{"id":21913,"date":"2026-02-09T14:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T13:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/09\/how-a-decades-old-video-game-has-helped-me-defeat-the-doomscroll\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T14:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T13:37:15","slug":"how-a-decades-old-video-game-has-helped-me-defeat-the-doomscroll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/09\/how-a-decades-old-video-game-has-helped-me-defeat-the-doomscroll\/","title":{"rendered":"How a decades-old video game has helped me defeat the doomscroll"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Trading social media for Pok\u00e9mon battles and evolutions in Kanto on a Game Boy Advance has been surprisingly serene<\/p>\n<p>Cutting back on doomscrolling must be one of the hardest new year resolutions to keep. Instinctively tapping on the usual suspects on your phone\u2019s home screen becomes a reflex, and vast quantities of money and user data have been specifically employed to keep you reaching for the phone, ingraining it into our work, leisure and social lives. You\u2019ll get no shame from me if you love your phone and have a healthy relationship with your apps, but I\u2019ve found myself struggling lately.<\/p>\n<p>This year, I\u2019m attempting to cut back on screen time \u2013 sort of. I\u2019m replacing the sleek oblong of my smartphone with something a little more fuzzy and nostalgic. In an attempt to dismantle my bad habit, I\u2019m closing the feeds of instant updates and instead carrying around a Game Boy Advance. I\u2019ve been playing Pok\u00e9mon FireRed, a remake of the very first Pok\u00e9mon games, which turn 30 this month. Even this refreshed version is more than two decades old.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/games\/2026\/feb\/09\/how-a-decades-old-video-game-has-helped-me-defeat-the-doomscroll\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><br \/>\n<img src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/9fad17d05f437814520a05929ff134c6683e0f49\/258_0_2560_2048\/master\/2560.jpg?width=140&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=8dfc4f84eef85273dce6f00480fa21b3\" title=\"How a decades-old video game has helped me defeat the doomscroll\" \/>Trading social media for Pok\u00e9mon battles and evolutions in Kanto on a Game Boy Advance has been surprisingly serene<br \/>\nCutting back on doomscrolling must be one of the hardest new year resolutions to keep. Instinctively tapping on the usual suspects on your phone\u2019s home screen becomes a reflex, and vast quantities of money and user data have been specifically employed to keep you reaching for the phone, ingraining it into our work, leisure and social lives. You\u2019ll get no shame from me if you love your phone and have a healthy relationship with your apps, but I\u2019ve found myself struggling lately.<br \/>\nThis year, I\u2019m attempting to cut back on screen time \u2013 sort of. I\u2019m replacing the sleek oblong of my smartphone with something a little more fuzzy and nostalgic. In an attempt to dismantle my bad habit, I\u2019m closing the feeds of instant updates and instead carrying around a Game Boy Advance. I\u2019ve been playing Pok\u00e9mon FireRed, a remake of the very first Pok\u00e9mon games, which turn 30 this month. Even this refreshed version is more than two decades old. Continue reading&#8230;Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trading social media for Pok\u00e9mon battles and evolutions in Kanto on a Game Boy Advance has been surprisingly serene Cutting back on doomscrolling must be one of the hardest new year resolutions to keep. Instinctively tapping on the usual suspects on your phone\u2019s home screen becomes a reflex, and vast quantities of money and user &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/09\/how-a-decades-old-video-game-has-helped-me-defeat-the-doomscroll\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">How a decades-old video game has helped me defeat the doomscroll<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":21914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21913"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}