This "story" reads as just a conveniently embellished - if not outright faked tale - acting as a sell piece of the authors latest book. Ironically, it is not worth my attention. The article is doing the very thing which it posits.
Ask HN: How do you avoid dopamine addiction on social media?
31–40 of 111 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid dopamine addiction on social media?
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are plenty of tricks to make improving yourself easier. I could list dozens, especially with respect to eating, drinking, and exercising. As for social media, I'm not aware of as many, and I'm guessing the OP isn't either, which prompted his post.
What I mean by "tricks" is that there's only one thing that matters and that's doing it. You're right that there are efficient methods but I certainly have spent a lot of time researching "the best methods" before realising that the most important thing is to actually just start and then everything works out fine later. Everything else is an excuse to put off doing it.
And sometimes the inability to start (or to persist) is caused by preexisting conditions and it’s helpful to get medication or other help to overcome it.
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid dopamine addiction on social media?
#33I use ideas taken from behavioral psychology book, Nudge, but in reverse. For instance, I use an extension that adds a 2 second delay to every Facebook page load. The added friction is small but it very quickly gets me frustrated and I just stop.
This is quite interesting, what’s the extension called?
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid dopamine addiction on social media?
#34There are no cool tricks to improving yourself. If you want to stop eating sugar then stop eating it. If you want to stop drinking alcohol stop drinking it. If you want to get fit start exercising. If you want to stop being addicted to social media then delete it. You can make all the excuses about how you need it to stay in contact with friends, or deals on the local market, or find events in groups but in the end i…
I disagree that there are no cool tricks. See my answer below. I do agree that simply stop doing the thing is great, but that doesn't seem to work for many people. It can sound ridiculous if you have the will power, but if it were that simple we would have few overweight people, no addicts in the world, etc.
It is simple. It's just not easy. Lots of cool tricks and yet all the addicts are still there. The most important thing is to start. I even think talking too much about it is a negative because it feels like you're heading towards your goal without actually having done something. Spending lots of time talking and researching uses up energy and makes you feel like you've achived something when you actually haven't done anything at all.
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid dopamine addiction on social media?
#35This "story" reads as just a conveniently embellished - if not outright faked tale - acting as a sell piece of the authors latest book. Ironically, it is not worth my attention. The article is doing the very thing which it posits.
I think you commented on the wrong post
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid dopamine addiction on social media?
#36I unfollow everyone on social media except close family. The trick is to remove the potency of your social media.
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid dopamine addiction on social media?
#37I removed all my friends from FB, so now I just use it for very specific information needs with Groups.
I blocked myself from checking any news sites or social media from my phone, only desktop. That way I don't get stuck in bed or delay wind down.
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid dopamine addiction on social media?
#38The book atomic habits has some good points that can help. It is not that long and can be read relatively fast.
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid dopamine addiction on social media?
#39I wrote a "social media contract" for myself that specifies when and how I am allowed to use social media (HN once a day; YouTube only on weekends; Twitter only to post — never to browse, etc.). I have a simple spreadsheet where I track my daily compliance. My reward for fulfilling my contract is a green check mark in the spreadsheet.
This technique has worked surprisingly well. For myself, the key has been to flip the goal from a negative ("don't check Instagram") to a positive ("get that green check mark").
I'm now off Reddit and Facebook completely. (The fact that I still checked Facebook is baffling, it really was just a reflex to type the URL in the browser.) YouTube and Instagram have been more challenging, but I've made a lot of progress there (went a whole month without checking Instagram). Twitter has been the hardest.
Oh, and definitely don't have any of the apps on your phone.
Re: Ask HN: How do you avoid dopamine addiction on social media?
#40There are no cool tricks to improving yourself. If you want to stop eating sugar then stop eating it. If you want to stop drinking alcohol stop drinking it. If you want to get fit start exercising. If you want to stop being addicted to social media then delete it. You can make all the excuses about how you need it to stay in contact with friends, or deals on the local market, or find events in groups but in the end i…
> There are no cool tricks to improving yourself.
This is simply not true. There are tons of tricks and strategies. For me, the best strategy is to replace a bad habit with a good one. For example, replace going to the bar after work with going for a run after work.