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YouTube Addiction

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Re: YouTube Addiction

#371

Post by whiplash451 »

escapedmoose wrote: post #338
bouncycastle wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

+1 to this. The habit/ritual of pulling/pushing in git has become a reliable way to activate flow states for me :)

+2, actually

Re: YouTube Addiction

#372

Post by boredemployee »

nicbou wrote: post #363
boredemployee wrote: post #119

I wonder if all the addiction related to internet (porn, gaming, surfing, you name it) has anything to do with our daily routine (aka work) that is so boring that we want an immediate and constant distraction

I'm still addicted without having to work much. It's just so easy to access YouTube compared to starting a more rewarding activity

I understand, I'm addicted to computers since 1996 when I was 10. But it's possible to change it setting some goals,trying to go outside more, do some external activities (aka walk, bike, etc.) But if you live in a place where the winter is severe then I have no idea what one could do. It's easy to forget about life when using electronic devices in general but try to set alarms to remind you that you have/need to do other stuff, it helps you to break the pattern.

Re: YouTube Addiction

#373

Post by water8 »

sedivy94 wrote: post #336
bobmichael wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't ignore it. Laugh about it! It wasn't lost on me writing the comment either. Isn't it great that the very thing that brings us pain can also be the vehicle for our healing?

This is an ancient concept that we’ve largely forgotten in the west!

[dead]

Re: YouTube Addiction

#375

Post by thenerdhead »

sowbug wrote: post #314
thenerdhead wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't care what other people do. I just share perspectives. It's okay to disagree. Thanks for sharing yours.

Re: YouTube Addiction

#376

Post by gundmc »

clnq wrote: post #155
cm2187 wrote: post #18

To cure your youtube addiction, just disable your adblocker. Works very well.

Yes, I have shaken my YouTube addiction this way. It naturally makes YouTube less appealing. It also lengthens the habit-forming action->random outcome cycle by 20 or more seconds with pre-roll ads. Enabling ads on YouTube is the opposite of autoplay in terms of addiction.

Ads on YouTube haven't been inconvenient enough to deter me yet. Minor annoyance, but if the ads are longer than 15 seconds I can skip.

Twitch on the other hand? If I'm watching on mobile I'll regularly get 90 seconds or more of unskipable ads every 10 minutes. Most of the time this makes me close the app and overall has torpedoed my watch time.

Re: YouTube Addiction

#378

Post by helmholtz »

namaria wrote: post #300
smoldesu wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. Impulse control plays a major part in both though, which is mostly why I find it funny. My ex-boyfriend had ADHD and swore off video games for the same reason, but he'd end up watching YouTube for hours if I left him unchecked. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but I feel like the difference between both addictions is smaller than it seems.

I'd argue passive consumption of content is worse then playing video games. I have no horses in this race, I admittedly spend way too much time streaming content. But at least with games you're doing something. Actively using your brain. There are studies showing games can improve dexterity and problem solving abilities. I doubt watching stuff does the same.

Depends who you're talking about. Those of us who've literally skipped work to play video games definitely find it easier to watch others play rather than dip our toes in ourselves.

Re: YouTube Addiction

#379

Post by helmholtz »

layer8 wrote: post #282
kzrdude wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 can still quit tomorrow though.”

Profound statement. Relatedly: "I still have 6 hours before the deadline. I'll spend the first two watching YouTube, and then I'll be ready."

Re: YouTube Addiction

#380

Post by annyeonghada »

pcthrowaway wrote: post #349
steve_adams_86 wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose the gist of it was that I felt stupid all my life and never challenged myself as a result. Then I found out I’m not, at least according to that scale. I had aspirations I didn’t pursue because I thought I wasn’t capable, for example. Lacked confidence because I believed I wasn’t competent. Suddenly I was faced with the notion that I wasn’t failed by genetics or something I couldn’t control, but rather, I’d…

You seem to be doing some kind of software dev (I skimmed your comment history). Curious if you got into that despite "feeling stupid" and not challenging yourself, and the IQ test came as a surprise in spite of that, or if you only decided to get into software after being confronted with being "not stupid"? For what it's worth, I don't actually think IQ is a canonical measure of intelligence, and the narrative peopl…

>For what it's worth, I don't actually think IQ is a canonical measure of intelligence, and the narrative people have of "being stupid" is often driven by society valuing certain kinds of intelligence more than others.

Not only IQ is correlated with every positive prosocial behavior we, in general, value but every seemingly disparate form of intelligence is correlated to the others so we can, in fact, talk about a single form of intelligence that manifest in different form (generally named "g factor"). This is just the inherent unfairness of life. I wish it wasn't true and only your hard-work would matter, but it doesn't.

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