From Doomscrolling to Doing:
My Summer Reset

Hi everyone! Niki here.

I wanted to share a challenge I came up with to cut down on my screen time and replace it with healthier, more meaningful activities.

I’ll be doing this for 7 weeks — starting July 14 and ending September 1 — but you can choose any length that works for you. There are only a few simple rules to follow, and you can change some things up to make the challenge fit your needs. But let’s start at the beginning.

Why is my screen time even a problem?

As your typical neurodivergent, highly sensitive person (HSP) and introvert, I’m usually in a pretty bad shape mentally. Well, I’m in a pretty bad shape physically as well, but that’s beside the point for now. Anyway, for the past couple of years, my screen time has been a good indicator of my mental state. On my better days (or sometimes weeks) I barely spend time on social media, I don’t go down the YouTube rabbit hole and I definitely don’t binge-watch series. During the not-so-good times though…

Doomscrolling has been the theme for most of my year so far, and it reached an alarming level the past couple weeks.

For my fellow visually receptive people, here are the hard-hitting numbers (from the past 6 weeks):

Since I work from home on a project basis, and live with my parents, I had the luxury of not taking up new projects after I finished one in mid June. Now this is where things went totally downhill.

That being said, it’s not that I didn’t do anything productive, good or healthy these months, but definitely not as much as I would have liked. And as it usually is, I started to feel how detrimental this spiral of doomscrolling is for my mental and physical wellbeing.

So, what sparked the idea of change, you might ask.

The turning point? It was quite trivial, actually. A promotional email offering a free month of Kindle Unlimited. I immediately checked my TBR and found many of the titles were available. And what can a girl do when she’s on a serious book buying ban? Of course she goes for the free stuff. Only, my immediate thought was, “But I don’t have time to read all these in a month.”

Now, this wasn’t anything new, and I’m sure many of you can relate. Here’s how it would go down every time:

I would have redeemed my free month of KU, read almost no pages during that time and felt terrible about it the whole way through. Alternatively, I would have conveniently forgotten about it. In this case, the regret and self-hatred would come with the notification for the first regular payment, since I would have forgotten to cancel it in time. Naturally, even though I had already paid for that month, I still wouldn’t have used it because I just “didn’t have the time”.

And then it hit me: of course I do — I just haven’t been spending my time wisely as of late. 💡

So starting today, July 14th, I’ll embark on a journey to use my time – essentially my life – more wisely.

Guideline for those who want to join in:

Know your baseline: take a screenshot of your screen time from the past week/month, put it somewhere you can see it as a reminder.
Decide what to decrease/swap out: you can go by specific apps/websites/etc or by category (games, social media apps, etc). Define your goals (how much you want to decrease your screen time).
Decide what to do instead: also can be specific (read a specific book, walk) or broader (start a new hobby, do any physical activity). Keep in mind, being super productive is not our aim here. Just do anything that truly brings you joy, but “never have the time for”.
Start slow, the goal is to gradually decrease screen time and spend more time doing more meaningful things.
There is no reset! If you “fail” one day, you will try again tomorrow, what matters is the big picture.
Be kind to yourself.
Document your progress, if only for yourself. Or if you feel like, share it with others.

Here’s what I’m gonna do:

Taking the above data of my screen time from the past 6 weeks as the baseline, I will work towards decreasing my screen time and exchange it for actually pleasurable, healthy and fun activities
Post 1 TikTok/YouTube short per day documenting my progress
Write weekly posts with more detailed updates here
At the end of the challenge, I will post a long format video about my experiences and results
Document the progress in my bullet journal (might share later, might not)

My goals by the end of the challenge:

Spend less than 30 minutes a day on social media
Decrease my non-work-related screen time to less than 2 hours
Don’t be a couch potato — get up and move for at least 5 minutes every hour
Get 8000 steps a day
Do any kind of physical activity for at least 30 minutes, 5 times a week
Read 12 books from my TBR list
Finish my long-overdue crochet projects
Catch up on my photo editing and uploading for stock sites

My goals for week 1

Decrease average daily screen time by 20%
Get 2500 steps a day
Do any kind of physical activity for at least 10 minutes, 3 times a week
Finish reading 3 books + 1 manga series
Start crocheting again
Clean room & closet

If you’d like to join me, even just for a week or two, feel free to adapt the steps above to your own life. The key is progress, not perfection — and reclaiming your time, one choice at a time.

From Doomscrolling to Doing: My Summer Reset