Latch

Why quitting one app makes you scroll another, and how to stop it

By Sudarshan Neupane, founder of Lukla Logic · · 3 minute read

A hand holding up a phone with Instagram open, buildings in the background

When you delete one app, the habit that sent you to it is still there, so it finds the next feed on your phone. To stop it, cover the whole category of apps you scroll and change when and where you pick up the phone, instead of removing one app at a time.

Why you stop scrolling TikTok and start scrolling YouTube

A common story: someone deletes TikTok and Instagram, feels great for a few days, and a week later YouTube or Reddit has taken their place. Facebook comes back. The time on the phone barely moves.

That makes sense once you look at how most phone use starts. When researchers at the London School of Economics filmed people's days with small wearable cameras, 89% of phone pickups had no notification behind them (Heitmayer and Lahlou, 2021). People reached for the phone on their own, out of habit. Deleting TikTok takes away one place to land. The reach itself, the bored moment on the couch or in a queue, is still there, and your thumb goes to the next thing that scrolls.

Economists who studied this found something similar. In a randomized experiment, Hunt Allcott, Matthew Gentzkow and Lena Song estimated that self-control problems account for 31% of social media use, and that the use is habit forming (Allcott, Gentzkow and Song, 2022). A habit attaches to situations more than to any one app.

What works better than deleting apps one at a time

Treat every feed as the same app

Make a list of everything on your phone that scrolls forever: short videos, social feeds, Reddit, news apps, and the browser versions of all of them. If you plan to cut back, plan for the whole list at once. Otherwise you're playing whack-a-mole with your own habit.

Block by category, websites included

Most blockers, including Screen Time on iPhone, let you pick a whole category such as Social. Do that, and add the websites, since the browser is where most swapping goes next. Latch can lock whole categories and websites along with single apps.

Change where and when you pick up the phone

Notice where the reach happens. For many people it's the couch after dinner, in bed, or the first minute of a break. Put the phone somewhere else at those times, such as a charger in the hallway. Our guide on why a few steps beat willpower explains why a little distance does so much. If most of your scrolling happens late at night or first thing in the morning, how to stop doomscrolling has setups for both.

  1. 1List every feedApps and websites that scroll forever.
  2. 2Block the categorySocial, video and the browser versions.
  3. 3Move the phoneCharge it away from the couch and bed.
  4. 4Fill the gapPick something for the bored moment.

Have something ready for the bored moment

The urge to scroll often shows up when you have a few spare minutes and nothing to do with them. A book on the table, a podcast queued up, a crossword app with an end, or simply sitting there for a minute gives the habit somewhere else to go.

Keep the apps you actually need

You don't have to give up maps, messages or banking. If you want a phone that only does those things, our page on the dumb phone app approach shows how to set one up without buying a second device.

What if you keep reinstalling the app?

Reinstalling is the same habit with an extra step. If you keep doing it, make that step harder: remove the app store from your home screen, or use a blocker that can stop installs while it's locked. Latch's hard lock can stop you installing apps while it's locked, and on iPhone deleting them too. Our page on the app blocker you can't bypass covers the other common ways around a blocker and how to close them.

Does quitting social media even work if the habit just moves?

It can. In a large experiment where people were paid to deactivate Facebook for four weeks, their online activity went down overall, they spent more time offline with family and friends, and they used Facebook less after the experiment ended (Allcott et al., 2020). The difference from the usual story is that they stepped back from a whole account for a fixed stretch with a clear plan. We wrote about that study in what happened when people quit Facebook for a month.

Common questions

Why do I scroll YouTube after deleting TikTok?

Most phone pickups start out of habit, with no notification behind them. Deleting one app removes one place to land, but the urge to reach for the phone is still there, so it moves to the next feed. Blocking the whole category and changing where the phone sits works better.

How do I stop switching from one social media app to another?

List every app and website that scrolls forever, block them as a group by category, and move the phone away from the places where you reach for it most, such as the couch or bed. Have something else ready for the bored moments.

Should I delete all my social media apps at once?

If you're cutting back, it helps to plan for all of them together, including their websites. You can keep the ones you need for messages or work and block the feeds at the times you scroll most.

How do I stop reinstalling apps I deleted?

Make reinstalling harder. Move the app store off your home screen, or use a blocker that can stop installs while it's locked. Latch's hard lock can stop installing apps while locked, and on iPhone deleting them too.

Where Latch fits

Latch is an app blocker that only unlocks when you scan a key you keep somewhere else: an NFC sticker, a printed QR code, or a number of steps. It's free to start, out now on the App Store and Google Play.

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google PlayTake the two-minute habit check

Sources

Photo: public domain (CC0).