Lighter things to do on my phone that aren't social media?

[Matinao]

Hello! My routine has changed recently where I tend to have a lot more free time to relax and do nothing in particular than I did previously. My total break times at school now tally up to 75 minutes, and my commute is 40 mins-1 hour per there or back + 5-10 minute breaks between lessons. I usually scroll through random social media, however I am attempting to cut down, and reflection has led me to find most unsatisfying now. The best "quality" posts I've found are on Tumblr, but they usually end up repeating after a few checks, there's not really much incentive beyond 15 minutes a day or so for me.

I also play on my 3DS, but it isn't always practical in situations where I need to be able to hear around me (with friends) or if there's too much light (usually on the bus), or if it's dead, as it doesn't enjoy being in sleep mode for a while then being used again. Im unsure if there's anything that fulfils the lightness of entertainment of social media without being completely mindless. Potentially light novels or manga (I haven't found any that particularly click for me yet, but something along those lines. Manga also is a bit small to read on mobile, but some are decent.) The ideal would be browsing neocities sites for example, but it's not particularly feasible on mobile due to formatting. I also tried to get some interactive fiction from ifdb working, but they similarly struggled.

I've had this issue in the past with having nothing to do on my phone except social media, but now it's a bit more prominent, and I feel more notably bored. I'm specifying phone here as it's not always practical to fish my book/sketchbook/3ds out, and I don't have any "imbetweens" of social media and proper activities.

Sorry if this is the wrong board!

[myleszey]

I highly recommend finding a light novel or manga to fill that time! The library is absolutely massive if you use an app like Tachiyomi or Paperback and sometimes you can just while away the minutes searching for something that piques your interest.

I'm sure there are folks on this forum in the Writer's Corner that have recommendations as well.

[YoungsterJ4y]

I am seconding manga and lightnovels, as well as webcomics if you're into that sort of thing! I do like solitaire and sudoku as well for 'time-wasters' on my phone that don't make me feel like my brain is spaghetti. Love the 3ds love too though, so glad to see more people using it :)

[TheFrugalGamer]

I'd definitely checkout library apps in your area. They don't usually have just books, most also have CDs, TV shows and movies, and audiobooks.

I'd look through some journaling apps, or notetaking apps if you're more comfortable with those. You can do some introspection while on the commute or just write about what you have planned for that day.

I like things that build over time, so art making apps where I can add a little bit each day, or I have a markdown app that lets me add notes to worldbuilding projects and the like.

[fatgrrlz]

Preaching with the choir, Libby my beloved <3333

I like Solitaire Klondike as my app of choice - it has no ads :)

Not sure if you have an Android or not but when I did, I’d always have Drastic installed. Literally one of the best DS emulators out there period, not just on Android.

You said you had a sketchbook - I used to use Medibang a ton on my phone when I was in high school, it’s a great little art app.

[Matinao]

I highly recommend finding a light novel or manga to fill that time! The library is absolutely massive if you use an app like Tachiyomi or Paperback and sometimes you can just while away the minutes searching for something that piques your interest.

I'm sure there are folks on this forum in the Writer's Corner that have recommendations as well.

I'll look into writer's corner for recs! My phone is only 5" so it's sometimes a struggle to have manga panels that are easily readable at that size, but I'll double check my options! The only LNs I've found so far are fanservice-y, but I can't imagine that's the whole medium.

I am seconding manga and lightnovels, as well as webcomics if you're into that sort of thing! I do like solitaire and sudoku as well for 'time-wasters' on my phone that don't make me feel like my brain is spaghetti. Love the 3ds love too though, so glad to see mo(I wish pictochat wasn't DS only)
re people using it :)

Ahh, I haven't found any webcomics to my taste yet  . I'm currently in the business of being the only one with functioning DSLite/DSi/3DS chargers and willing to loan them out for those without. All in all we own about 9 DSes altogether and we thrive off of Mario Kart DS and download play cross compatibility :))) the DS still lives on!

I'd definitely checkout library apps in your area. They don't usually have just books, most also have CDs, TV shows and movies, and audiobooks.

I'd look through some journaling apps, or notetaking apps if you're more comfortable with those. You can do some introspection while on the commute or just write about what you have planned for that day.

I like things that build over time, so art making apps where I can add a little bit each day, or I have a markdown app that lets me add notes to worldbuilding projects and the like.

I wish my area had a library app, but I've found nothing so far . I have a small A6 notebook I use for notes/to do lists right now, but adding to a worldbuilding project sounds fun - Gave me the idea of using a daily writing prompts app :)

Preaching with the choir, Libby my beloved <3333

I like Solitaire Klondike as my app of choice - it has no ads :)

Not sure if you have an Android or not but when I did, I’d always have Drastic installed. Literally one of the best DS emulators out there period, not just on Android.

You said you had a sketchbook - I used to use Medibang a ton on my phone when I was in high school, it’s a great little art app.

I actually forgot I can scrounge up a stylus from somewhere to draw on my phone, that's definitely an option I'm doing! I wish sketchbooks could be used on a bus easily :') All my DS saves are on my DS, so it wouldn't be easy to move from console to emulator unfortunately.

(Hopefully it's ok to multi-quote this large!)

[Thorn]

I would recommend picking up a language learning app like Duolingo. I find that those sorts of apps are pretty fun and game-like while also being useful and informative. I will caution that if you do this, you should also use other language learning tools like listening to or reading media in your target language, or finding a conversation group, as there's only so much you can learn from just using an app on your own. But as an activity it's usually pretty productive and a great way to learn some new vocabulary if you already know some basics about a language, or to pick up some useful phrases as a beginner.

[Jophiel]

With that amount of time there are tons of productive things you could do, and even enjoyable things. I try to watch informative videos on my downtime so I never have to spend free time looking something up. Another user said to learn a language on duolingo which I also thing would be a good idea if you don't already speak a second language. The duolingo app however is pretty annoying so I would find a different one. Theres tons of word games you could play in a different language so its not as boring.

[Memory]

I've been trying to keep myself off of my phone & what has worked for me is that I've downloaded a bunch of digital books on my phone & whenever I open my phone thoughtlessly or because I have free time, I just open one of my books. I prefer paper books personally, but the digital book thing has kept me from spending my time meaninglessly on my phone, you know? It's made it so I spend lots of my downtime at work reading! I super highly suggest it.

Also, not a phone, but I've started bringing my old Nintendo DS around with me to keep myself from mindlessly scrolling. I'm not one of those people who value 'productivity' or whatever & I'm happy with myself when I spend some of my free time playing video games, so I've been trying to incorporate more games into my day, actually. I have a lot of trouble getting myself to do anything, even enjoyable things, so this is a small victory for me. (Oh I just read that you already have a 3DS, oops).

Oh! & I also have digital chess on my phone, but I haven't been playing it lately. I was super into it for a while though, even though I suck at chess lol. And if phone data or wifi isn't an issue, Radio Garden has a (shitty) phone app that I like picking up from time to time. It's this site that plays radio stations from around the world.

I normally carry flashcards around with me too, but I don't know if that's applicable to you.

Anyways, hope some of these suggestions help! Personally, I'm partial to just listening to music & staring out the window.

[Darmodej]

i read cohost posts. its still a social media but with a lot of high effort posts so i guess you could even call it more of a blogging platform rather socmed

[creaturefeature]

one of the best things i´ve did was installing a emulator for old games thinks gameboy, ds nes etc... I even isntalled dolphin the wii emulator and have been using it to play the first animal crossing game.

For the ds i used drastic, i know i have 3ds where i can play ds games but i often forget bringing it with me, ppsspp for playstation portable, scummvm has an android app for old dos games.
Best part of it there no ads no microtransanctions just regular gaming. I guess retroarch works if you an all in one app, but performance wise it not good

If you´re into RSS, there´s feeder where it can agregate links from all your favorite sites or whatever

[georgemoody]

I’m sadly not much of a bookworm (anymore) but I like falling down wikipedia rabbit holes about topics that interest me whenever I’m bored. Music also gives my mind something to play with, so bring a headphone to your commute :P

[grubbyfox]

I try to not use my smart phone as much, but when I want to actually just chill on it, I play Neko Atsume and Usagi Shima. Usagi Shima follows the recipie similar to Neko Atsume, but you can actually play with / pet the rabbits, and decorate your rabbit island, etc. The art style is so adorable!   

I also have Solitaire on my phone, lol, but I cant find an actual decent app with Solitaire. A lot of them are very low quality. The one I have now is like...you can choose a "random game" or a "winnable one" (wtf?). Like, often the random ones will be one that is just soft locked, sort of. So realistic, but like, why would I choose that then? I just dont get it.

I also like Peg Solitaire, but I couldn't find the one I used to have, which was pretty decent. For some reason, solitaire and those kind of games on the app store feel so half assed, and the ones that look decent look like malware, haha.

If I just want to be passive on the app, I scroll those liminal videos on Instagram. The "you're lost in a videogame / you're walking home from school in 2002" and all those type of accounts. Except they get a bit boring because they cycle the same 5 images very often. 

[virtue]

Hate to repeat whats already been said a million times, but Tachiyomi for manga, Shosetsu for webnovels, and Librera for light/full books! I spend most of my time that I'm using my phone reading comics or novels. Another thing worth recommending is getting into RSS and finding blogs to follow! I personally really enjoy reading maia crimew and dhole moments.

Another thing worth trying is using services that you'd normally consider to be social media in ways that are substantially healthier and less addictive! I've been personally getting into using lemmy since its pretty easy to simply not sign in and only use it for news and blog posts and whatnot. You can also use something like LibreTube to watch youtube videos by channels without any kind of algorithm and no ability to interact with the content itself outside of watching it. 

[alexela64]

but Tachiyomi for manga

I moved out of uni for break today and downloaded the tachiyomi app for ios, which I think is just called tachimanga -- thank you so much for the suggestion!!
Now I don't have to worry so much about which tab my pirating sites are open in lol. And the app doesn't have ads either!! joyous