10 things you can do on your phone as a mom that are better than doomscrolling

Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash

I started this year with an Analog Living experiment, and it’s evolved into more of a lifestyle now.

If you’re new here, I wrote an article on how I initially was an analog living trend skeptic but decided to lean into it by trying to 1) turn my phone back into a tool instead of a digital tyrant monopolizing my life and 2) build a life I loved so much OFFLINE that I didn’t feel the need to be ONLINE as much.

I was doing monthly updates, but now this experiment has become my current life journey of living intentionally and whimsically in a way that glorifies God!

At the start of my Analog Living experiment, I tried to actually have analog versions of the things I did on my phone (camera, books, planner, journals). While some things stuck (I have a magnetized note pad on my fridge now for jotting down quick thoughts or reminders and journals for different types of brain dumps), I found that for home and family management, it was crippling for me and my ADHD to have everything decentralized.

So if you are in the same boat, you’re not alone, sweet friend.

Here are 10 things you can do on your phone to make motherhood better that aren’t doomscrolling:

1. Show old pictures and videos OF your kids TO your kids! My kids love doing this, and it’s so sweet to relive those memories with them and explain why you love the memory so much.

2. FaceTime a long-distance friend or family member, or have long-distance family members record videos of themselves reading books to your kids; this is a personal favorite of ours since we have lots of out-of-state/out-of-country family.

3. Find a website that can turn a picture of your kids into their own coloring pages, or bring their silly ideas and caricatures to life

4. Record voice memos to compile for them (I want to do this to later put in a stuffed animal for them!)

5. Create a list of local events you want to attend as a family (I do so much of this in the fall and winter for Fall Fest and Christmas parties, but it’s also good for finding garage/estate sales to hunt through together!)

6. Look up local open houses (my kids love to explore homes for sale and dream up which room would be theirs, and it’s actually helpful for my husband and I to get a feel of what sort of things we would want in a new home or ways we can switch up our current home)

7. Use Canva or Pinterest to make a collage or carousel of all your favorite things about being a mom!

8. Have you and your kids make a video to send to another friend to ask for a playdate (it’s a little more whimsical than sending a plain ol’ text!)

9. Build a personal curriculum! I am working on creating a workbook of things I can learn or do instead of being on my phone when I’m with my kids (article coming soon!)

10. Curate a playlist using input from your kids to play in the car or during certain activities (I have one called Daughter Dance Party on Spotify that my girls and I love to rock out to in the car, and it helps keep everyone happy without constantly switching songs lol).

None of these things is necessarily groundbreaking, and you probably already do some of them anyway.

But I want to use this list to help us reframe how we view our phones.

I’ve been using a lot of things to create friction between me and my phone:

But it is still a very helpful tool I rely on, and I often think that moms in the past would love to have some of the tools we have now. I’m working on building out a family management tool in Notion to better help me care for my family, and I often use vocal shortcuts with Siri to add items to lists, set reminders and timers, or add items to my calendar. I want to do whatever I can do to reduce mental load so I can create and connect with my kids and family more.

What sorts of ways do you use your phone for the betterment of your family? I’d love to know!

Love,

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