I’ve asked everyone I know what their new year’s resolutions are - one thing keeps coming up more than anything else
New year, new me? This year, everyone I’ve spoken to seems to have the same resolution - put the phone down. Whether it’s quitting “bed rotting”, cutting back on doom-scrolling, or just spending less time staring at that glowing rectangle, there’s a collective yearning to step back from our screens and actually live.
Almost everyone I asked had something to say about phones and how much time they spend on them and it definitely feels like a reflection of the times we’re living in. It’s hardly surprising as most of us have felt that creeping sense of time slipping away while scrolling endlessly and consuming content you’ll forget two minutes later.
It makes sense that people are thinking about it, and I don’t know if it’s just my algorithms, but I’m seeing more and more ways being shown to me to help me cut my screen time. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter
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It’s interesting that the very devices that keep us glued to social media now seem to be offering more tools than ever to help us break free. Apps like Forest, which gamifies staying off your phone by growing virtual trees, or Freedom, which blocks distracting sites and apps, have surged in popularity.
But maybe using tools, whether it is technological or by finding other strategies to create boundaries with our devices, will help us not to escape our phones entirely but to regain control over how, when, and why we use them.
The phrase “bed rotting” is being used everywhere at the moment, and if you haven’t heard it, it’s basically lying in bed for hours, most likely on your phone. That quick scroll on a Sunday afternoon could turn into several hours of numbing your brain, and what was supposed to be an activity to help you feel rested actually makes you more tired than before.
Meanwhile, doom scrolling is the slightly more sinister cousin of bed rotting. This is when you keep refreshing your feed, devouring endless streams of content.
The past few years have made us more tethered to our devices than ever before, whether for work, staying in touch, or keeping entertained during lockdowns. But now, in various circles of my own, it feels like some people are really questioning it and trying to be more honest with themselves. I think what’s interesting about this collective resolution is that it’s not really about quitting phones. It’s about craving a deeper connection to our lives.
So how do we fix it? After doing a bit of research it was clear to see there are countless ways to get rid of your phone addiction. From doing a complete digital detox and avoiding it all together to having the luxury of going on a phone-free retreat. But for me personally I feel like going cold turkey isn’t realistic.
We need our phones for too much. Instead, maybe it’s about setting boundaries. After lots of conversations with friends saying the same things about limiting their phone addictions, I’ve been thinking more about the way I use my own phone and the time I want to carve out to be more present.
When I think about what actually makes me feel connected, it’s simple things: spending time with people I care about, walking outside, or noticing the view from my window. It’s all the stuff we know we should appreciate but rarely make time for.
Realising this is like eating better for a week or getting back to the gym. You feel clearer, more grounded, and slightly annoyed that something so obvious makes such a difference.
Perhaps there’s also a bit of a mindset shift - learning to be okay with being bored. Phones have become our safety net against any uncomfortable moment of stillness. But boredom isn’t the enemy and is actually where creativity, clarity, and ideas often come from, when you really think about it.
So maybe the resolution we all need this year is not to ‘do more’, like lots of new year's resolutions we might have had in the past, but to reclaim the time we’ve been giving away so easily.
