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YouTube addiction, one month sober

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Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#181

Post by P_I_Staker »

Aurornis wrote: post #48
sph wrote: post #17

Good to see someone talking about it.. I used to spend my free time watching Youtube, these days it's only during dinner before I put on a TV show (and just before bed where very long LPs put me to sleep in minutes). What helped I only notice in retrospective: I got diagnosed and medicated for ADHD. Now I actually have the focus and drive to do the things I should be doing, rather than lazying my day off on YouTube w…

> YMMV. Very glad you found something that helped, but this is a good place to warn people that everyone is different. In some people, stimulant treatment can actually kindle problematic behaviors like the one you escaped. For some, they enhance focus but that results in more focusing on the hobbies, distractions, and side projects. I bring this up because while ADHD medication is great for some, there's a growing pr…

It has become increasingly clear to me is the dangerous under-prescription of ADHD medication is the real problem, and we need to stop with this propaganda.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#182

Post by jimmysong »

aequitas wrote: post #179

One issue for me is that everything leads me back to YouTube. When I want to cook a meal, there was this great YouTube video with a recipe from a while back I need to rewatch. Do some crafting work? Gotta check these videos about woodworking first to make sure I know what I’m doing. Somehow the visual content can bring the right information and nuances that a cookbook or manual can’t. Especially with food, like when…

I like Unhook, a browser plugin that takes out recommendations for YouTube. The YouTube home page then becomes more like a search engine and you can use it for that, but you won't keep going by watching more videos that are similar or related.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#183

Post by matsemann »

rightbyte wrote: post #173
data_ders wrote: post #11

I’m so addicted to the internet that when I block social media, I find I get quite the similar fix from work Slack. Like browsing channels I have no business being a part of and constantly checking for validation of my comments via emoji reactions. Does anyone know of ways to be a successful work-from-home knowledge worker while also locking down Slack to not be another slot machine?? Does anyone else feel conflicted…

> I’m so addicted to the internet that when I block social media, I find I get quite the similar fix from work Slack. Install "LeechBlock" in Firefox and "AppBlock" for apps. Block Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, CNN or whatever bad habit feedscrolling sites you use. Limit it to like 2200-2300 in the beginning and then just set a total ban after one or two weeks. It helped me alot. It was ridiculous how I had like muscle…

I used leechblock when writing my thesis in a period of heavy procrastination. It was quite mind-opening how often it would block me from just zoning out and go to a webpage and start scrolling.

Leechblock allowed me to just press "visit anyway", but just having that short "uh oh" moment let me know I was mindlessly doing something without even thinking about it. Like checking the front page of HN for the fifth time that hour.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#184

Post by bodiekane »

carlosjobim wrote: post #147
themagician wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social media is no longer just some activity you do. For many, it has become a way of life. Their income and livelihood relies on it. Many children growing up today aspire to be popular on social media. What happens on social media has become part of their core identity. It will only accelerate from here.

Social media has been the only open venue for young people for a while now, where the door to success is not closed and welded shut by old folks. Sure, all those likes and followers will not give them any monetary benefit to speak of, but neither does working or having a career. If it was conceivable to raise in the ranks and get good compensation and respect by hard and diligent work, young people would be very inte…

The average pay for a nurse in California is $133,000. A dentist is $172k. Physical therapist $100k. MDs $230k. Numerous other healthcare career paths where the doors to success are wide open to young people and where success is dictated by their "hard and diligent work".

If healthcare isn't their interest, Biglaw starting salaries for first year associates are $225k and go up rapidly. Other areas of law draw salaries from $150k to millions.

Obviously tech compensation is discussed here frequently, with high salaries possible for dev work as well as design, management, sales, support.

Finance and business consulting still pull in massive classes of entry level employees every year, with high starting salaries and higher comp for those who stay.

Fossil fuel extraction is full of high paid jobs, whether engineers and scientists designing equipment or field workers getting their hands dirty.

Social media is a tiny, tiny opportunity compared to other parts of the economy. For every influencer making $100k, there will be tens of thousands of people making six figures in a different domain.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#185

Post by ssgodderidge »

rightbyte wrote: post #173
data_ders wrote: post #11

I’m so addicted to the internet that when I block social media, I find I get quite the similar fix from work Slack. Like browsing channels I have no business being a part of and constantly checking for validation of my comments via emoji reactions. Does anyone know of ways to be a successful work-from-home knowledge worker while also locking down Slack to not be another slot machine?? Does anyone else feel conflicted…

> I’m so addicted to the internet that when I block social media, I find I get quite the similar fix from work Slack. Install "LeechBlock" in Firefox and "AppBlock" for apps. Block Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, CNN or whatever bad habit feedscrolling sites you use. Limit it to like 2200-2300 in the beginning and then just set a total ban after one or two weeks. It helped me alot. It was ridiculous how I had like muscle…

For those who use TamperMonkey[0], here's a basic script [1] I wrote to replace HTML on matching URL's with your own message.

[0]: https://www.tampermonkey.net/ [1]: https://gist.github.com/stephengodderidge/df3b33b92bb3eeb2f3...

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#187

Post by stevage »

winternett wrote: post #146
futureshock wrote: post #46

It’s bit weird, but I feel like this conversation about screen time and digital addiction dropped out of the public consciousness during Covid, never to return. Apple released their screen time features in 2018, so this issue was just starting to hit critical mass right as Covid hit and dumped us all deep down the digital rabbit hole. Now I notice even more social proof to keep going deeper into the digital life. Pub…

It feels like I haven't logged onto it in ages... Chrome pushed an update that made me have to log in and do TFA each time I opened the browser, and that was a nail in the coffin. The best content on YouTube is berried behind a wall of Mr Beast and Pewdie Pie style fluffery that I can't find any real value in most of the time. They dictate what is favorable, and that ruins the entire experience for me. The search has…

OP was watching YouTube 8 to 10 hours a day. That is not simple relaxation.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#188

Post by DougN7 »

reidjs wrote: post #148
DougN7 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The casino scene in the Percy Jackson movie [1] (and book) have always seemed hauntingly accurate to me as far as describing much of modern life. The thing we all have a finite amount of is time, and we’re increasingly distracted to where we waste more and more of it on unimportant, artificial digital worlds/life while the real world passes by. As I’m getting older, I’m seeing how precious youth, energy, and health a…

I am completely lost as to how that clip corresponds to anything mentioned thus far...

Maybe there wasn’t enough context. The characters are on an important mission. They step into the casino for a short bit, only to emerge much, much (weeks? months?) later because they were entertained so thoroughly (and addicted to the flowers?). Social media, doom scrolling, etc are doing the same thing to people around me. One day they’ll wake up and find they wasted the best part of their life in front of a screen (and I’m not referring to tech work - we all gotta eat, but that’s only 8 hours of a day.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#189

Post by stevage »

epivosism wrote: post #174
WheatMillington wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The best content on YouTube is berried behind a wall of Mr Beast and Pewdie Pie style fluffery that I can't find any real value in most of the time. They dictate what is favorable, and that ruins the entire experience for me. The search has been flooded with SEO title spam, which makes finding specific content damn near impossible and/or very tedious. This is not my experience at all. The recommendations engine is w…

Yes, literally every time this comes up, people who never click "don't show this" keep posting "recommendations don't work", which does nothing more than reveal that they actually DO watch really basic videos. Even if you would watch things like that, you can STILL just say "never show this channel". You should review your feed periodically, imagining you are at a trial, being asked "why didn't you eliminate this fee…

As someone who had that policy and broke it...you are on the right path. Stay there.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#190

Post by stevage »

phone8675309 wrote: post #165
asciimov wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder if we just started talking to each other less as well. We have. Sadly people aren't allowed to be bored long enough to decide that they should see what other people are up to. It used to be common to call or even drop by unannounced to check on people. Doing these things is now seen as some great sin. It's like we are all eating plain ramen every day, and aren't getting our vitamins. Sure we are full but w…

> It used to be common to call or even drop by unannounced to check on people. This has been considered rude at least since my parents were kids in the 1950s. I would imagine it was a lot more common before the telephone at home was widespread, but I've always found turning up unannounced to be rude.

It was relatively common for me in the 80s but dropped out in the 90s.
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