How the fuck is anyone here supposed to answer that? There's nobody normal here!

Recently I watched a guy in a movie theater before the movie started fiddling with his phone. In rapid fire, he was scrolling Instagram, liking things and stopping on hot ladies. Switch over to facebook and quick scroll that. Send a link to a friend. Then doomscroll reddit.

I don't think he stopped to read a thing beyond the headline except for boobs.

Me:

1. Open Maps
2. Stare at it
3. Mentally think to my self this is my life now (say, I'm waiting at an appointment for something)
4. Press home buttom
5. Open App list
6. Scroll up and down
7. To back to home page
8. STARE at it, pretending I'm busy doing something
9. Oh shit maybe I should actually do something
10. Realize I actually haven't taken the time to download anything beforehand
11. Downloads Lichess
12. Actually I wanna just browse wikipedia
13. Find an article for what stuff I have on my mind
14. STARE at it, pretending I'm reading an ebook
15. Actually I can't focus, home screen again
16. Opens the notes app
17. • blank note
18. Hmm okay lets write a poem... how am I feeling right now...
19. Writes 1-2 line...
20. Fuck I can't think of anything else... my head hurts...
21. Press homescreen
22. Stare at it for 10 seconds
23. Turn it off
24. Spin the phone around like a fidget spinner
25. Bored af

Most normal people? Instagram, tiktok, facebook. Maybe twitter.

They ask about normal people and Lemmings mostly answer about themselves. 🤦‍♂️

Open phone. See if new email. Check here. Check YouTube subs. Adds up to less than an hour a day. Unless I feel like sudoku. Thats my time sink.

Normal people scroll social media. Instagram. Maybe buy something the ad tells them they need. Then send messages or videos to friends and chats. That's about it.

I just started Dungeon Crawler Carl on my phone.

Short form videos and social media?

Many seem to watch short vertical videos of people talking to the camera about stuff I couldn't care less about.

Is anybody truly "normal?" Whenever I pick up my phone to waste time, I bounce between:

̶L̶e̶m̶m̶y̶ nevermind you said we're not allowed to mention that

YouTube

Email

Excel spreadsheets

Amazon shopping app

VA app for appointment reminders, medical records, messaging with my doctors

YouTube. Also that stupid mobile Pokémon card game for like 3 minutes, twice a day.

Before I had an existential crisis and lost my damn mind it was instagram, discord, and snapchat (literally for 2 people). Now it's just Lemmy.

my wife: short-form video (mostly insta reels, I think).

me: language learning app or ebook.

Panem et circenses.

They waste hours scrolling too but instead it's billionaire tuned brainrot machines and a handful of predatory games but also Wordle. Holy shit do they love Wordle.

i don't do anything on my phone. it's a flip phone with data and wifi disabled on the device, and sms disabled at the carrier. it's quite literally just a 'telephone'.

if i go somewhere where i might expect a long wait alone (like to a doctor's appointment), i'll take a paperback with me.

• Researching the next project.
• Watching way too much news about American and world politics, I'm getting a bit tired after two years with flooded zone.
• Audiobooks and podcasts.

I have an ebook reader and I download epubs. I also have an audio book player so it looks like im working.

I'm not normal, but I'm guessing some mix of Instagram, TikTok, and Shorts. But, maybe there's more casino / gatcha games, too.

As you did forbid the main time killer and i got banned from the other.

Then YouTube or watching some movies/TV shows, some phone games, maybe googling/looking something up.

Of course music and audiobooks, but that's not really spending time on phone, those are just playing on the background.

i play a lot of solitaire

I'm off all social media (over 10 years) off reddit for 6+months (banned), closed LinkedIn (2-3mo ago and sick of the data siphoning) closed Imgur about 4-5 months ago (just because). It- honest to God, is SO freeing!

I'm only on my phone for work calls, maybe a few email (use rotating addresses to cut spam), and a game or two from F-Droid if I have spare time. Otherwise it's just a few Lemmy pages about privacy, security, or self-hosted... My 4+ year old phone battery still lasts about 1.5-2 days with mostly WiFi and BT, some GPS and data. It's nice it lasts so long.

Most other free time is family or maybe hobby stuff.

Wordle and a number of other similar puzzles around the web.

I leave it in my pocket or in my messenger bag, unused safe when I really need it.

Instead, I will either read a book, look/walk around for something or some scene to sketch, or will spend time talking with people.

And, yes, I consider myself 'most normal people' ;)

Weather, my hobby groups some of which I admin, email, looking up various parts and how-to’s for a car I’m working on, messaging, and occasional housecleaning of the phone itself - getting rid of unnecessary photos, email, SMS and all that.

Idk. Goon.

2048 set to a 7x7 grid.

RSS

Masturbating

Open Termux, open Qt Creator and VS Code, write code, compile code, test code, fix bugs, git commit.

Mostly tumblr, Lemmy, reddit, and occasionally Wikipedia for me. Most people I know would be on Instagram, but I can't stand it.

Pornhub and redgifs.

Oh yeah and occasionally emails.

Moonreader or play books, when reddit removed 3rd party api access, I never installed the official app, so I replaced it with reading. That is, until I found Lemmy ;) I still read more than I scroll tho.

Normal people don't need a phone to pass the time.

With that being said, the amount of brain rot competing for our attention is staggering.

Read articles I’ve saved to my self hosted readeck.

Oh you said normal people …

Local current and future weather forecast

What plants do well in my zone this time of year.

Contemplate on getting another rain barrel

Read patch notes for whatever game I'm currently playing

Check forums for posts about patch notes complaints.

Why not Reddit? I've found more reddit users irl after I left than anytime before. Seems plenty normal. Otherwise, facebook/tiktok/Instagram/YouTube scrolling. I assume Tumblr and Twitter, too. A myriad of endless mobile games based around bubbles, blocks, or tower defense. I've also seen cross stitch and paint by numbers type apps. I'm sure there's people that doomscroll regular news sites.

I'm guessing you're looking to use your time better and want recommendations though, not just a list describing how every cohort is doomscrolling their little diminishing dopamine box.

Listen to music

Read a book on Libby (library app).