I (25 M) have a bad phone addiction. I spend 12+ hours daily on my phone, mostly watching porn & doom scrolling Reddit/TikTok.
I tried using my iPhone’s Screen Time feature to “limit adult content” and set “app time limits”, but I always end up disabling the restrictions. I even had a friend set a secret passcode, but I used the “Forgot Passcode” option to reset it to bypass the restrictions.
I also tried using a few adult content blocker apps, but they are too easy to uninstall.
How can I reduce my screen time and set hard limits that I can’t easily turn off? Thanks
Alright, let’s not dance around it: you’re not “struggling with screen time.” You’re in a bare-knuckle, drag-out fight with a full-blown addiction. And right now, the addiction is winning.
I get why you’re frustrated. You set limits, then you bulldoze right through them. You try blockers, then you find the loopholes. You hand your willpower to a friend, then yank it back at the first itch. Let’s call this what it is: you know exactly what you’re doing, and it’s not about tech hacks anymore. This is about pain. This is about loneliness, anxiety, and avoiding something in your real life that feels too big or too empty or too terrifying to face head-on.
Twelve hours a day on your phone? That’s not just “bad habits”—that’s what people do when they’re running from something. Porn and doomscrolling aren’t the problem; they’re your painkillers. You’re medicating. It’s just that the medicine is poisoning your mind and your life.
You want a solution that’s “impossible to turn off”? Here’s the deal: there is no app or gadget or password strong enough to out-muscle your pain or your compulsions. If there was, none of us would ever overeat, or drink too much, or binge on Netflix, or cheat, or gamble away our paycheck. There’s no magic bullet. There’s only the work.
And the work is this: you have to get radically honest with yourself about what hurts. What are you avoiding? What would you have to feel if you put your phone down? What comes crawling up out of the dark when you sit in silence for more than five seconds? Until you stare that thing in the face, nothing’s going to change.
This isn’t a “willpower” issue. Willpower is a joke here. This is about building a life that’s so full of meaning, purpose, real connection, and—yes—pain, that you don’t need the phone to survive it. You need people. You need help. Maybe that’s therapy, maybe it’s a 12-step group, maybe it’s your best friend sitting with you while you get rid of every app and lock down your phone, together.
Here’s the truth you don’t want to hear: The phone isn’t going to save you from your life, and you’re the only one who can walk out of this mess. Not because you’re “broken,” but because you’re human. We all try to numb the pain when it’s too much. But you’re not living right now—you’re hiding, and it’s costing you your future, your relationships, your soul.
So—get real with yourself. Talk to someone. Build a life that makes you want to show up for it, even when it’s hard. The rest will follow. But you can’t hack your way out of pain. You have to feel it, walk through it, and heal it.
And you can do it. But you have to start. Today.