I’m 20, wasting 6 hours a day doomscrolling, and literally failed my exams because of it. How do I fix my brain?

I hit absolute rock bottom this week. I am trying to study 2,000 pages of heavy textbooks to clear 5 massive faculty exams, but my attention span is completely paralyzed.

Yesterday I sat down, opened my textbooks, and couldn’t last 5 minutes without my hand instinctively reaching for my phone. Before I knew it, 3 hours vanished. I went to bed sick with anxiety and regret. App limits don't work because I just click "ignore limit."

Out of pure desperation, I started a strict routine based on physical friction: phone locked in another room, screen turned entirely black and white, and tracking my study blocks manually on paper with a pencil. It’s brutal, but moving a physical pencil is the only thing keeping my hands off my phone.

I cleaned up my personal tracking templates and morning routine sheets into a simple printable layout to force myself to stay focused. I put the first day up on a free shared drive if any other stressed-out students need it.

Has anyone else broken a severe screen addiction using physical barriers?

Drop a comment if you're stuck in this loop and want the layout to help you reset, I can send the sheets over.