Fighting phone addiction is at the top of my 2026 resolutions… and I’m posting this from my phone 🙃
By Eli Mercer on
Last year my average screen time was over 9 hours a day. Seeing that number honestly hurt. That’s more time than I spend doing almost anything else.
My phone has become my safe place. It’s predictable. It doesn’t overwhelm me. When I’m overstimulated, anxious, or socially drained, I scroll. It regulates me in the moment. I look up and it’s dark outside. The hobbies I care about reading, drawing, going for walks get pushed to “tomorrow.” And tomorrow keeps moving.
I don’t hate my phone. It connects me to communities that make me feel less alone. It helped me understand my autism. But somewhere along the way it stopped being a tool and became my default setting.
So this year I’m trying small shifts. Charging it across the room at night. Setting gentle app limits. Replacing scrolling with something specific, like reading a few pages instead of just sitting in the discomfort. Giving myself actual offline time so it doesn’t feel like punishment.
I don’t want to shame myself. I just don’t want to live another year mostly through a screen.