What to do instead of scrolling

Most advice about scrolling less comes as a list of nicer things to do: read a book, go for a walk, call a friend. All good, and almost never what happens, because the phone comes out in moments far too small for any of them. The trick is to match the alternative to the size of the gap.

When the phone is already in your hand

This is the hardest moment and the one most lists skip. You are not going to put the phone down just because a list suggested it, so change what it does instead.

• Open something with an ending. A saved article, one podcast episode, a single chapter. Endings bring back the decision point that infinite scroll removes.
• Scroll something slow. A feed where nothing is new, urgent or aimed at you keeps the gesture and drops the cost. That is calm scrolling.
• Breathe for one minute. A few rounds of box breathing fits in any queue.
• Message one person. Not a group, not a post. One person you were thinking about anyway.
• Look through your own photos. They are finite, they are yours, and nothing in them is trying to sell you anything.

When you have a minute or two

• Look out of a window at the furthest thing you can see. Your eyes have been focused at arm's length all day.
• Walk through your senses with the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise: five things you see, four you hear, and so on down.
• Stand up and stretch, refill your glass, or put one thing back where it belongs.
• Do nothing on purpose. Boredom is not an emergency, and a minute of it is often where the next idea comes from.

When you have an evening

This is the time most worth getting back, and the one where a plan beats willpower. Decide before the evening starts, because by nine o'clock the phone will have decided for you.

• Something with your hands: cooking without a recipe video, drawing, mending, a puzzle, an instrument.
• A walk without headphones, even a short one around the block.
• Paper: a book, a magazine, a crossword. Paper ends, and it does not refresh.
• A call instead of a chat. Twenty minutes on the phone with someone usually replaces an hour of half-reading messages.

Why "just put it down" rarely works

The reach for the phone is set off by a gap, not by a desire for any particular app. Take the phone away and the gap is still there, so something else fills it, often another app. Giving the gap something better to hold works with the habit rather than against it. There is more on that in how to stop doomscrolling without willpower.

For the moments when the phone is already in your hand: Calm Moments, an endless feed of slow scenes. Free, no ads, collects no data.

Common questions

What can I do instead of scrolling on my phone?

If the phone is already in your hand, open something with an ending, scroll something slow, or breathe for a minute. With a spare minute, look out of a window or do the 5-4-3-2-1 senses exercise. With a free evening, choose something that uses your hands, a walk, or paper.

Why do lists of alternatives to scrolling not work?

They suggest evening-sized plans for moments that last thirty seconds. The phone comes out in small gaps, so the alternative has to fit the gap, or the phone wins by default.

How do I break the habit of reaching for my phone?

Replace it rather than fight it. The reach is triggered by a gap in the day, so decide in advance what the gap is for, and make what you reach for slow and undemanding, so the habit stops costing anything.