Schnelle Acevedo: Welcome to Smart with Screens. I'm Chanel Acevedo. For 14 years, I built digital marketing campaigns for Disney, Netflix, Amazon, and other major brands. My job was to get you to click, scroll, and engage. Now I teach families and schools across New York City how these systems actually work, the algorithms, the tricks, the psychology behind the screens. I'm Chanel Acevedo, and let's get smart with screens. Okay, let's talk about something I'm not proud of. Last night, I picked up my phone to check one text message. One. And somehow 45 minutes later, I was deep in my Instagram reels watching a woman organize her pantry for the third time. I did not mean to spend 45 minutes scrolling. I didn't plan to. I didn't even enjoy most of it. But there I was. And here's the thing, I know how algorithms work. I spent 14 years building campaigns designed to keep people engaged. I teach digital literacy for a living. I literally recorded a episode a few weeks ago explaining exactly how social media platforms manipulate your attention. And I still doomscroll. So if you've ever felt bad about losing an hour to TikTok or Instagram or YouTube, let me tell you right now, it's not personal failing. It's not weakness. It's not lack of discipline. You are up against some of the smartest engineers and psychologists in the world. They have designed these platforms to be almost irresistible. But, and this is important, you're not powerless. There are actual strategies that work, not perfectly, not every time, but they work. And today I'm sharing five strategies that have helped me reduce my doom scrolling. not eliminate it. I'm realistic here, but significantly reduce it. Let's get into it. The first strategy is the simplest, but it's the most important. Ask yourself, how do I feel? And here's what I mean. When you're scrolling in the moment while it's happening, pause for just two seconds and ask yourself, how does this content make me feel? Not is this interesting or is this entertaining, but how does it make me feel? Because here's what I've noticed in my own scrolling. Most of the time, I'm not feeling good. I'm feeling comparison. Her house looks perfect and mine is a mess. I'm feeling inadequate. I should be doing more, achieving more, looking better. I'm feeling anxious. The world is falling apart and I cannot keep up. I'm feeling FOMO. Everyone is doing cool things and I'm sitting on my couch. Or I'm just feeling numb, like my brain is on autopilot and I'm not really present. That awareness, just noticing how you feel is incredibly powerful. Because once you notice, you can make a choice. If I catch myself feeling worse with every swipe, I can ask, do I want to keep doing this? And sometimes the answer is yes. Let's just keep it real. Sometimes I'm tired and I just want to zone out. It's been a long day and that's fine. But now it's a choice instead of something that's happening to me. And here's how to practice this. Set a timer on your phone for random intervals. When it goes off, check in. How am I feeling right now? Is this content making me feel better or worse? You don't have to keep scrolling. You don't have to stop scrolling every time you feel bad. Just notice. Because the algorithm wants you unconscious. It wants you on autopilot. Awareness breaks the autopilot. And once you start noticing patterns, ⁓ I always feel worse after looking at X type of content. You can start making different choices about what you engage with. Which brings us to strategy number two. train your algorithm to show you better content. We talked about this in episode two, but it's worth repeating because most people don't realize how much control they actually have. Your algorithm is learning everything from what you do. They learn from what you watch all the way through, what you scroll past quickly, what you like, save or comment on, what you search for. And right now, your algorithm probably has learned that you engage with content that makes you feel bad. Because, and this is the tricky part, negative emotions often drive more engagement than positive ones. Anxiety keeps you scrolling to see what happens next. Outrage makes you comment. Comparison makes you look longer to see all of the details. So your algorithm keeps showing you more of that content because from its perspective, you want it. You're engaging with it, but you can retrain it. And here's how. When you see content that makes you feel bad, scroll past it quickly. Don't engage. Even if you hate watch. Even if you want to leave a comment, even if you're curious, just scroll past because every second you spend on that content is a vote for show me more of this. When you see content that makes you feel good, inspired, informed, joyful, calm, engage with it. Watch it all the way through. Like it, save it, follow the creator. You're teaching the algorithm, this is what I want more of. Use the not interested button aggressively. On Instagram, tap the three dots. On a post, select not interested. On TikTok, press and hold the video, select not interested. On YouTube, click the three dots and don't recommend the channel or not interested. The algorithm will adjust. It might take a few days or a week, but your feed will start to shift. with Instagram. My reels were full of content that made me feel behind, inadequate, like I wasn't doing enough. So I started aggressively using not interested on anything that triggered comparison or anxiety. And I started to actively seek out and engage with content that felt calm, ⁓ educational, or genuinely It only took about a week, but my feed changed dramatically. Now I actually enjoy Instagram instead of dreading it. The algorithm isn't your enemy. It's just for optimizing for engagement. So give it better data about what engagement should look like for you. For example, I just registered to... Actually, this is kind of crazy, but I just registered to... compete in a high rocks competition. If you don't know what a high rocks competition is, it's mainly just running and strength training and trying to finish in as quickly, quick of a time as possible. And I have trained my algorithm now to show me tips about high rocks, right? So it's really about the things that you wanna do and the things that you wanna see in your feed. Strategy number three, create friction between you and the scroll. This is about making it slightly harder to miss mindlessly open apps because here's what happens. You pick up your phone for a legitimate reason, to check a text, to look up directions, to call the doctor's office, to make an appointment, to set a timer. and your thumb automatically opens Instagram or TikTok. You didn't consciously decide to scroll. Your muscle memory just did it. So we need to interrupt that automatic pattern. Here are some friction strategies that work. Move social media apps off of your home screen. Put them in a folder, bury them on the second or third page. This creates one extra step. And that one second of having to search for the app gives your brain time to ask, wait, do I really want to do this right now? Delete apps from your phone, but don't delete your account. This sounds really extreme, but hear me out. You can still access Instagram, TikTok, YouTube on your laptop or desktop browser. You just can't scroll on your phone. For me, this is huge because most of my doom scrolling happens when I'm lying in bed, waiting in line, watching the Knicks game or sitting on the couch. If I have to go to my laptop to check my social media, I'm way likely to do so mindlessly. Use app timers and grayscale mode. This is another big one. Most you set daily time limits for apps. When you hit the limit, app gets blocked or you have to click through a warning to keep using it. That warning is friction. It makes you conscious of what you're doing. Grayscale mode removes the visual stimulation that makes scrolling feel rewarding. ⁓ It's actually boring and that is what we want. That is the point. Log out of apps after each use. Now, ⁓ this is a nuclear option, but it works. If you have to type in your password every single time you want to open your Instagram, you're going to think twice about whether you want to scroll right now. And honestly, I have so many passwords for all of my social media. Keeping up with that would be turn off alone. The key principle here is make the behavior you want to reduce just a little bit harder. You're not trying to make it impossible. You're just trying to create a pause. A moment where your conscious brain can catch up to your automatic behavior and ask, is this what I want to be doing right now? Sometimes the answer will still be yes, and that's okay. But a lot of the time, that tiny bit of friction is enough to break the pattern. Strategy number four, replace scrolling habit with something else. Here's the thing about habits, you just can't delete them, you have to replace them. If you're going to pick up your phone every time you're bored, anxious, waiting or avoiding something, ⁓ yourself a different thing to do in those moments. Because the urge to pick up your phone isn't going to disappear just because deleted TikTok. So ask yourself. What do I actually need in this moment? If you're bored, have a book nearby or a puzzle or a creative project that you can pick up for five minutes. If you're anxious, try a breathing exercise. Go for a walk, text a friend. If you're avoiding work, set a timer and just start, or give yourself permission to take an actual break instead of a scroll break. If you're waiting in line at the doctor's office for your kids to finish practice, this is the hardest one because scrolling feels productive when you only have five minutes. But try this. Try to be bored. Look around. Notice your surroundings. Let your mind wander. I know that this sounds ridiculous in 2026, but boredom is actually Good for your brain. When the girls at Girl Scouts complain about being bored, I tell them that's fantastic. You have an opportunity to be creative. It's when creativity happens. It's when your brain processes things. And we've lost the ability to just sit with nothing happening. I started doing this at school pickup. I used to stand there scrolling Instagram for 15 minutes while waiting for my kids. Now, I just stand there. I just watch other kids play. I think about my day and sometimes I talk to other parents. It felt weird at first, but now it's kind of nice. The point is you have to give your brain something else to do. Otherwise it's going to default back to the dopamine hit of scrolling. Strategy number five, create clear boundaries around when and where you use social media. This is about designing your environment to support the behavior that you want. Time boundaries, ⁓ no phones for first hour of the morning. ⁓ This one changed life. I used to wake up immediately and check Instagram, TikTok, email. And I'd already start my day feeling behind, anxious, overstimulated. Now my phone does not get touched until I have done my exercise and gotten my kids ready for school. I'm calmer, more present. I don't start the day in reaction mode. And also no phones after 9 p.m. Same principle, scrolling before bed messes with your sleep. It keeps your brain activated. and it often makes you feel worse. Phone goes on the charger in the kitchen at 9 p.m. No exceptions. So there's also location boundaries that you could set up. No phones in the bedroom. I mentioned this in the parenting episode, but this applies to adults too. Your bed should be for sleep and rest, not scrolling. No phones at the dinner table. This is for everyone in the house, phone basket, no exceptions. No phones during focused work time. When I'm writing, creating content, working on my business. My phone is either off or I have music playing. Otherwise, I check it every three minutes. The key is try to make these non-negotiable. Clear rules are easier to follow than vague intentions. And when you set boundaries around where and when you engage with social media, you take back control of your attention. You're using it intentionally instead of letting it use you. All right, let's be honest. These strategies work, but they're not magic. You're still gonna doom scroll sometimes because I sure do. because these platforms are designed by incredibly smart people to be almost irresistible. And sometimes you're tired or stressed and you just want to zone out. And that's okay. The goal isn't perfection. The goal is awareness and intention. If you go from doom scrolling two hours a day to 30 minutes a day, that is a win. If you catch yourself in the moment and a conscious choice to keep scrolling or stop, that is a huge win. If you retrain your algorithm so the content you do see makes you feel better instead of worse, that is a big, big, big win. Progress, ⁓ not perfection. ⁓ If you're a parent ⁓ listening this, thinking, do I teach my You teach it by modeling it. Your kids are watching how you use your phone. They're noticing when you're scrolling at dinner, when you're distracted during conversations and when you're on autopilot. So the best thing you can do is practice these strategies yourself. And then when you talk to your kids about what you're doing and why. I'm putting my phone in the kitchen at night because I noticed I was scrolling instead of sleeping. I'm being more intentional about what I engage with because I realized my feed was making me feel anxious. You're teaching them that even adults have to work at this, that it's not about being perfect, it's about being intentional. And that is the most valuable digital literacy lesson that there is. Thank you for listening to Smart with Screens. If these strategies help you, share this episode with someone who's also trying to break the doom scroll cycle. We are all in this together. And remember, you're not weak for struggling with this. You're human and up against billion dollar companies designed to capture your attention. But you have more power than you think. You can find more digital literacy resources and tips at bamdigitalmedia.info. wellbeing, algorithm and screen time strategies to your school ⁓ or community in NYC, ⁓ please reach out. I'm Chanel Acevedo. next time, ⁓ let's smart with screens and intentional about how we use