1 September 2026

What Dry 28 taught me about my phone

I didn't need to quit. I needed to change how I used it.

The year before Present 29, I did Dry 28. I felt I was drinking too much, so I stopped for a year.

What I learned surprised me. I didn't need to be sober 100% of the time. I could have a better relationship with alcohol by drinking occasionally, and intentionally.

The same thing happened with social media. My first instinct was to cut it out. But I'm from Ireland, I've lived in the Netherlands and Spain, and I've travelled a lot. Social media is how I keep up with mates all over the world, so quitting was never really an option.

So I tried to cut back instead. Screen time limits. Apps that hide Reels on Instagram. None of it stuck. I always got sucked back in.

What I wanted from social media was simple: my mates. What the apps gave me was everything else, and everything else was built to keep me scrolling.

Present is social media, but occasional and intentional. Open it, see what your mates are up to, put it down.

BrianFounder, Present