Lately, I’ve been noticing just how fast life moves. The past few years have flown by, and now, at 30, I feel time slipping through my fingers. What scares me most isn’t just getting older — it’s the thought of wasting the time I have left.
I could easily spend my entire day doom-scrolling from the moment I wake up, jumping from app to app, or letting YouTube autoplay my life away. And for what? A quick dopamine hit? In the back of my mind, I know this isn’t building a truly satisfying life. Yet, like so many others, I get pulled in.
And that pisses me off.
Social media has more control over us than we’d like to admit. It’s not just a fun distraction anymore — it’s engineered to keep us hooked. When I started studying this deeper, reading books like Hooked, I saw the truth: we’re not just using these platforms; they’re using us. That realization made me step back and ask myself, Is this how I want to spend my life?
I knew I had to do something about it.
When you break down the time we actually have left, you’ll think twice before picking up your phone.
Out of an average 90-year lifespan, here’s where our time goes:
- 288 months sleeping
- 126 months working and in school
- Years more on cooking, eating, hygiene, chores, and commuting
That leaves about 334 months — or 28 years — of true free time. It seems like a lot — until you realize how much of it is slipping away.
The average person spends 6–8 hours a day on screens, adding up to 312 months (26 years) of their life. That’s more time than any other activity except sleep. And most of it isn’t spent doing anything deeply fulfilling — it’s passive consumption: scrolling, refreshing, binge-watching, drowning in an endless stream of digital noise.
That means, at best, we’re left with just 2 years of truly living over an entire lifetime. Two years to chase dreams, build something meaningful, and experience life beyond a screen.
Let that sink in.
We’re not just losing time — we’re losing ourselves. Social media isn’t just stealing our attention; it’s reshaping our lives in ways we barely notice. Every moment lost to mindless scrolling is a moment stolen from our dreams, our relationships, and the things that actually matter.
Every week, my iPhone reminds me of how much time I’ve wasted. Seeing those numbers climb higher frustrates me because I know there’s more to life than chasing the next dopamine hit.
Lately, I’ve started using an app called RescueTime to track and block distractions on my phone. It might seem dramatic, but I’m tired of feeling constantly connected — of giving away my attention to companies that profit from my time while I get nothing in return. From the moment we wake up, we let digital poison seep into our minds, numbing us before the day even begins.
But I feel the difference when I resist. When I wake up and actually live — going for a run, working out, meditating, setting my intentions — before I even touch my phone, my entire day shifts. My mind is clearer. My focus is stronger. I’m in control.
I don’t want to spend my life in a never-ending cycle of scrolling and distraction. I want more. And I know I’m not alone.
A while ago, I came across an interesting book called Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. I was already familiar with his work from Deep Work, but this book hit differently. It wasn’t just about reducing screen time — it was about reclaiming control over our attention, our time, and ultimately, our lives.
As I read more, I discovered a framework Cal developed to counteract the digital distractions that dominate our days. It’s called The Deep Life Stack, and it gets to the root of the problem: our addiction to distractions isn’t the real issue — it’s just a symptom. The real problem is much deeper.
We’re not just endlessly scrolling because social media is designed to be addictive (though it is). We’re doing it because we lack clarity and meaning in our lives. When we don’t take the time to sit down and truly think about what we want, it’s easier to escape into distractions than to face reality. The world feels overwhelming, so we numb ourselves with endless content. In the process, we’ve lost our curiosity and our sense of purpose.
That’s where the Deep Life Stack comes in. Newport breaks life into four layers, each building on the last:
- Values — Defining what truly matters to you. Without this, everything else is random noise.
- Time Management — Structuring your days around what actually aligns with those values.
- Attention Management — Eliminating distractions and training your mind to focus deeply.
- Craft & Impact — Using your newfound time and focus to build something meaningful.
The key is that you can’t just focus on removing distractions. If you don’t fill the void with something meaningful, the distractions will always creep back in. The Deep Life Stack is about building a life so engaging that mindless scrolling simply doesn’t fit anymore.
I realized that I couldn’t just willpower my way out of digital addiction. I had to replace the empty scrolling with something better. Something more fulfilling. And that starts with defining what truly matters.
