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YouTube Addiction

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Re: YouTube Addiction

#311

Post by lazycouchpotato »

I've had my YouTube watch history paused for the past 3 years. I only subscribe to channels I consider educational/useful. It cuts down on a lot of garbage recommendations, and makes the YouTube algorithm work harder to find actually interesting stuff to keep me watching, instead of taking the easy route and suggesting me memes.

I also spend a few minutes every once in a while going through my previously liked videos and unliking unhelpful/meme videos.

I don't know if search history contributes to the recommendation algorithm, but I have it paused as well.

There are downsides to this though. If there's something I've previously watched that I want to find, it's a lot harder. On a PC I have the browser search history, but there's nothing I can do for the mobile app.

Re: YouTube Addiction

#312

Post by flir »

BizarreByte wrote: post #107

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 misse…

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.

Re: YouTube Addiction

#313

Post by robbrown451 »

namaria wrote: post #308
robbrown451 wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The websites and apps mentioned aren't the sort that people would be addicted to anyway. (this should be blindingly obvious) In fact their very purpose is addressing the problem of web site addiction. Are you suggesting that people might be spending hours and hours on the "screentimeaccountability" web site, as part of their addiction? Anyway, we're on a web site right now. Isn't any comment on this thread similarly…

Sure, taking part in the conversation out of concern for my own mental health and seeking external points of view is exactly the same as saying "oh you think you spend too much time online/watching videos? here's an app for that!" Adding friction will not solve the problem for people with addiction. Telling me to not take part in the conversation if I dare to call out bad advice (or worse, saying calling out bad advi…

"oh you think you spend too much time online/watching videos? here's an app for that!"

I see absolutely no problem with that. The app is not showing videos nor is otherwise addictive in any sense, so what exactly is the problem? Is it simply because it falls under the label "app"? Therefore it must be just as problematic as apps that show videos or otherwise try to keep users engaged for as long as possible?

Your complaint is as absurd as saying "oh you think you are risking a head injury by riding a skateboard? Here's a helmet for that!" I mean, both skateboards and helmets are sports equipment, so it must be misguided to recommend addressing a safety issue with sports equipment with another piece of sports equipment. That's the logic you are using here.

Usually when I am drawn to an addictive web site or app (YouTube and Quora being the big ones for me), it is pulling me away from some other app I should be using instead, such as VC Code, which I am supposed to be using for my job. Again, not all apps are equally problematic.

I've used the selfcontrol app and similar apps for my own issues, and they work. That is not bad advice at all.

Also, addiction lies on a spectrum. I don't know if my issues count as true addiction or not, but they are problems for me. And I have good results with things like the selfcontrol app (which I miss now that I work on windows), and I have used other various mechanisms to help with behavioral tendencies I have that could benefit from external control. As a non-app example.... am I addicted to cannabis? I don't know. I do know I do better when I use a timer lock so I can reduce my temptation to use it at inappropriate times (i.e. hours I want to be getting work done), without eliminating it entirely (since I enjoy it and truly believe I get benefits from it). I suppose if I was a true addict, I'd just walk ten minutes to the pot store every time I got a craving. But I don't, because addictive tendencies lie on a spectrum. Same concept.

Re: YouTube Addiction

#314

Post by sowbug »

thenerdhead wrote: post #111
ryandrake wrote: post #64

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 wh…

If you are using a word by its most common definition then sure. Addiction has more casual definitions in the dictionary. Language evolves and the word addiction has evolved. It's used casually all the time like this blog post although there's no formal diagnosis. Your examples bring up a good point. Many parents have the TV on all day in the background because they were raised with it. Many kids today will likely ha…

I don't think that's addiction. That's other people doing things you don't think they should be doing.

Re: YouTube Addiction

#315

Post by qingdao99 »

flir wrote: post #312
BizarreByte wrote: post #107

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 misse…

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.

What's the "ol" site? old.reddit.com? That's what came up for me.

Re: YouTube Addiction

#316

Post by bouncycastle »

oramit wrote: post #164

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 argumen…

I can activate the 'flow" state, starting with doing small tasks in the comments like changing / editing comments, commit them to git, and then see if your next commit can have more changes than the last one, perhaps find and fix a small bug. In a sense, a git commit is like hitting a winner, releasing the dopamine required to get you in "flow".

Re: YouTube Addiction

#317

Post by cleandreams »

A friend told me about Internet Technology Addicts Anonymous. https://internetaddictsanonymous.org/ It's quite a new fellowship and the meetings are almost all virtual / zoom. I went to a few meetings and I liked them. Right now I am trying to control my internet use with freedom (the app). Looks promising. I want to get it down to 1.5 hours/day. I have other things to do!

The internet is addictive by design and like other addictive substances (with which I have experience) it changes the brain. So I am quite serious about tackling this, one way or another.

Good luck everyone!

Re: YouTube Addiction

#318

Post by anteloper »

namaria wrote: post #296
anteloper wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I plugged anything. I shared the best thing I've found to partially solve this problem in my own life (open source software I have no relationship to), shared that my full time job is working on this problem (because it's the largest obstacle in my life, not because I am trying to grift) and what I've built so far, with the explicit note that I would not recommend as a single magic bullet for addiction,…

You're very good at rationalizing. I don't think it's a grift. You don't need to get money out of this for this to be a plug. Personal satisfaction, pride, whatever. I think it's misguided to offer apps and websites to people complaining about addiction to apps and websites. At the very least shows lack of empathy and a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of the problem being discussed. Do what you want wit…

Thanks - just want to emphatically disagree that technology has no place in this discussion. The alternative - "just stop scrolling" doesn't work well for me, personally.

Just like non-alcoholic beverages are useful for people that have a drinking problem, I think it's likely anti-addiction technology will be useful for people that have a technology problem.

Re: YouTube Addiction

#319

Post by mmanfrin »

Last night I went to a showing of a (youtube, lol) filmmaker's upcoming videos and sat down next to a woman who told me she was studying social media services and their addictiveness and she said that youtube was the absolute #1 most addictive in her findings.

Re: YouTube Addiction

#320

Post by ranting-moth »

Perhaps a legal question, is "causes addiction" used as a basis for prohibiting/banning/regulating things or substances?

I know a lot of things are prohibited/banned/regulated, just wondering if addiction is the fundamental (or perhaps the sole) argument for the rule/law?

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