What's in today's newsletter?

1. My anti-doomscrolling experiment
2. You coming to London, September 17?
3. A messier workspace
4. Spain vs Silicon Valley
5. GatherOS, a Mac app for design inspo
6. How to beat AI fomo

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I wake up.
Grab my phone.
Check the time.
6AM.
Still early.
Lemme quickly check Slack messages.

2 hours later, and I’m still in bed reading an debate on X. Fun times (not).

We're designing addictive products all day. Then becoming victims of them at night.

The irony is painful.

According to DataReportal, the average person spends 2 hours and 31 minutes a day on social media.

Those 3 hours we spend scrolling add up to 21 hours a week (FYI, I spend about 2x as much 🫠)

21 hours is basically a part-time job’s worth of time we could use for something better, like:

• Building that side project​
• Finishing that book we started
• ​Researching a topic we're passionate about (not debating on X)
• ​Sketching (the coffee cup, the messy desk, the cat, whatevs)

So I said enough to my ~35 hours of scrolling. I said f this shittttt.

I decided to go on a ‘detox journey’ like it's January 1st.

My anti-doomscroll experiment:

• No feeds before coffee ✅
• App/web timers (20 min max) ✅ #CatGatekeeper​
• No phone in bedroom ✅

Results after 1 week:

I got better sleep. I read (part of a) book. I felt bored. I started sketching. I got hungry. I noticed little things.

But overall, I felt that my thinking got clearer.

Without constant input, my brain had space to actually process ideas.

I started to think about random stuff.

Boredom is important. Boredom breeds creativity.

We should all take time to be alone and think. And I'm not talking about running with a podcast or going to the gym with music. I'm talking literal silence.

Here's the designer's starter pack for scroll-free good time:

Instead of refreshing Instagram again and again, try:

• Call someone you miss (not text Gen Z)
• Take photos of your pets
• Learn how to make gut-friendly bagel
• Read a case study from a company you admire
• Go to a networking event without your phone, tell people that, they'll think you're mad, and say they'll connect with you on LinkedIn but never do.

Look, I'm not anti-technology.

I mean I built an online business, UX Playbook, I'm chronically surfing the web, and love what the internet stands for.

But somewhere between "people spend 2.5 hours on social media daily" became a problem we created… and a trap we fell into, sometimes you just need to put that (metaphorical) gun down.

The bottom line:

We design for attention. Let's be intentional about where we give ours.

​My toolkit with 30+ ways to break the scroll cycle →

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A big thanks to our friends at UserTesting for sponsoring this issue.

For designers who care about the craft — Crafted, 17 September in London 🇬🇧

If you're serious about design, not just shipping but creating work grounded in real customer perspective, this is worth a look.

​Crafted is happening 17 September in London at Exhibition White City.

It’s a curated day for designers thinking about what’s next.

Start with optional morning workshops (paid), including Eli Woolery (Design Better Podcast) on AI + Design Thinking. The focus is on using generative AI to sharpen your creative process.

Or join us for the free afternoon mainstage, where folks at UserTesting and your peers will share perspectives and experiences on:

• How attention, perception, and human connection shape the experiences we design
• Building with AI without losing sight of the customer
• Why the most impactful decisions are still grounded in real human insight

I'll be at the design workshop, if you spot me there, come say hi.

P.S. Use code UXPLAYBOOK for $100 off workshop passes.
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So what's went down last week?

The going ons, happenings & shenanigans you might have missed ↓

Nothing.
Absolutely nothing happen.
Go touch grass 🌱

Only joking. But seriously, after you've seen some sunlight, come back, here's what happened...

I love the aesthetics of the messy workspace. It feels lived in, alive, chaos that's organized. Very much the aesthetics I want for the backdrop of a rectangles studio.

Addicted to X accounts like Spacesthetic. Gimme more!

Mark Villacampa @MarkVillacampa as a Spaniard this is such a culture shock at events, we talk about food, rent, football, where someone's from... then you move to SF and people are like “what problem are you obsessed with?” brother I am obsessed with dinner https://twitter.com/aishwarya_08/status/2065414135979065712 Aishwarya Goel (Ash) @aishwarya_08 Been in SF for almost 2.5 years. And figured two types of people: Camp 1: Stanford or Berkeley? Which company? How much equity? Know any VCs? Camp 2: What’s the last thing that changed how you think? What problem are you obsessed with? What did you read last? One exhausts me. 6:24 AM • Jun 13, 2026 284 Retweets 9606 Likes Read 89 replies

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😂😂😂

​@BrettFromDJ launches GatherOS. A mac app for design inspiration built by the design subscription king himself.

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Brett speaks to Ridd about building this app with ZERO technical background to an app with 3,000 users and counting.

It's a full behind-the-scenes of his process. Brett is one of the most loudest designers on Twitter/X, arguably one of the most prolific too.

​This podcast is worth your time.

AI FOMO sucks. Every week there’s a new AI tool, a new model, or a some crazy use case I didn't know about.

Let's be honest, we're all suffering from a bit of AI fatigued. That's whyt I want to talk to Jane Li about avoiding this burnout trap and how to build for joy, instead of trying to catch up.

Come hang on LinkedIn or YouTube (just hit 5k subs, if you're not subscribed, go hit that red button)

As always, spam the chat if you're joining the convo!

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That's it for today.

Did you like this issue? Hit reply to lmk.

Speak soon 💛
— Chris
​rectangles.fm​