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Ask HN: How do you fight YouTube addiction and procrastination? I'm struggling

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Re: Ask HN: How do you fight YouTube addiction and procrastination? I'm struggling

#91

Post by chang1 »

For channels I care about, I subscribed to the channel's RSS feed.

For instance, there's an RSS feed at https://www.youtube.com/@TechnologyConnections/videos.

I combined this with the Distraction Free YouTube browser extension that worked really well — no recommendations would display on the home page or on an individual video page.

So I'd only look at the videos that came through my RSS reader, and I'd see no other recommendations on YouTube — in and out. There are trade offs. I'd miss out on content that I'd probably be interested in. I trusted that if there was something interesting enough, a friend would tell me.

The extension broke when YouTube started cracking down on ad blockers. I still get alerted to new videos in my RSS reader. Except now, I get sucked into recommended content sometimes when I watch a video.

I think I just realized in typing this that I need to find another extension like DF YouTube.

Re: Ask HN: How do you fight YouTube addiction and procrastination? I'm struggling

#93

Post by zorkso »

- turn off your watch history to disable suggested videos. It wipes out your Home Screen and turns off shorts so YouTube is just what you’ve subscribed for

- if on desktop, get a browser extension (or code one yourself with an AI) to turn off all the bits on YouTube like like count and comments. This makes the video content you’ve subscribed for the main content. No getting distracted reading comments

- curate your suggestions and only sub to things you care about

- get rid of the YouTube app on your phone and only use the browser version on mobile.

Kicking YouTube isn’t on my priority list but I don’t want it to consume my life like it has in the past. There’s value on that platform if you can interact with it consciously. I’ve implemented these suggestions in my own life and it’s helped rein in my YouTube time. Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: How do you fight YouTube addiction and procrastination? I'm struggling

#94

Post by Aerbil313 »

ric2z wrote: post #84

1. Buy a Bloom card or similar device. 2. Block ALL algorithmic feed apps AND websites on your phone using the card/device (tiktok, instagram, facebook, youtube, etc.. even linkedin). 3. Set a 24 hr block schedule, no breaks. No half measures. Go hard mode. Cold turkey. 4. Leave the card / access device in your car or somewhere not easily reachable in your home. 5. Install social focus extension on your computer brow…

7. Finally burn out and seek professional help.

8. Discover you were living life in hard mode, while everybody else were on easy mode. You had undiagnosed ADHD all these years.

9. Get medicated. Your life is completely turned over.

(At least this was how it was for me.)

Re: Ask HN: How do you fight YouTube addiction and procrastination? I'm struggling

#95

Post by butterlettuce »

You could use a firefox extension called BlockTube. You can still access Youtube but it’ll hide certain videos based on channel name, keywords in videos, etc.

For example, I have “Trump” or “Musk” to block any video with these keywords in the video title.

If you click on a share link video and those keywords appear, it’ll just show a black screen.

Re: Ask HN: How do you fight YouTube addiction and procrastination? I'm struggling

#96

Post by bonoboTP »

You can approach this from different "zoom levels". In the narrow sense, disable recommendations for channels that are the most useless timesinks with irresistible titles and thumbnails that you find annoying in retrospect. You can click the three dots and click "Don't recommend this channel". Similarly you can click that you're not interested in a recommendation. This will make the main page less of a candy store. uBlock origin can help hide Shorts and other annoyances.

Still, you may then do something else that can also be considered a distraction, like refreshing the news, or Reddit or HN. So the more "global" approach is to look at your life setup and figure out why you feel the need to fill time like this.

Re: Ask HN: How do you fight YouTube addiction and procrastination? I'm struggling

#97

Post by bonoboTP »

mac-mc wrote: post #20

Procrastination is not a time management problem; it's an emotional management problem. What it comes down to is not having belief in what you do, so you do other things. You might feel trapped, so you pass the time with stuff like YouTube because that is the most compelling thing available to you. A man will walk on broken glass with a smile if he truly believes in what it will accomplish. When I was younger, I was…

It's just difficult to tease out at what scale you should address the problem. It requires reflection, ideally together with someone, on where you are headed. Maybe the answer doesn't lie on the level of setting up firewall rules or setting timers but on the level of having to change jobs or even careers, cities, or finding new social connections, or resolving some conflicts with family or whoever. There can be many reasons for escapism like that.

Re: Ask HN: How do you fight YouTube addiction and procrastination? I'm struggling

#99

Post by jti107 »

I know what you are going through and what helped me is taking extreme measures.

You have to first do a dopamine detox...you mention YouTube but it's usually a lot more than that. You probably addicted to a lot of other stuff (like porn, food, sugar, TikTok). You need to give your brain a break from the over stimulation.

what does this look like? get rid of all your electronics except what is essential. for me this is just my phone, kindle and laptop. as soon as I get home my phone goes in an electronic time lock box and its locked until next morning. on my laptop everything is blocked like YouTube and only the stuff essential is available (I'm on my Mac I use an app called SelfControl). get rid of your junk food and eat wholesome home made meals. replace YouTube with other interests you have always wanted to do preferably something that doesn't require electronics like drawing or reading or playing an instrument

After 30-60 days you feel a lot better and more at peace with yourself. at this point you have a decision to make, can I go back to where and keep it under control or do I need to make this the rest of my life. for me I chose an analog life and I avoid electronics as much as possible. I use instagram and YouTube but I have iOS timers on them so it's blocked after my allowed time runs out.

Re: Ask HN: How do you fight YouTube addiction and procrastination? I'm struggling

#100

Post by Teslazar »

Install the browser extension Unhook. It hides all recommended YouTube videos, so when you watch a video you aren't looking at a bunch of other videos to watch. It's very customizeable, so you can choose what to hide.

Create a list of what you want to be doing and consider attaching it to your monitor or putting it just to the side so that you can easily look at it. When you feel stuck, look at this list and do something on the list. Ensure the list includes some easy to do things on it like maybe "go for a walk", "read a book", "play instrument" etc.

When trying to change habits, start off small and simple. For example, if you want to start running each day you might start by putting on your running shoes and walking to the end of the driveway and back. Start off so small that your brain can't talk you out of it.

I create daily todo lists and feel satisfaction from checking them off.

Try some ideas and see what works for you. Good luck!

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