You open your phone to check the time or an instant message. Next thing you know, an hour has passed and you’ve scrolled through endless celebrity dramas, cat videos, horror stories, influencer stories, and whatever else the algorithm decided to throw at you.

Although you probably don’t want to waste your time and energy on this mind-numbing material, you do it again the next day.

Dome scrolling, the habit of consuming excessive amounts of time consuming content on social media, has become incredibly widespread. Last year’s survey found That 64% of Americans say they doom scroll..

Researchers warn that doom scrolling can negatively affect many aspects of your health, including your mental health and attention span. to spend Long periods Scrolling can cause mental fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and sleep disturbances. And if a lot of the content you’re consuming is negative or stressful, it can leave you. A feeling of despairAnxious, and emotionally drained.

It’s hard to break the cycle of doom scrolling, but there are plenty of apps that provide engaging and productive content.

Of course, you can always read a book or go for a walk (we have a guide on how to stop doom scrolling), but this list is for when you have a few spare minutes and want something to do on your phone that isn’t endless scrolling.

Draw a doodle

If you want to take a break from doom scrolling and try something creative, Dudel Draw might be a good app for you. Every day, the app gives you a random shape that you turn into a drawing. These everyday shapes vary from basic geometric shapes to more complex and abstract designs.

You can engage your friends in creativity with some fun competition by comparing your different creations, which can be a nice break from sending each other endless TikToks or Instagram Reels.

Dudel Draw is available for free. iOS.

Radio Garden

If you still want to feel connected to the world without scrolling through social media, you can check out Radio Garden. The app lets you listen to over 25,000 live radio stations from around the world.

Once you open the app, you’ll see green dots marking cities and towns. Tap any dot to listen to radio stations broadcast from that location. You can add favorites or search for radio stations, countries and locations.

Radio Garden is free, but it also offers an ad-free premium plan for $2.99 ​​per month. The app is available on both. iOS And Android.

raise up

Elevate is an app designed to help improve attention, memory, reading, math skills and other cognitive abilities. It includes more than 40 games to train different skills you use in everyday life, from speed reading to comparing prices more efficiently.

You can track training streaks and compare your brain’s performance over time.

The app offers a free version with access to three games per day, or a $39.99 annual subscription for unlimited access. It is available on both. iOS And Android.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is an app that helps you learn new words every day. You can choose your difficulty level and select categories that interest you, such as emotions, human body, business, etc. Each word comes with a definition, example sentences, and a guide to its pronunciation.

The app also includes mini-games that help you review the vocabulary you’ve learned. You can set a goal of how many words you want to learn each week and create a regular learning routine.

Word offers a free trial, and then costs $4.99 per month or $59.99 per year. Available at iOS And Android.

Citra

If you are a geography major who wants to test your knowledge or just want to improve your geography skills, Seterra is perfect for you. The app includes over 300 different games to test your map skills. You can test your knowledge about world flags. Explore oceans, seas and rivers. And explore mountain ranges and volcanoes around the world.

Seterra lets you track your progress across categories and view leaderboards for top scorers for each game.

The app is free and available on both iOS And Android.

NYT Games

The NYT Games app offers several word, logic, and number games that change every day to exercise your brain. You can play crosswords, try the word-guessing game Wordle, group words with a common theme in Connections, see how many seven-letter words you can make in the Spelling Bee, and more.

The app costs $5.99 per month for unlimited access and archives, but some games like Wordle, Strands, and Mini Crossword are available to play for free.

NYT Games is available on both. iOS And Android.

drops

Drops is a good option if you want to learn a new language but want to try something other than Duolingo. The app uses visually appealing mini-games to help you build words and common phrases in over 45 languages, with bite-sized lessons designed to be completed in about five minutes a day.

Drops is designed for both beginners and experts who want to expand their foreign language vocabulary.

The free version of the app offers daily five-minute lessons. You can get unlimited access and premium features for $11.99 per month or $79.99 per year. The app is available on both. iOS And Android.

This story was originally published in March 2026 and is regularly updated with new information.