Who is Gillian Laird?
Creator documenting life after deleting social media. Not the 30-day detox challenges everyone tries then quits. Actually deleted Instagram, TikTok, Twitter permanently and rebuilt life around books, hobbies, and real-world connections.
The YouTube channel started in 2021 as a way to document the journey and hold herself accountable. Early videos were messy vlogs about withdrawal symptoms and boredom. By 2023 the content evolved into thoughtful reflections on intentional living and breaking free from dopamine addiction.
What makes Gillian different is the honesty about how hard it actually is. Most anti-social-media content acts like quitting is easy and everyone should do it. She talks about FOMO, loneliness, the weird social stigma of not having Instagram when everyone else does.
As of December 2024, she's been off mainstream social platforms for about 3 years straight. The channel has maybe 80K subscribers, which is tiny compared to Instagram influencers but the community is weirdly engaged because they're all trying to do the same thing.
Everything below comes from app setup videos and digital minimalism content shared on the channel. Fair warning: this stack is intentionally boring. No shiny productivity apps. Just simple tools that support offline life.
What Replaced Instagram
Deleting Instagram left a massive void. That app consumed maybe 2-3 hours daily for years. Just removing it created all this empty time that needed filling with something that wasn't another digital addiction.
Pinterest is the only social platform that stays installed. Still visual inspiration like Instagram but without the toxic comparison spirals and comment section drama. Boards for interior design ideas, recipe collections, craft projects, travel inspiration.
The feed is curated based on actual interests instead of algorithmic rage bait designed to maximize engagement. You search for what you want, save useful stuff, leave. No endless scrolling trap because Pinterest doesn't algorithmically surface infinite content the way Instagram does.
In a video from August 2024, Gillian mentioned using Pinterest maybe 15 minutes daily compared to Instagram's 2-3 hours. The difference is intentional use versus mindless scrolling. Open it with a specific purpose, accomplish that, close it.
Books replaced the passive consumption completely. Goodreads tracks reading progress and discovers new books through actual recommendations instead of BookTok trends that flame out in two weeks. Apple Books and Libby provide the content without having to buy everything.
Breaking Phone Addiction Patterns
Deleting social apps helped but the muscle memory remained. Hand reaches for phone when bored, brain expects dopamine hit. Breaking that pattern required active intervention tools, not just willpower.
One Sec forces a breathing exercise before opening any chosen app. Set it up to guard Safari, YouTube, even Messages. That split-second pause breaks the mindless opening habit that social media spent years conditioning into your nervous system.
Breath in, breath out, then decide if you actually need the app or were just reflexively reaching for distraction. Reduced random phone pickups by maybe 60 percent according to Screen Time data shared in a November 2024 video.
Forest gamifies staying off the phone during focus sessions. Plant virtual trees, opening banned apps kills the tree. Sounds absolutely ridiculous and honestly it kind of is, but it works weirdly well when you're trying to break addiction patterns built over literal years.
The trees grew into a virtual forest over months. Seeing that forest visualizes all the focused time reclaimed from mindless scrolling. More effective motivation than any productivity guru telling you to just have more discipline.
Widgetsmith redesigned the iPhone home screen to remove temptation. Custom widgets showing book progress, daily quotes, weather, calendar events. The screen became useful information instead of colorful app icons designed by billion-dollar companies to be irresistible dopamine traps.
Intentionally Simple Productivity
Productivity apps can become another addiction. Notion, Obsidian, Roam, endless tinkering with systems instead of actually doing the work. Gillian deliberately chose the simplest possible tools to avoid that trap.
Apple Notes handles everything note-related. Thoughts, journaling, project ideas, recipe experiments. No elaborate folder systems. No tagging methodology. No plugins or customization. Just write stuff down without the meta-work of organizing your organizational system.
Sometimes you just need to capture a thought without deciding which exact notebook and tag combination it belongs in. The simplicity removes friction between thinking something and writing it down.
Apple Reminders manages tasks for the same reason. Household chores, errands, recurring weekly routines. Location reminders for grocery shopping. Dead simple interface that takes 10 seconds to add a task instead of complex project management features that become procrastination disguised as productivity.
In a productivity setup video from May 2024, Gillian mentioned trying Todoist and Things 3. Both are phenomenal apps. Both got deleted after a few weeks because they encouraged spending time organizing tasks instead of just doing them.
The philosophy is anti-optimization. Most productivity content pushes constant refinement and improvement. Gillian's approach is good enough systems that support life instead of becoming the main focus of life.
Apple Notes
Apple Notes is a note-taking that comes with all iOS and macOS devices for notes.
Building a Reading Habit
Reading replaced scrolling almost one-to-one in terms of time. What used to be 2-3 hours on Instagram became 2-3 hours with books. Same slot in the daily routine, completely different outcome for mental health and learning.
Goodreads gamified the habit in a healthier way than social media. Reading challenges with actual goals. 50 books yearly felt impossible at first. Hit 43 in 2023, 52 in 2024. The progress tracking provides motivation without the toxic comparison of Instagram.
Reviews help remember thoughts months later when memory gets fuzzy. Finishing a book and immediately writing 3 sentences about it creates this searchable archive of what you've read and actually retained instead of consuming and forgetting everything.
Apple Books provides ebooks and audiobooks with reading goals visible on the home screen widget. Seeing daily progress motivates hitting the target. Night mode for bedtime reading without blue light destroying sleep that social media scrolling used to wreck every night.
Libby connects to the local library card for borrowing ebooks completely free. Holds and waitlists manage the TBR pile without spending money on books that sit unread on shelves. The time limit creates gentle pressure to actually finish instead of letting books rot in your library forever.
In a reading wrap-up video from December 2024, Gillian said books became the replacement addiction but in the best possible way. Still consuming content but learning things and enjoying stories instead of watching strangers perform their fake perfect lives.
Frequently Asked Questions About Gillian Laird's Stack
What apps does Gillian Laird use instead of social media?
Pinterest for visual inspiration without the toxic comparison spirals. Goodreads for book discovery and reading challenges. Apple Books and Libby for actual reading content. Forest and One Sec to break phone addiction patterns. Widgetsmith redesigns the home screen with useful widgets instead of dopamine trap icons. The stack replaces scrolling with intentional offline activities.
How did Gillian Laird quit social media?
Cold turkey deletion of Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Then replaced the void with books, hobbies, and real-world connections. Used One Sec to break mindless phone-reaching habits with forced breathing exercises. Forest gamified staying focused. Widgetsmith removed visual app temptation from the home screen. The tools helped but honestly it was just brutal willpower for the first few months.
What productivity apps does Gillian Laird use?
Intentionally simple stack to avoid productivity app addiction. Apple Notes for journaling and ideas without complex organization systems. Apple Reminders for basic task management and household chores. Forest for focus sessions. One Sec to pause before opening distracting apps. Deliberately chose the simplest options to avoid spending time organizing instead of actually doing things.
What reading apps does Gillian Laird recommend?
Goodreads for tracking progress and reading challenges. Apple Books for ebooks and audiobooks with reading goals on home screen widgets. Libby for borrowing library books completely free with automatic returns. The combo creates a reading habit that replaced social media scrolling almost one-to-one in terms of daily time spent.
Why does Gillian Laird use Pinterest but not Instagram?
Pinterest is curated search-based inspiration. You look for specific things, save them, leave. Instagram is algorithmic infinite scrolling designed to maximize engagement time. Pinterest doesn't have the toxic comparison culture or comment section drama. Usage is maybe 15 minutes daily with specific purpose versus Instagram's 2-3 hours of mindless consumption.
How does Gillian Laird stay focused without social media?
Forest app plants virtual trees during focus sessions and kills them if you open banned apps. One Sec forces breathing before opening any chosen app to break reflexive habits. Widgetsmith replaced app icons with useful information widgets. The combination breaks years of social media conditioning that trained your brain to expect constant dopamine hits from phone pickups.