I am seriously addicted to the internet in general and while it may not be an addiction in the physical sense, it has caused major issues in my life.
The amount of time I spend on the Internet is insane and no matter how hard I try to will power through it and cut down my usage I always fail. If I ever figure out how to overcome it I'll have to write a book or something, because I've wasted years of my life and missed out on too many oppertunities.
People will call me weak, or pathetic, or say I haven't tried hard enough, but as someone who did use tabacco I have found Internet 'addiction' a much tougher beast to deal with.
I spend was too much time on the internet too like right now checking hn
but for me I chalk it up to lack of other things to do. I don't have a lot of friends, it's hard to make new ones, covid doesn't help, at the moment I've got no personal projects except maybe trying new recipes now and then.
that said, if I do find other activities I have no trouble doing them. I'm taking a class for example, meet the friends I do have when they are available, etc
so I doesn't feel like an addiction in my case even though I fully feel I spent way too much time on the internet
What do you want to spend your time on other than the internet? I don't know what you've tried, but you've talked about what you don't want to do, and didn't talk about what you do want to do. And it's hard to remove a habit if you don't have something ready with which to replace it.
You can't willpower through it if it's a defense mechanism employed by your brain to hide underlying pain. Maybe it's time to try something new. Check out Gabor Maté: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=74DDEDmHDvw
I'm addicted to the internet the way I'm addicted to electricity. It powers my quality of life: I don't feel any shame about it.
Wanting and expecting to use electricity and being reliant on having it available to me doesn't make me pathetic (although arguably it does make me weak).
I have the same issue. As an orthodox Jew, I'm very very thankful for keeping the Sabbath, because that makes it 25 hours off my phone. It reminds me that I can do this, and I can limit my time. But setting those boundaries is really really hard!
I use Cold Turkey Blocker between 9AM and 5PM. My wife's got the password should I need to unlock it. It's a partial solution, but if you have a few sites that are habitual (I can type "cmd+t ol enter" in my sleep) it can help break the habit.
Locking the phone and laptop in the car for the weekend used to work quite well for me, but my living situation is different now.
Blocking distracting page elements like I block ads (uBlock Origin), and occasionally blocking websites altogether (SelfControl.app) when needed makes a big difference.
Leaving the cellphone out of the bedroom was another important improvement.
I also added rules to remove pagination buttons from reddit and HN.
At some point you hit diminishing returns because you still seek out these websites. The hard part is closing the computer when you are done computing, and tackling boredom with other means. I have no solution for this, except working in one hour increments with timers.
> and no matter how hard I try to will power through it and cut down my usage I always
You can't make it impossible to access the internet, but you can make it super inconvenient.
For instance, one thing that worked for me was blocking HN and Reddit on my router. Obviously I can get around it but the inconvenience to circumvent makes the habit feel like it's not worth the payoff. Or, it at least makes you more aware of your reflex, and the fact that you don't get the immediate reward makes it easier to break the habit loop.
It feels like being addicted to the best of other people. Its like going out with your friends, and the best moments, the wittys comments, the funniest rant, are distilled into a hour long avalanch. The internet, is just other peoples personality, filtered, distilled and served.
TL, DR; You are addicted to other people, without lasting connections. Shame on you for being a social animal
I find things like leechblock[0] useful. In general, will power is a poor substitute for designing your environment. It's a limited resource that should only be used to start developing habits.
What about the existential dread route (sorry!). "If I don't quit this, then I'll never do X.. and my life amounts to nothing". It might be blocking a lot of life goals that will never come to be.
I spend way more time random surfing than I probably should. Honestly we probably are both dealing with ADHD, depression, or some sort of anxiety disorder.
> I am seriously addicted to the internet in general and while it may not be an addiction in the physical sense, it has caused major issues in my life.
Interestingly it still can have physical effects. I have seen a case of an person who got addicted to web novels (like every day another short chapter; hit their quirky humor; not porn; clinically depressed). And that person showed effects of withdrawal in their interaction with that media in certain situations. Sure the effects where comparable harmless but still there anyway.
People (probably not you) are often prone to think that addictions to non-classical "drugs" which don't crate a physical/body dependence is mostly harmless not taking it serious at all, but it is not. In case of the person above there where cases where they where unable to function like a normal human sometimes for one or two days because their addiction had fully consumed them. (Through last time I have seen them they where doing better wrt. to this aspect.) Ironically that person had been aware that they where prone to addiction due to there mental health state and staid far away drugs, including smoking, porn and a strict ban on alcohol outside of social gatherings and even there close to never. And then the internet screwed them over.
I've struggled with this, probably not to the extent you have, but enough that I recognize my decisions over the last two decades hurt myself mentally, socially, and career wise. I've tried to quit various things and of course eventually return to old habits (quitting does help though, I encourage everyone to at least try).
The only method that really works for me is to have other constructive things I genuinely want to do. It's easier to avoid picking up the phone or getting on the computer (breaking the habit) if I'm thinking about X instead. That can be a hobby, a project, or even better a friend, relative, child. I don't want to sound like I'm saying, "just do this one trick." I know it's not easy and everyone is different.
The children's book Frog and Toad Together has a story about willpower called "Cookies". It sums up my experience pretty well. If you do write a book about what works for you, consider making it a children's book: I've gotten more comfort and understanding from those than anything else.
I don't know if I would call it an addiction, but I feel very similar in the sense that I spend a ton of hours on the internet and tinkering with technology.
I did take a break. A long break. I joined the Army in 2021, after being laid off during the pandemic, thinking I wanted to leave technology for good. Then after I graduated from basic, I realized I was probably going to be a shitty, unfit soldier and that I missed all of the interesting technical and engineering challenges we solve as software engineers.
I'm still working on getting back into the profession (pretty much due to my own laziness the past year... I guess needed time to recalibrate after everything). But, I have spent countless hours the past year setting up homelab equipment, various servers, writing scripts and small programs to organize stuff.
Youtube isn't something I really could get addicted to, because I don't like learning from videos or watching stuff I could read in a quarter of the time. But I guess I do have a pretty bad TV addiction. I wasted tons of hours when I was depressed binge-watching shows online. It's to the point I don't even watch movies often because I prefer the intimacy I feel when I know the characters well and am deeply immersed in a series, especially something running multiple seasons. I binged all 5 seasons of the Handmaid's Tale a few weeks ago in less than a week, for example, and considered immediately rewatching them all.
As another has stated below, I guess this is to fill the void that occurs in life when we are single and childless, unemployed, or both.
I still don't think if I would call my internet usage or passion for technology "addiction". The TV/Netflix/etc. ... sure. That's fair. But I think it's fine to be obsessed with something like programming, especially if it's your profession. People who get paid to do something they love are lucky.
You are not weak, you're battling against groups of some of the smartest people in the world who spend their days doing nothing other than figuring out ways to manipulate you to steal and keep your attention, in order to maximise their engagement metrics/ad dollars. It's an incredibly difficult and unfair fight.
I'd recommend Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, I've found it personally really helpful.
Unfortunately many apps aren’t that good and just resort to trying to be the most important app in your device.
Too much ux practice has been perverted to have the user work for their app instead of working for the user.
The really nice thing is we are not alone and rarely the first. The goal is to create and not consume. Write lots like this comment and revisit and review it. Add to it mindfully.
To help break the distraction cycles to finish a book, there are more and more resources out there for disrupting the novelty seeking attention dopamine loops.
Some things that help:
- make your phone screen black and white
- turn off all notifications of all apps. This means alerts, notifications , counters and dots.
- the notification thet is on is your calendar. Setup notifications to remind you to check your device or messages at a set time. Your brain the knows you can enjoy it with full focus.
- a tablet is handy for moving your consumption to. When you put it down it’s put down.
- The mode of iOS is really decent.
- Use airplane mode liberally
- social media and digital detoxes help
- On your laptop manually edit your hosts files. Put all the sites you refresh many times a day. Make it a bit hard to edit and you’ll discover you won’t do it much.
- block Hn too on main decides. Dedicate a device to read and consume it and leave it there. Nothing you’ll miss out on.
- turn on all digital health tracking so you see your daily app and website usage. Rescuetime is a great little app.
There is a link that I’m trying to remember which explains this and more very well.
'Addiction' depends on circumstances. If you're lucky enough to be able to spend copious amounts of time online, good for you. I know for me, I don't have that opportunity. There's too much other stuff hampering my ability to get online like kids, marriage, chores, other hobbies, work, etc
Can you do a two week detox? Go skiing or camping or something where there is no internet. Just have a basic phone for an emergency. Take a friend or family member as well which is a good method is to have someone else around as well.
There may be internet detox camps you can go to as well.
Also try therapy it can help, you are not alone in your struggles ..
You sound like you satisfy at least one of the two usual criteria for addiction in the sense 12-step programs use the term. If you ever want someone to show you a program that might help you recover, just reply with your contact info and I’d be happy to help
While the author compares his problem to Alcohol addiction I was struck by the sentence: "It's gotten to the point where I don't really enjoy the video as much as the numb hypnotic state from consuming that much content."
This to me matches up most with gambling addiction. There is a great book on the subject that I recommend to the Author called "Addiction by Design" by Natasha Schull. The main thrust of her argument is that machine gambling addicts don't care about winning at all but have found gambling machines (slots, video poker mostly) as a reliable way to activate that "flow" state where the rest of the world falls away. It's mostly a study of the problem, very sobering, and there are some good resources at the end for getting help.
I think we're all addicted to this "flow" state. When it happens during programming it's the best feeling ever. Hours go by, no technical hurdle is too big, I can make more progress in 4 hours than 4 days of regular work, and everything just makes sense. I come out of it always wishing I could activate that feeling on command, but it never works reliably for productive things. Only vices, unfortunately.
I occasionally watch "let's play" videos as a harm reduced alternative to actually playing games. A half hour spent watching someone play a game/sim totally relieves my FOMO. It also dissipates my urge to build a gaming PC. As a maker and musician, there's tons of inspiring and informative content on YT. I feel that I'm quite net positive on my use of YT to enrich my life.
I used to be addicted to youtube, and the most effective method I found to limiting my consumption was using an extension called Unhook. It removes all recommendations and the shorts and trending tabs, so the only videos I can watch are those from channels I'm subscribed to, or videos that I search for.
I'm the type to become addicted and I had a big problem with spending vastly too much time on YT. A few months ago I cleared my search and watch history and subscriptions to start fresh. Now I only allow myself to watch videos about math, science, or playing instruments I'm interested in learning to play. If I ever see a politically leaning recommendation I tell YT to never show it to me again. If I slip up and watch something off my diet I immediately clean it from my search and watch history. It's improved my life a lot removing the toxic content and replacing it with slowly understanding pieces of modern physics from listening to Leonard Susskind.
People are (and should be) questioning the use of the word addiction. One of the components of addiction is: is it causing a harmful, unwanted effect on one's life? OP laid out his:
> I've been struggling with my mental health during the summertime, a time I traditionally have fewer problems. I wasn't recharging like I should. I was waking up tired, napping during the day, and generally not feeling at all prepared when the day started.
Yet, some people do activities excessively, even compulsively, but they're not addicted because it's not causing them any harm. My elderly parents have the TV on 16 hours a day, basically from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed. It's CNN and cooking shows and blah blah blah just to have a head on a screen talking in the background. It irritates me, but they're not addicts. Same with my daughter and YouTube. Streamers talking about nothing for hours, but her grades are great, her social life is fine, she's healthy and growing properly, so I can't really object. Some people just like to have blah blah blah as background noise all day, and I've come to just accept that it's not for me.
I fall asleep to YouTube -- not watching, I just put on a boring documentary with a monotone narrator, just loud enough that I can hear the voice. I don't even really discern the words. And it distracts my brain from whatever else I'd be thinking about and I fall asleep more easily. Not sure why this is, I guess it's like having someone read a bedtime story to a kid.
It seems like all ad (and tracking) supported companies know how to do is optimize for engagement, which effectively means becoming addictive. This business model is too easy and too profitable to ever go away, so all we can do is learn to recognize it, and learn how to it responsibly. Like other addictions, sometimes this means restricting, and sometimes this means wholly abstaining.
On the topic of Youtube addiction specifically, "letsblock.it" has some Youtube-specific filters which can be placed in uBlock Origin and help cut down on Youtube's addictiveness:
I like that this author called out YouTube as a specific type of addiction. It seems their main way of combatting the consuming side of their addiction is by creating.
I spent the last year writing a book about technology addiction. Through that process, it has helped me find better ways to fill my days and moderate how much time I spend on devices. There's also a good book called "Stolen Focus" that outlines a number of these challenges of quitting.
The main way I found to combat addiction was to change the consumer mindset to one of creation. Create something everyday no matter how shitty it is. Share it with the world when you're ready. While in that process of creating, find ways to block the outside world from invading your creativity so you can stay focused.
AS someone who watches a lot of YouTube, like the Let's Play content mentioned, I recognise and sympathise with the OP. But I think the problem isn't necessarily YouTube - thats just the drug of choice. It could be Twitch, it could be podcasts, or television, or any other form of entertainment offering a parasocial relationship. One that fill the gaping lonely hole in so many people's lives.
I noticed this one night when I spent something like 2 hrs scrolling youtube on my TV adding "gotta watch" stuff to watch later list. My eye lids were heavy. I wasn't even watching the videos, just adding them to later.
I was addicted to the find of a video that promised to make my life better. Though the obvious fact that 1) probably not and 2) even if so I'd have to watch it, not just queue it for later. It really hit me i had a problem when youtube failed to add to watch later. apparently 5k videos is the limit for that list. (And they dont give you any rapid way to clean it up either, lol).
Books is my answer. Yes we can waste time with books, but the stimulation package is just so below the threshold that I'm not worried about. It's like yes you can get fat eating just fresh/roasted vegetables. But I dare ya to try.
Been there - still am. self-control (https://selfcontrolapp.com/) is the nuclear tool in my anti-scrolling arsenal. If you figure out how to get around it please do not tell me - it's the best thing I've found for completely shutting myself out of youtube (and chess websites - bullet chess is a similar drug for me).
Disclosure - I'm full time working on software that arms people with better tools for fighting compulsive digital habits (https://getclearspace.com/) We have a chrome extension and an iPhone app and they're powerful for retraining compulsive habits - but can't honestly recommend them for full blow addiction (yet).
Interestingly, in watching my own behavior, the most effective force for keeping me from wasting my life is knowing that people can see my screen (at the office for example). I'm starting to think that replicating this remotely might be a way to keep my phone usage in check. If I could opt-in to sharing my phone screentime with a pre-set list of friends that might change how I behave - particularly if they were notified if I ever deleted the app that was doing that sharing. I'll be all-in building some version of that for the next few months if you want to be on the beta list for some accountability experiments. https://screentimeaccountability.com/
As suzumer also commented, the extension Unhook has also been very helpful to me in curbing the amount of time I spend watching YouTube. I have it set to block the front page suggestions, sidebar suggestions, after video cards, etc. Everything except a particular video I'm searching for. And of course I always view youtube logged out.
The first thing I did to try to curb my...addiction to YouTube was to consume the videos instead through RSS feeds. I wrote a script omnavi (https://sr.ht/~smlavine/omnavi) to help out with that. I would never watch videos on YouTube itself; I would click links that I got through RSS to channels I was subscribed to, and view the videos locally with mpv + youtube-dl.
Honestly it's sad to look back at how many hours of my day I wasted watching YouTube videos. They're the sort of sort-of educational videos that make me feel like I'm spending my time valuably, but at the end of an all-night session, I really wouldn't have been able to tell you any of what I had watched for the past six hours.
I've found that I only watch less Youtube over the years as their suggestions got worse for me. Now I feel like I only ever see a handful of the same suggested videos and they are all from years ago.
But "short" media is way more addictive(1) weather it's TickTock or YouTube shorts. (1: Easier flow to the next video, shorter attention loops, more randomness between hit and disappointment, etc.)
I don't know how scientific funded
the "way more" part is, but from speaking with people and personal experience I would _guess_ the potential for addictive behaviour for short form video is not just slightly (a few %) but hugely larger (like 200%-1000%). Through the long-term binding potential might also be shorter, but then that doesn't mean it's not a problem as you likely would just bounce between short form video and other media in your addictive behaviour (e.g. longer form video).
This is going to sound sad but I'm aiming to hopefully have a YouTube addiction. I had a severe reddit addiction for many years which wasted the best years of my life, that I recently replaced with a TikTok addiction (reddit banned me anyway). Now I'm trying to step up and wean myself onto longer form video content instead. That's how deep I've gotten myself into this... self-induced ADHD spiral. I can barely even play videogames for more than 20 minutes at a time anymore.
I have to be honest, whenever I get busy and do not watch any video for a couple of days, and then I get back to youtube, I am somewhat disappointed by the content. And recently the algorithm has been really insistent on having me watch certain videos. I just open the page and see a couple of videos I did not want to watch the last time around.
I’ve been warily watching this grow in my own life. At first it was just some podcasts in the background while working. Then it became all kinds of videos. Then it became while taking breaks, preparing food, eating food, using the bathroom, etc. It consumed all my quiet time. I managed to break the habit as a side effect of upending my whole life and digital nomading around for a year and a half (side note, that was a very positive experience, and actually helped, rather than hurt my career.) Now I feel it coming back, and worse thanks to YouTube shorts.
I’m going to uninstall the app after writing this.
Interesting fix! My addiction tends to get worse when I'm on the road, because I'm usually alone and tired at the end of the day. At home I have more options.
[+] [-] BizarreByte|3 years ago|reply
The amount of time I spend on the Internet is insane and no matter how hard I try to will power through it and cut down my usage I always fail. If I ever figure out how to overcome it I'll have to write a book or something, because I've wasted years of my life and missed out on too many oppertunities.
People will call me weak, or pathetic, or say I haven't tried hard enough, but as someone who did use tabacco I have found Internet 'addiction' a much tougher beast to deal with.
[+] [-] gernb|3 years ago|reply
but for me I chalk it up to lack of other things to do. I don't have a lot of friends, it's hard to make new ones, covid doesn't help, at the moment I've got no personal projects except maybe trying new recipes now and then.
that said, if I do find other activities I have no trouble doing them. I'm taking a class for example, meet the friends I do have when they are available, etc
so I doesn't feel like an addiction in my case even though I fully feel I spent way too much time on the internet
[+] [-] ysavir|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bobmichael|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unsupp0rted|3 years ago|reply
Wanting and expecting to use electricity and being reliant on having it available to me doesn't make me pathetic (although arguably it does make me weak).
[+] [-] dfrey1|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] flir|3 years ago|reply
Locking the phone and laptop in the car for the weekend used to work quite well for me, but my living situation is different now.
[+] [-] grecy|3 years ago|reply
Like a recovering alcoholic, you need to just stop going into bars - the temptation is too strong.
1. Don't have a phone with data. It's just too convenient to scroll for 3 hours lying in bed.
2. Don't have wifi at home, at all.
Less internet in your life means you'll spend less time on the internet.
[+] [-] nicbou|3 years ago|reply
Blocking distracting page elements like I block ads (uBlock Origin), and occasionally blocking websites altogether (SelfControl.app) when needed makes a big difference.
Leaving the cellphone out of the bedroom was another important improvement.
I also added rules to remove pagination buttons from reddit and HN.
At some point you hit diminishing returns because you still seek out these websites. The hard part is closing the computer when you are done computing, and tackling boredom with other means. I have no solution for this, except working in one hour increments with timers.
[+] [-] naasking|3 years ago|reply
You can't make it impossible to access the internet, but you can make it super inconvenient.
For instance, one thing that worked for me was blocking HN and Reddit on my router. Obviously I can get around it but the inconvenience to circumvent makes the habit feel like it's not worth the payoff. Or, it at least makes you more aware of your reflex, and the fact that you don't get the immediate reward makes it easier to break the habit loop.
[+] [-] qikInNdOutReply|3 years ago|reply
TL, DR; You are addicted to other people, without lasting connections. Shame on you for being a social animal
[+] [-] wardedVibe|3 years ago|reply
[0]https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/leechblock-ng...
[+] [-] kzrdude|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amanaplanacanal|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dathinab|3 years ago|reply
Interestingly it still can have physical effects. I have seen a case of an person who got addicted to web novels (like every day another short chapter; hit their quirky humor; not porn; clinically depressed). And that person showed effects of withdrawal in their interaction with that media in certain situations. Sure the effects where comparable harmless but still there anyway.
People (probably not you) are often prone to think that addictions to non-classical "drugs" which don't crate a physical/body dependence is mostly harmless not taking it serious at all, but it is not. In case of the person above there where cases where they where unable to function like a normal human sometimes for one or two days because their addiction had fully consumed them. (Through last time I have seen them they where doing better wrt. to this aspect.) Ironically that person had been aware that they where prone to addiction due to there mental health state and staid far away drugs, including smoking, porn and a strict ban on alcohol outside of social gatherings and even there close to never. And then the internet screwed them over.
[+] [-] aimor|3 years ago|reply
The only method that really works for me is to have other constructive things I genuinely want to do. It's easier to avoid picking up the phone or getting on the computer (breaking the habit) if I'm thinking about X instead. That can be a hobby, a project, or even better a friend, relative, child. I don't want to sound like I'm saying, "just do this one trick." I know it's not easy and everyone is different.
The children's book Frog and Toad Together has a story about willpower called "Cookies". It sums up my experience pretty well. If you do write a book about what works for you, consider making it a children's book: I've gotten more comfort and understanding from those than anything else.
[+] [-] vonseel|3 years ago|reply
I did take a break. A long break. I joined the Army in 2021, after being laid off during the pandemic, thinking I wanted to leave technology for good. Then after I graduated from basic, I realized I was probably going to be a shitty, unfit soldier and that I missed all of the interesting technical and engineering challenges we solve as software engineers.
I'm still working on getting back into the profession (pretty much due to my own laziness the past year... I guess needed time to recalibrate after everything). But, I have spent countless hours the past year setting up homelab equipment, various servers, writing scripts and small programs to organize stuff.
Youtube isn't something I really could get addicted to, because I don't like learning from videos or watching stuff I could read in a quarter of the time. But I guess I do have a pretty bad TV addiction. I wasted tons of hours when I was depressed binge-watching shows online. It's to the point I don't even watch movies often because I prefer the intimacy I feel when I know the characters well and am deeply immersed in a series, especially something running multiple seasons. I binged all 5 seasons of the Handmaid's Tale a few weeks ago in less than a week, for example, and considered immediately rewatching them all.
As another has stated below, I guess this is to fill the void that occurs in life when we are single and childless, unemployed, or both.
I still don't think if I would call my internet usage or passion for technology "addiction". The TV/Netflix/etc. ... sure. That's fair. But I think it's fine to be obsessed with something like programming, especially if it's your profession. People who get paid to do something they love are lucky.
[+] [-] px1999|3 years ago|reply
I'd recommend Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, I've found it personally really helpful.
[+] [-] j45|3 years ago|reply
Unfortunately many apps aren’t that good and just resort to trying to be the most important app in your device.
Too much ux practice has been perverted to have the user work for their app instead of working for the user.
The really nice thing is we are not alone and rarely the first. The goal is to create and not consume. Write lots like this comment and revisit and review it. Add to it mindfully.
You might like this books called Stolen Focus: https://www.amazon.ca/Stolen-Focus-Attention-Think-Deeply/dp...
To help break the distraction cycles to finish a book, there are more and more resources out there for disrupting the novelty seeking attention dopamine loops.
Some things that help:
- make your phone screen black and white
- turn off all notifications of all apps. This means alerts, notifications , counters and dots.
- the notification thet is on is your calendar. Setup notifications to remind you to check your device or messages at a set time. Your brain the knows you can enjoy it with full focus.
- a tablet is handy for moving your consumption to. When you put it down it’s put down.
- The mode of iOS is really decent.
- Use airplane mode liberally
- social media and digital detoxes help
- On your laptop manually edit your hosts files. Put all the sites you refresh many times a day. Make it a bit hard to edit and you’ll discover you won’t do it much.
- block Hn too on main decides. Dedicate a device to read and consume it and leave it there. Nothing you’ll miss out on.
- turn on all digital health tracking so you see your daily app and website usage. Rescuetime is a great little app.
There is a link that I’m trying to remember which explains this and more very well.
[+] [-] boppo1|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dudul|3 years ago|reply
The best way to not do X is to do Y instead. Find another activity that you enjoy and spend your time there instead.
[+] [-] sysadm1n|3 years ago|reply
'Addiction' depends on circumstances. If you're lucky enough to be able to spend copious amounts of time online, good for you. I know for me, I don't have that opportunity. There's too much other stuff hampering my ability to get online like kids, marriage, chores, other hobbies, work, etc
[+] [-] theGnuMe|3 years ago|reply
There may be internet detox camps you can go to as well.
Also try therapy it can help, you are not alone in your struggles ..
[+] [-] isamuel|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sanroot98|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tester457|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oramit|3 years ago|reply
This to me matches up most with gambling addiction. There is a great book on the subject that I recommend to the Author called "Addiction by Design" by Natasha Schull. The main thrust of her argument is that machine gambling addicts don't care about winning at all but have found gambling machines (slots, video poker mostly) as a reliable way to activate that "flow" state where the rest of the world falls away. It's mostly a study of the problem, very sobering, and there are some good resources at the end for getting help.
I think we're all addicted to this "flow" state. When it happens during programming it's the best feeling ever. Hours go by, no technical hurdle is too big, I can make more progress in 4 hours than 4 days of regular work, and everything just makes sense. I come out of it always wishing I could activate that feeling on command, but it never works reliably for productive things. Only vices, unfortunately.
[+] [-] vibrolax|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] suzumer|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TexanFeller|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryandrake|3 years ago|reply
> I've been struggling with my mental health during the summertime, a time I traditionally have fewer problems. I wasn't recharging like I should. I was waking up tired, napping during the day, and generally not feeling at all prepared when the day started.
Yet, some people do activities excessively, even compulsively, but they're not addicted because it's not causing them any harm. My elderly parents have the TV on 16 hours a day, basically from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed. It's CNN and cooking shows and blah blah blah just to have a head on a screen talking in the background. It irritates me, but they're not addicts. Same with my daughter and YouTube. Streamers talking about nothing for hours, but her grades are great, her social life is fine, she's healthy and growing properly, so I can't really object. Some people just like to have blah blah blah as background noise all day, and I've come to just accept that it's not for me.
[+] [-] cm2187|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SoftTalker|3 years ago|reply
I have a premium account so there are no ads.
[+] [-] forinti|3 years ago|reply
Still managed to learn a bit though.
[+] [-] jdthedisciple|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tokumei|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] everdrive|3 years ago|reply
On the topic of Youtube addiction specifically, "letsblock.it" has some Youtube-specific filters which can be placed in uBlock Origin and help cut down on Youtube's addictiveness:
Hide Youtube shorts: https://letsblock.it/filters/youtube-shorts
Hide Youtube recommendations: https://letsblock.it/filters/youtube-recommendations
Hide Youtube videos you've already watched: https://letsblock.it/filters/youtube-watched
[+] [-] jjj123|3 years ago|reply
Or we can regulate it.
[+] [-] thenerdhead|3 years ago|reply
I spent the last year writing a book about technology addiction. Through that process, it has helped me find better ways to fill my days and moderate how much time I spend on devices. There's also a good book called "Stolen Focus" that outlines a number of these challenges of quitting.
The main way I found to combat addiction was to change the consumer mindset to one of creation. Create something everyday no matter how shitty it is. Share it with the world when you're ready. While in that process of creating, find ways to block the outside world from invading your creativity so you can stay focused.
[+] [-] OwlsParlay|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maerF0x0|3 years ago|reply
I noticed this one night when I spent something like 2 hrs scrolling youtube on my TV adding "gotta watch" stuff to watch later list. My eye lids were heavy. I wasn't even watching the videos, just adding them to later.
I was addicted to the find of a video that promised to make my life better. Though the obvious fact that 1) probably not and 2) even if so I'd have to watch it, not just queue it for later. It really hit me i had a problem when youtube failed to add to watch later. apparently 5k videos is the limit for that list. (And they dont give you any rapid way to clean it up either, lol).
Books is my answer. Yes we can waste time with books, but the stimulation package is just so below the threshold that I'm not worried about. It's like yes you can get fat eating just fresh/roasted vegetables. But I dare ya to try.
[+] [-] LegitShady|3 years ago|reply
"Oh you watched one video about [x] by creator [y]. Here are 100 more videos by creatory [y]. Here are 100 more videos about [x]"
...uh I watched a recipe for cheesecake. I don't need 100 more cheesecake videos, or even 100 more recipes by that youtuber.
[+] [-] anteloper|3 years ago|reply
Disclosure - I'm full time working on software that arms people with better tools for fighting compulsive digital habits (https://getclearspace.com/) We have a chrome extension and an iPhone app and they're powerful for retraining compulsive habits - but can't honestly recommend them for full blow addiction (yet).
Interestingly, in watching my own behavior, the most effective force for keeping me from wasting my life is knowing that people can see my screen (at the office for example). I'm starting to think that replicating this remotely might be a way to keep my phone usage in check. If I could opt-in to sharing my phone screentime with a pre-set list of friends that might change how I behave - particularly if they were notified if I ever deleted the app that was doing that sharing. I'll be all-in building some version of that for the next few months if you want to be on the beta list for some accountability experiments. https://screentimeaccountability.com/
[+] [-] smlavine|3 years ago|reply
The first thing I did to try to curb my...addiction to YouTube was to consume the videos instead through RSS feeds. I wrote a script omnavi (https://sr.ht/~smlavine/omnavi) to help out with that. I would never watch videos on YouTube itself; I would click links that I got through RSS to channels I was subscribed to, and view the videos locally with mpv + youtube-dl.
Honestly it's sad to look back at how many hours of my day I wasted watching YouTube videos. They're the sort of sort-of educational videos that make me feel like I'm spending my time valuably, but at the end of an all-night session, I really wouldn't have been able to tell you any of what I had watched for the past six hours.
[+] [-] izzydata|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dathinab|3 years ago|reply
It's more like a media addiction.
YouTube is one offender here.
But "short" media is way more addictive(1) weather it's TickTock or YouTube shorts. (1: Easier flow to the next video, shorter attention loops, more randomness between hit and disappointment, etc.)
I don't know how scientific funded the "way more" part is, but from speaking with people and personal experience I would _guess_ the potential for addictive behaviour for short form video is not just slightly (a few %) but hugely larger (like 200%-1000%). Through the long-term binding potential might also be shorter, but then that doesn't mean it's not a problem as you likely would just bounce between short form video and other media in your addictive behaviour (e.g. longer form video).
[+] [-] ClassyJacket|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] juujian|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eloff|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nicbou|3 years ago|reply