About
so, back in 2023, I made a HUGE notion database for all kinds of stuff you can do to replace doomscrolling or other bad social media habits, like volunteer work or brain games!
and........ notion is kinda going down the shitter. it is EXTREMELY slow, EXTREMELY bloated and EXTREMELY buggy. not really great for sharing swathes of info. hopefully this will all have a safer home on this little site :D
have a link you think should be included here? shoot me a message on toyhouse or the lunar lounge!
last update: Mar.18.2026
Original Blurb
Inspired by a Tumblr post by The Corpse Brigadier. This masterpost is designed for bringing light to online-accessible volunteer opportunities, as well as ways to disconnect from toxic discourse on the ‘net. It can be hard to disconnect from online discourse, doomscrolling and activism burnout - especially for those who need to rely on the internet due to a disability, safety reasons or any other outside factor. However, we can utilize our internet connection for good - as the original post states, “there is still an abundance of virtual grass to touch”!
Click to Help
(note: disable your ad blocker for these sites as that's how they receive funding!)
- Help the planet, contribute to medical research & save endangered animals
- Help Palestine
- Help rescue animals in need
- Play trivia to donate food to dogs
- Help save forests (German)
- Help feed animals
- Help various causes you can choose through Brother Earth
- Play trivia to clean plastic pollution in the ocean
Volunteer Online
- Best Buddies - Volunteer (support & community for pwIDDs)
- Be My Eyes (volunteer video calls to help blind people navigate)
- Caring Calls by DOROT (US; ages 18+; foster support for elderly people struggling with loneliness)
- Catchafire (find volunteer options that require your specific skillsets)
- Crisis Text Line - Volunteer (ages 18+; US)
- Finding Online Volunteering (by Coyote Broad)
- Fireside Project - Join Us (support network for people who use psychedelics)
- NAMI - Get Involved
- Points of Light Engage (volunteer search engine)
- RAINN - Volunteer (ages 18+; involves helping S/A & incest victims, proceed at your own risk)
- SAGE - Get Involved (help support elderly LGBT+ folks)
- Science Buddies - Volunteer (US; ages 15+; help kids learn about science!)
- Sidelines - Volunteer (support people experiencing high-risk pregnancy or premature childbirth)
- TakingITGlobal
- Tarjimly (translate for humanitarian aid + help communicate with displaced people)
- Translators Without Borders (translate for humanitarian aid + communicate over linguistic barriers)
- The Trevor Project - Volunteer (ages 18+; support LGBT+ youth in crisis)
Contribute to Research, Archival & Wikis
- AUREA - Get Involved (help curate the largest international resource for the aromantic community)
- Distributed Proofreaders (help digitize public domain literature)
- LibriVox - Volunteer (record audiobooks for public domain literature)
- Mozilla - Volunteer
- Smithsonian - Digital Volunteers
- Translate for TED Talks
- Zooniverse (get involved in crowdsourced research projects, including astronomy ID, digitizing historical archives & helping endangered animals) | Volunteer certificate + stats available for users!
Get Involved Locally
- ALA - Challenge Reporting (report challenged/banned books, discrimination and/or hate crimes at local libraries)
- Create the Good (local volunteer search engine by AARP)
Learn Something New
- Audiopedia (international knowledge/audio base, focused on empowering women in marginalized communities)
- Digital Public Library of America (extensive archive of American history & museums, made freely available to the public)
- Free art programs (from 2018; may be a little dated)
- Hoopla (read free e-books & audiobooks through your local library)
- Justin Guitar - Learn to play the guitar
- Kanopy (watch free movies & documentaries through your school or local library)
- Khan Academy
- Native Land (map of historical Indigenous territories across the globe, included with history & more information about each tribe)
- Nature Picture Library (database of nature photography; includes stories and more!)
- Learn Anything
- r/languagelearning Wiki/resources
- Science.gov (search engine for scientific research from US federal agencies)
- Trans Reads (free digital library focused on transgender literature & history)
Challenge Your Brain
- Freerice (trivia game that donates to hungry communities)
- GeoGuessr
- Metaflora (guess the mystery plant daily)
- Metazooa (ditto, but with animals)
- Toms Toys (website with puzzles, digital toys and other experiments)
Self-care & Digital Wellness
- 5 simple ways to ditch doomscrolling and beat screen fatigue (warning: might have autoplay)
- 8 mindfulness ideas to try instead of meditation
- 9 Things Therapists Do When They Feel Lonely
- Omoulo's Digital Wellbeing Toolbox
- Focus Friend (gamified app for focusing; designed for ADHD)
- ScreenZen (simple mobile app for tracking screen time, setting boundaries with app usage, and blocking distractions)
- Tiny Buddha
If You're Bored...
- 90s cursor effects
- Always judge a book by its cover (self-explanatory. trust me)
- boid paint (weird experimental painting app)
- drawing.garden (musical emoji garden!)
- Electric Zine Maker (make tiny zines and print them out!)
- Freegal Music
- How to Make a Blanket Nest
- Koalas to the Max (turn a bunch of dots into a koala puzzle)
- Neonflames (draw a nebula)
- Offtions (randomly-generated activities you can do without internet)
- Orb.Farm (virtual aquatic ecosystem w/ a cute pixel art style)
- Silk (abstract art maker; very similar to Neonflames!)