Many people end their day with a familiar routine: work, commute, chores, dinner, and then rest in front of a screen. A new episode of a favorite show or short videos of AI-animated cats reviewing street food can provide a temporary escape from daily anxieties. This feels like relaxation, but it may not be truly restorative.
Writer Anne Lamott once said, “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” The sentiment points to a common problem. After a long day, the mind feels too foggy for activities like reading a thick novel or sketching with watercolors. Scrolling through a phone seems easier.
However, this evening routine can be deceptive. While it feels relaxing in the moment, waking up groggy the next morning suggests otherwise. The scrolling distracts and numbs the mind rather than providing revitalizing rest. The dangers of doomscrolling are well-documented, with studies linking social media to depression and anxiety.
For many, an evening of reading novels or taking a walk in the garden sounds unrealistic after a ten-hour workday. The exhaustion is real, and the temptation to numb out with a phone is strong. But the sinking feeling of realizing too many evenings have been willed away online is demoralizing.
One person found a solution by recognizing that the problem was not a lack of motivation. The issue was having nothing else to do. Watercolors, reading, meditation, and journaling all require decisions about what to do and where to find supplies. After a long day, those decisions are hard to make.
The solution was to eliminate those decisions. An “analog basket” was created to make cozy, screen-free evening activities just as easy as reaching for a smartphone. The basket was filled with headphones, adult coloring books, a variety of novels, colored pencils, watercolors, notebooks for drawing and journaling, tarot cards for inspiration, old magazines, and jigsaw puzzles.
The basket was placed in a visible spot next to the nightstand. At first, it was not easy. Hands cramped from journaling, and sketches were not as good as they once were. But over time, the focus shifted away from creating something worthy of sharing. The act of creating something, even if it ended up in the recycling bin, became more satisfying than creating nothing.
Eventually, reaching for the analog basket became automatic, just as picking up the phone once was. The shift from passive scrolling to active, analog activities provided a more restful and satisfying end to the day.
