Shadowing Practice: I'm Addicted to Being OFF my Phone ✨ how my life changed when i stopped scrolling - Learn English Speaking with Video

We're only one month into 2026 and already it feels like the year of less.

Less scrolling, less shopping, less posting, less consuming, and I'm not the only one that has noticed this shift.

If you've spent any time online lately, you've probably seen posts like this or maybe like this one.

People seem to be getting offline more, picking up analog hobbies, sharing slower routines, buying bricks, and reclaiming their time and choosing to live in the moment.

Yes, without sharing it.

In short, it's cool to be offline now.

And there's a reason this shift is happening, the average person now spends about 2 hours and 14 minutes per day just on social media,

and researchers have linked excessive scrolling with shortened attention spans, mental fog, and weakened focus, aka brain rot.

Studies also suggest that this frequent screen usage trains the brain for constant novelty, making it harder to engage deeply with long-form reading,

sustained tasks, or real-life conversations.

Yeah, we can't even talk to our friends anymore.

And this is exactly why so many of us are craving something slower, something real, something offline.

Because when AI begins replacing family recipes or art drifts away from personal expression, when 20 minutes of scrolling could have been a chapter read,

and when the news feels so overwhelming in a world optimized entirely for attention, the best thing we can do is simply step away.

And once we do, we notice how full our life becomes.

We stop comparing, creativity comes back, ordinary moments start to feel really meaningful again, we're more patient, more present, more kind.

So let me extend this invitation to build a life that exists more offline than online in a way that feels realistic, intentional, and to be honest, a little addicting.

So here's the small changes that I've made

that made the biggest difference for me and how being less connected online helped me feel more present in my everyday life.

If this feels familiar, you're not alone.

I think a lot of us are relearning how to enjoy our offline life more than our online one.

We're just going to jump right into it

because this is a topic I've been wanting to talk about for quite a while.

I've posted a little bit about it on Instagram and TikTok here and there, but I think having a longer form video about my experience, what I've been learning, what I've been doing,

and kind of just sharing a little bit about this whole topic, I was actually quite surprised when I was just doing my typical YouTube scrolling or whatever,

how many long form videos there already are on this topic

and how people have kind of been talking about it since November December

but I feel like since 2026 has started it is on everyone's new year's resolution to

get off of their phones less to spend time offline to

get into hobbies everyone is no longer doom scrolling they're replacing hobbies with doom scrolling

and I love to see it I think it's so cool

that being offline is now cool and it's kind of funny

that we're influencing each other on social media to get off of social media

but I personally started feeling the pull away from social media

or just like wanting to have a lot more boundaries with

my phone kind of like the end of last year I think having a toddler specifically has really impacted me

because they are so aware

and it is extremely difficult to be on your phone trying to multitask

while also trying to be present with your family

and with a toddler I also started to find how much

scrolling on social media led to me comparing myself to other people, whether it was like growing on social media or just feeling like my life kind of sucked and it wasn't enough.

I didn't have a big enough house.

I didn't have a brand new car.

I couldn't afford to buy clothes as much as my favorite influencer was.

So I just felt like my worthiness was not enough.

And I felt like my life was not enough.

And also I just felt like because of that, I would find myself getting like so frustrated, so short with my toddler

so impatient I really struggle to find times to be present I don't know

if this has ever happened to you

but I'd be like okay let me just like you know check out what's going on on social media

while I'm brushing my teeth or while I'm getting ready for the day

and just being so disconnected from simple daily tasks and

so engrossed in trying to constantly entertain myself

and not even allowing my brain for a second to take a break

so I feel like I would spend the whole entire day just trying to constantly find ways to consume, constantly find ways to keep myself from being bored.

And then by the end of the day, I had already listened to millions of podcasts.

I had been on my phone probably way too long than I needed to be.

I just was not spending any time actually with my thoughts and getting things out that I started struggling to fall asleep.

And I remember Alex Cooper was talking about this, how simply having moments in your day where you are not listening to anything,

not watching TV, not consuming content, not constantly scrolling, how your brain actually has time to process information,

to kind of like think about all the things that it wants to think about. Because

if you are constantly filling your brain with stuff all day

long you are not spending time being able to like be

present be in the moment those are just some small examples

where i feel like something has got to change here i need to set some boundaries

and while i was doing a little bit of research for this video i learned the term brain rot

which apparently is more of a gen z term

and why i haven't heard of it but

which honestly sounds kind of scary but it really is just your cognitive ability starts to decline so your like reaction time,

your thinking time, your ability to like withhold conversation with people, anything related to thinking and being able to process what you're doing,

being able to actually sit down and like read an article, not skim over it is kind of what brain rot is.

And I started noticing this happening to me all the time.

Like I would not be listening when I was having a conversation with my husband, even if I wasn't scrolling, like my brain just could not sit with something for a long period of time.

It always had to be jumping to the next thing

or thinking about the next thing and

that was kind of a big red flag for me i

also noticed i started getting headaches at the end of the day

and this probably has contributed to like being on my computer

and on my phone but just spending

so much time on the screen i feel like is

so not great for our eyes and our brain and another problem

that i don't think we realize with scrolling

so much these days is how much we are over consuming

like like the impulse purchases we are making now whether it's

because we see it on our favorite influencer we reserved an ad just has gotten so out of control

I mean online shopping has already made it so easy to over consume

but now I feel like we are constantly being pushed ads

or we need something new for this season of life

and it just is getting like so out of control

and I just found myself so easily influenced the more time I spend online

and over consuming which means spending more money which means being in debt

and not getting to where you want to be in life financially

so that is another reason I feel like I have personally really tried to set more boundaries with my phone

and being offline more.

So how do you actually break your addiction to your phone?

Because for me personally, I thought I had discipline.

Turns out I do not.

And if you've read Atomic Habits in there, the author states that if you want to break a habit, you have to make it hard to do.

So for me, that was realizing that willpower doesn't work.

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And I needed to get a physical device to lock me

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out of my phone out of certain times of the day so that I literally couldn't go on it.

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So one of my birthday gifts to myself was actually getting a brick.

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I've talked about them a lot and I get a lot of hate for getting one of these.

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It works really well for me and I love it

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because it puts my phone on a schedule

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which I know you can do in the Apple iOS app but personally I just kept hitting ignore.

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It was way too easy to just go back on social media

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and this has been really game-changing in setting boundaries on when I can use my phone, when I can go on social media versus having full-blown access 24-7.

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So my brick locks me out of social media between the hours of 4 30 p.m

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and 9 a.m so during those hours I cannot go on social media

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and this has helped

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so much in just being more present with my family during those times finding other hobbies actually cooking

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and not getting distracted it has really helped me realize

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that I don't need to be on my phone during those times

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and during the hours of nine to four is

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when I can be on social media respond to comments post things scroll

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if I want to scroll

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but during the off hours it's just it's no social media time okay now

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that we made the habit of scrolling hard to do we

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need to replace it feel like you can't just remove scrolling you have to have something to do instead

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and i have found

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that reaching more for analog activities has been a lot more

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calming for the nervous system having something to do with my

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hands having something where my brain can kind of just take a break

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and relax this not only helps me get off of my phone

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but i feel like i'm creating more i'm making things that i can actually use in real life.

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It is more calming.

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It has just been more fun.

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And some really easy examples are journaling, reading, going on a notice walk where you go on a walk and maybe you notice a certain color,

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you notice specific sounds, puzzles.

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I forgot how addicting puzzles are.

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This is great if you also only have like five or 10 minutes cooking without multitasking,

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maybe putting on a long form YouTube video if you really need something to watch and hobbies, hobbies, hobbies.

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This has been been game-changing for me and just having something else to do

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and something that i'm working towards

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or striving towards i started with these little watercolor workbooks

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because it kind of takes a lot of thinking about what

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to paint what to create gives you all the instructions right here

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and then on the other side is just a little outline for you to start painting

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and this is something i could super easily do in like 5, 10, 15 minute increments, which I feel like is great when you're starting out a new hobby.

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Because to be honest, I feel like most of us don't have enough time to just spend an hour towards a hobby every single day.

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So having something you can do in short little bursts has been really helpful.

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I think you'll be surprised with how your love for hobbies grows as you stop scrolling.

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Because once you start replacing scrolling with more hobbies and you start getting into different things and your confidence builds, you will find that you will start to reach for your hobby more than your phone

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and that is such a freeing feeling especially once you finish your first hobby

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when I finished my first little knitting scarf I felt

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so confident and inspired to do another one

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so I highly recommend you challenge yourself to just start trying

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different hobbies like spend 10-15 minutes a day on one

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and see what sticks but also don't expect yourself to be good right away it takes a

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while to kind of figure something out you're gonna make mistakes

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my first scarf has like tons of holes in it

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and messed up patterns and it's just part of the process

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and I think that's something to remember is you're just having

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fun there's no reason you need to make money off of

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it you don't have to show anybody it's literally just for you

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and once you get to a point where you start finding

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your favorite hobbies you can create a little analog basket I know a lot of people have the analog bags

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but I have a basket and I keep it right in my fireplace actually

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but I think keeping it in your living room

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or a place where you honestly tend to scroll the most often maybe it's in your bed

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so it needs to be by your nightstand.

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But anyway, I like having a little basket.

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It keeps everything all nice and organized.

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So I'll share a little bit about what I have in here

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and hopefully it'll inspire you to start getting into some hobbies.

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Obviously my watercolor and my watercolor palette.

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I just got this off of Amazon.

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I can also link all of this stuff down below.

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If you guys want hobby ideas, you can check out their websites and see what you like.

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This is a little embroidery kit from Clever Poppy.

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Create these cute little embroidery patterns and it comes with everything you need.

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That's another pro tip is

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if you were starting to get into a hobby find a kit

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so whether it's a knitting kit an embroidery kit

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that way it comes with everything you need

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and you don't have to go to a hobby store

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and be like what kind of needle do I need for this

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or what kind of marker pencil or whatever having a kit

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that just have it has everything you need to get started

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with a hobby is super super helpful I have my little scarf

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that I'm knitting this I definitely have to keep away from

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my toddler she loves to play with the yarn she's like a cat

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so I have all my different like knitting projects

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I have a bag full of markers in here

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and I don't have a coloring book in here right now

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But I love to have just like a coloring book

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So I have a bag full of markers

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and also some fun little ink pens I used to be an illustrator

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when I worked in the corporate world

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So I love having this like little sketch pad to sketch some just some designs

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and things that i'm thinking about

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And then I also have my kindle I try to read a book once a month

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and this has just been great for reading 5, 10, 15 minutes in the morning or whenever I have time.

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So that's a little bit of my analog basket.

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Let me know if you guys want more hobby ideas, but hopefully that will just kind of get you started on what to do instead of scrolling.

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And then the last thing has really helped me recently breaking my habit from scrolling

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and getting offline more is having a full day once a week where I am not on my phone at all.

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I don't even use it to take photos or filming.

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And at first I was really anxious to do this

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because I do a lot of stuff on social media

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and I like being connected to the world like most of us do.

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But you guys, once you try this, you realize how refreshing the world is and how beautiful life is beyond our phones,

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not needing to Google something, not needing to pull our phones out to film something.

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Like, yes, I do use it for Google Maps

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and I keep sometimes my messages

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and definitely my phone unlocked on these days just in case of emergencies

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or if i go out

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but seeing the world through a different lens of not having access to your phone just feels

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so relaxing like i feel like my brain literally takes a break

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and i like these 24 hours one day a week

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because i feel like everybody can do

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that like it's very approachable it's very easy you don't need

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to be on your phone for a full day like we could all take a 24 hour break

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so some things i like to do on these days is to have a journal for writing.

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I like to have a camera.

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You can use a digital camera or you can just get like a disposable camera.

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It'd be so fun to have for the day.

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And obviously I have all of my hobbies accessible.

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And the more I have these full days without being on my phone at all, the more addicting it becomes.

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Honestly, now I get what I call the social scaries, which is Sunday night, knowing that I'm going to be back on social media on Monday.

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And I will say once I do get back in the flow of things, I enjoy connecting with people and creating.

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And I have so much fun being on social media in like a more positive way

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but i will say it's so addicting being off your phone

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and being in hobbies and your brain just getting a break

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and i think

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when you start to take time to step away you do

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start to realize how addicting all of these platforms are you're

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actually able to finish a hobby finish a conversation do things slowly really notice things in your everyday life

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that may have seemed super mundane

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but are actually very special you'll be more present with your

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friends you'll be more present with your family you'll have more patience for your kids

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and i didn't even get on the mental

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and emotional aspects of having less depression having less anxiety

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so much of those stem from being on social media too much

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and i definitely don't think i have every single day figured

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out there are days where i'm on my phone for four

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or five hours a day because this is now my job

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but i do think compared to before i have a much healthier relationship with my phone

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and with social media and I really have set those boundaries that my days feel like they're mine again.

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I think what's surprising the most about getting offline more is how much I enjoy it

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and how much of my life I feel like I am missing out on

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because I'm comparing or I'm spending time scrolling that I could be reading and learning or creating.

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My focus started to change.

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Our attention spans really do shorten the more we are scrolling

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and we are just being fed something right after the other versus long form media versus sitting

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and reading a book sitting and having an actual conversation with people

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and i think you'll start to notice how much it really impacts your relationships like now

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when i get in the car with my husband i'm always the passenger princess

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but no one wants the passenger princess on their phone scrolling

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the whole time they are on a 20 minute drive like

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you may not realize how those things are also affecting your partner your spouse your friends.

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Like it's just not fun to be around somebody that has their head down into their hands.

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So I have a challenge for us.

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We have a level one and a level two.

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Level one, no scrolling between 5 p.m and 9 a.m.

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Get an app blocker, get a brick, get something that is making you off of your phone in the morning

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and the evening and take back that time for yourself.

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Replace it with dedicated family time, with hobbies, with meditation, with sipping your coffee in silence.

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Maybe you start to work out before work or go for a walk

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but keep 5 p.m to 9 a.m your time

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and level two phone free Sundays and I mean phone free

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and you can start with social media free Sundays

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but I highly recommend going completely phone free put your phone away lock it break it

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if you need to go out then just keep like your maps

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and your phone

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and your messages unlocked just in case of emergencies I want

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you to try to use a different camera to take photos so maybe a polaroid maybe

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go to Walgreens and get like a $5, what are they called?

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Disposable camera.

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You will notice how you will just start to see things differently

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when you're forced to use an actual camera versus a phone.

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Get out some journals, get out some books, get out some hobbies, prepare some outings with your family.

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I feel like when we're out and about and we're busy

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and we're actually hanging out with people and having conversation and connection, we don't even remember that we have our phones.

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So let yourself be bored

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and expect what's gonna happen emotionally it's gonna be a little hard like we are really addicted to our phones

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and taking such a long break I think you'll realize how addicting it really is

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that five minutes here or there

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so be ready for it to feel a little uncomfortable

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but personally I'm loving this shift I think it's so cool

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that we are influencing each other to get offline and

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that being offline is cool now I would love to know what you guys try

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which challenge how it goes let's keep the conversation going in the comments let me know

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if you want a phone-free vlog I think

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that could be kind of fun tag me on Instagram if you try it and post about it.

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I love seeing all of your phone free days and sharing them.

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We don't need to disappear from the internet.

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We just need to show up fully in our offline lives.

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You got this.

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Love you guys.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing Practice: I'm Addicted to Being OFF my Phone ✨ how my life changed when i stopped scrolling - Learn English Speaking with Video

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What is the Shadowing Technique?