blinklist for reading summaries of books, podcasts, and talks; and Kindle for ebook reading, which will also be synced to your actual Kindle, if you have one. Tell Your Phone It's Bedtime Enabling a bedtime schedule on Android Courtesy of David Nield Both Android and iOS now let you set a specific bedtime on your phone, the idea being that it helps you wind down properly by steering you away from opening apps and doomscrolling into the early hours. These bedtime modes put limits on incoming notifications, dim the screen, and give you the option of using a more simplified phone interface late at night. If you're on Android, open the Clock app and switch to the Bedtime tab: You can set start and end times for the mode and access settings such as turning the screen gray at a specific hour. On iPhone, head to the main iOS Settings screen, then tap Focus, then Sleep. The next screen will show all the available options and timers. Get a Reminder to Stop This is iPhone only, but Adam Davidson over at How-To Geek has a neat idea: Create an iOS shortcut to generate a snarky message from ChatGPT or Claude AI that warns about the harm of doomscrolling, and have it go off every time you open certain apps. The message can be shown on screen or read aloud.
CNET
3 days ago
- CNET
3 Reasons Why I Always Keep My Phone Facedown on the Table
I'm having lunch with a friend at the neighborhood cafe; he's sitting in front of me but he might as well be in Antarctica, because he's on his phone. I know he's not trying to give me the cold shoulder, but it sure feels like it. Everyone has probably had a similar experience, whether they're the one getting phone snubbed or doing the snubbing themselves. I've been guilty of paying more attention to my screen than my companion, and I feel bad about it afterward. There's nothing wrong with replying to an urgent Slack message or pulling up a funny TikTok to share. But I know I probably spend too much time staring at screens, and a lot of that time is unhealthy doomscrolling. These days, when I'm not using my phone, I try to be more deliberate about keeping it out of sight and out of mind. And even if I do need to keep my phone at hand, I always have it facedown. For starters, it could help save phone battery I have a few reasons for making sure my phone screen is turned away. The first is a practical one: Because my screen is facedown and won't turn on with each notification, I can save a little bit of battery charge. A single notification won't mean the difference between my phone lasting the whole day or dying mid-afternoon, but those notifications can add up, especially if I've enabled them across all of my apps. If I'm in a lot of group chats, my screen might end up turning on dozens of times throughout the day (and that's on the low side -- many teenagers get hundreds of notifications a day). It also shows that you're paying attention Keeping my phone facedown is also a good rule of social etiquette: If I'm hanging out with someone, I keep my screen hidden from view as a subtle way of showing that I won't be distracted by it. I don't want incoming notifications to light up my screen every few seconds, especially if I'm in a bar or other dimly lit setting. I want to keep my eyes on the person I'm talking to. According to Michelle Davis, Clinical Psychologist at Headspace, "Eye contact is one of the most powerful forms of human connection. Neuroscience research indicates that when two people make direct eye contact, their brain activity begins to synchronize, supporting more effective communication and increasing empathy. This synchrony can be disrupted when attention shifts to a phone, even briefly." When I'm with the people I've chosen to spend time with, I want to be fully present with them. A sudden notification will tempt me to glance at, or worse, pick up my phone in the middle of a conversation. It's a way to minimize your phone's presence I also have a more personal reason for keeping my phone facedown, and I suspect that other people have had this same thought: My phone takes up too much space in my life. I mean that quite literally. My phone is bigger than it needs to be. That's been especially true since I upgraded from my iPhone Mini to a "normal-sized" iPhone. Yes, I got a much needed boost in battery life, but I also got a screen with more pixels to lure me into the next news headline or autoplaying Instagram reel. A small smartphone isn't something that really exists anymore. My phone is bigger and better at grabbing my attention. It competes against my friends and family, books and movies -- the entire world outside of its 6-inch screen. It often wins. But there's still one small thing I can do to minimize its presence: I can keep the screen turned away from me whenever possible. It can sometimes feel like there's no escaping from my phone. Whether that ever changes, or phones evolve into a new form factor, I can't say. I can't control everything about my phone, but I can control whether the screen stares at me when I'm not staring at it.
Wall Street Journal
5 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Wall Street Journal
20-Somethings Are Taking Up Grandma's Favorite Hobbies
Young Americans are skipping middle age entirely. Twenty- and 30-somethings are exchanging their doomscrolling for needlepoint, journaling and other hobbies that require more than just thumbs or a thumbs-up.
Forbes
10-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Expert Advice For Avoiding Doomscrolling At Work
This is a published version of Forbes' Careers Newsletter. Click here to subscribe and get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Doomscrolling is not only bad for your mental health, it could also hurt your career. After an intense weekend with protests in Los Angeles over immigration raids, tensions are continuing to rise during the workweek, with President Trump deploying the National Guard and about 700 active-duty Marines to the streets of California. (The Forbes newsroom is covering the latest developments here.) It's not the first time that political tensions have bled into protests and led to potential disruptions at work. For many, it can feel dystopian trying to balance day-to-day work while reading the news and seeing images of violence across the country. So what can you do while you're on the clock during these times? And what can employers do to support their workers? For one, ease up on the doomscrolling. Consuming negative or emotionally triggering news on social media can have real impacts on your productivity, mental health and even potential career prospects. Forbes contributor Chris Westfall recommends creating digital boundaries by setting online time limits, and contributor Jess Cording favors physical and mental grounding techniques. For managers and employers, supporting colleagues is all about setting the tone, writes contributor Tracy Lawrence, especially when employees' minds are distracted by problems facing the world outside the company's office walls. She recommends that leaders model adequate vulnerability while maintaining clear direction. 'You don't need to have all the answers, but you need to demonstrate confident, steady leadership,' Lawrence writes. All this is to say: It's normal to log into work feeling conflicted this week. Take a moment to advocate for yourself, catch up on this week's news beyond the protests and then get back to work. Practical insights and advice from Forbes staff and contributors to help you succeed in your job, accelerate your career and lead smarter. Should you hire a full-time employee or an independent contractor? Forbes' Kelly Phillips Erb breaks it down. Here are some mistakes to avoid when starting a new job, including making sure you get proper onboarding. Sharpen these 10 professional skills to stay ahead of the AI curve. Audit your PTO and more strategies to ensure recovery time if work this summer isn't slowing down. In a move many saw coming, billionaires Elon Musk and President Donald Trump appeared to call quits on their professional relationship last week amid tension over the president's 'Big Beautiful Bill' outlining the budget for next year. Most of us don't have public relationships with our bosses, but we're breaking down what you can take away from this high-profile feud. The contentious professional relationship between billionaire Elon Musk and President Donald Trump has seemingly come to an end. Musk officially stepped down from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the end of May, ending a months-long partnership between the founder of Tesla and the president. The two had become close after Musk endorsed Trump's presidential campaign last July, with Musk serving as a close advisor to the president during his first few months in office. The big falling out came last week, when Musk went on a days-long rant against Trump's signature 'Big Beautiful Bill.' In a number of posts on X, Musk criticized Trump's policy and even claimed he was implicated in the Epstein files. That post has now been deleted. While President Trump downplayed the falling out to the media, he turned to Truth Social to say that the easiest way to save money in his policy bill would be to eliminate Musk's government contracts and subsidies, later adding that he asked Musk to leave the White House. Needless to say, both took the end of their working relationship too public—and too far— though tensions appeared to ease over the weekend. Disagreeing with your boss is not uncommon, but there are ways to make your criticism stick without involving others—in this case, the American public. One tip is to be passionate, not emotional, writes Forbes' senior contributor Caroline Castrillon. 'Don't get overly emotional to the point that you become frazzled and lose focus,' she adds. 'Your manager will lose sight of the point you're trying to make.' And don't forget about acknowledging and respecting each other, writes senior contributor Tracy Brower. Leaders must create a culture where employees can express their opinions to ease conflict at work. Ultimately, it's often best to stay out of office drama. Getting involved can not only be damaging to your mental health, but your professional career, even if you are a billionaire. Both Musk and Trump are now seeing the ramifications of their public feud. Musk's Tesla is suffering: Its stock was downgraded by analysts on Monday and the company has lost the support from pensions holding its shares. Meanwhile, a number of House Republicans who voted in favor of Trump's bill have now flipped their support due to his fight with Musk. News from the world of work. The Labor Department's May jobs report signaled some tepid optimism, as the U.S. added 139,000 nonfarm jobs, topping analysts' estimates of 125,000. Unemployment held steady at 4.2% for a third consecutive month as the government revised job growth down for March and April. But private employment saw the weakest monthly growth in the last two years, according to payroll processor ADP. Small businesses have also hit a pause on hiring, largely due to tariff confusion. But an influx of DOGE-cut talent is also increasing the quality of applicants in the pool, reports Brandon Kochkodin. Visa appointments on hold are impacting more than just international undergrads: Foreign-educated doctors who matched into American residency programs could miss their July 1 start date due to delayed or canceled meetings. That leaves both patients and hospitals in the lurch, since interns provide hands-on medical care under the supervision of more experienced doctors, reports Forbes' Emma Whitford. Is agentic AI a tool or a coworker? Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang seems to think more human, telling audiences at London Tech Week that the best way to use AI for coding aid is to 'ask it nicely.' 'This new programming language is called 'human,'' he added. Jobs Corps contractors are suing the Trump Administration over the closure of the largest U.S. job training program for low-income youth. A trade group representing the contractors that operate the training centers and some of its members allege the Labor Department is violating federal law by abruptly shutting down the program. How J.K. Rowling Rebuilt Her $1.2 Billion Wealth In the face of a tough job market, what are job seekers willing to do in order to work for a company that is better aligned with their values or that provides more opportunities for career advancement? A. Take a pay cut B. Go into the office five days a week C. Switch industries D. None of the above Check if you got it right here.
