What was the first thing you did when you woke up this morning?
If you’re like millions of teens, you probably grabbed your phone and opened TikTok or another app.
According to Child Therapy Center, more than 50% of teenagers spend four hours daily staring at screens — dramatically exceeding the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation of no more than two hours per day.
Nearly half of teens say social media has a mostly negative effect on people their age, with many admitting that they spend too much time on their devices. Addiction to continuous scrolling on social media is real and makes people stressed, miserable and emotionally numb — especially those who lack alternative hobbies or activities.
I recently researched alternatives to mindlessly scrolling and came across countless videos advising me to “go on a 20-minute run” or start working out. But immediately picking up a high-effort skill is unrealistic and difficult, especially when you’re not used to it. So many of the ideas seem unrealistic.
These are five ideas that might actually work.
- Watch a documentary
While watching a documentary is an activity that requires looking at a screen, it’s like eating a high-fiber diet rather than binge-eating junk food, offering real purpose and value. It offers in-depth insights that expand your knowledge, challenging you to question information and introducing you to various perspectives.
Crime documentaries like “The Tylenol Murders,” “The Perfect Neighbor,”“Dear Zachary,” “American Murder” and “Tell Me Who I Am” follow captivating stories that provide an emotional experience and a window to different perspectives. Instead of binge-watching movies or TV shows, documentaries teach you something new in an interesting, memorable way. Documentaries provide an immersive story or experience that fully engages your attention, replacing the brain’s craving for another quick scroll.
- Turn your creative ideas into more developed sketches
Doodling is an activity we have all done in the corner of our paper to keep us entertained during a boring lecture. All you need is a pencil and paper, starting off with simple doodles or patterns, eventually moving onto more complex designs or detailed pieces that you’d want to put up in your room. Especially when drawing more detailed artwork, sketching requires great attention, focus and precision, causing you to be completely immersed in what you’re creating rather than worrying about anything else.
- Go for a bike ride
Biking is a great activity to get the same relief and stimulation that scrolling pretends to give you. It gives you a sense of freedom and independence — you’re not stuck inside, and you can take different routes, ride with friends or just ride alone while playing music. The best cycling trails around Saratoga include Stevens Creek Trail (6.7 miles), Los Gatos Creek Trail (11.2 miles), Joes Trail (3.2 miles), Cora Older Trail (0.6 miles), and Congress Springs Park (16.1 miles). These routes vary in length but are great for any fitness level. Saratoga is especially a great area for biking because of the quaint neighborhoods, quiet roads and park paths that offer beautiful scenery, so it never really gets boring. Also, biking is a solid cardiovascular workout, helping to improve lung capacity, muscle engagement and the burning of calories.
- Start and finish a mini research project
You know when you’re about to fall asleep, but a random question pops into your head that you have to know the answer to, so you grab your phone and look it up? That’s exactly what this is, but turned into a longer, more structured activity.
Pick a topic that you’re curious about and stick with it for 10-20 minutes. Maybe watch a few videos, read a few articles or listen to a podcast about your question until you find a clear, gratifying answer. Take notes or make a slideshow about key insights or surprising information you discovered. Lastly, finalize your deep dive with a summary that clearly answers your question. Going on a deep dive on a topic that you’re interested in satisfies curiosity and gives your brain a sense of completion.
- Watch the sunset
Whether it be from your porch, balcony or a park, watching the sunset has to be one of the most relaxing and peaceful ways to unwind. Even just for 10 minutes, watching the sunset is de-stressing because it naturally reduces stress, improves mood and increases serotonin — a chemical that regulates mood, sleep, appetite and cognitive functions — levels by up to 15%. There are several stunning places to truly witness the beauty of the sunset in Saratoga, such as Montalvo Arts Center, Hakone Estate and Gardens, Vasona Lake County Park and Saratoga Quarry park. Making this into a daily habit can create a sense of routine, giving your brain a reset at the end of a day.
Scrolling on social media doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. It can connect us with others, teach us new skills and make us laugh on a bad day. But it becomes a problem when done excessively and becomes addictive, to the point where it leads to negative mental health issues or you feel emotionally drained.
It’s important to remember that you always have a choice to cut time on endless scrolling and prioritize activities you genuinely find happiness in. Each time your thumb hovers over your feed, choose instead to dust off your bike, pick up a pencil or learn something new.
