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YouTube addiction, one month sober

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Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#191

Post by stevage »

karaterobot wrote: post #161
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…

Perhaps for self-serving reasons, I think of a Youtube addiction as being more like addiction to traditional TV than to things like twitter, instagram, or maybe even TikTok. I say self-serving because my average daily phone use is <30 minutes, I'm not present on any social networks besides a reluctant LinkedIn account, but I do watch more Youtube than I should. I'd like to think it's unrelated to those things, becaus…

Yes, it sounds like you use YouTube much like traditional TV. For others it is more like social media, like Twitch is.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#192

Post by stevage »

webdoodle wrote: post #115
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…

I've seen the opposite. I drastically reduced my smartphone and online time a couple years before Covid, but completely ditched my phone at the end of 2019. It took a few years before I met anyone with my level of dedication, but now I meet them every few months. Most are tech or ex-tech employees, but some are just closer to retirement.

You literally have no phone? Amazing. I'm full of questions, like how do you socialise with people who expect to be able to change plans at the last minute?

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#193

Post by carlosjobim »

bodiekane wrote: post #184
carlosjobim wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 salarie…

I don't know anything about California, but if those salaries are true and achievable within reasonable effort, why wouldn't young people flock from the entire nation to work in healthcare? Maybe there's some limiting factor?

Biglaw and finance consulting I doubt is open for everybody to work in, unless your parents paid for a prestigious college. The door is pretty well welded shut, as far as I know. Social media is on the other hand free to start building your audience.

Tech is the outlier, I agree with you on that one. If you have the talent you can make it in tech still as a young person only on talent and hard work.

Social media is such a tiny opportunity monetarily that it doesn't even count. It's not the money making young people flock to social media – because there is almost no money there – it is the chance of being somebody, having people listening to you and getting some respect as a person. Rather than being treated as a piece of shit by your boss for no reason.

Not in the US, but the (hard working) engineers and dentists that I personally know all needed financial help from parents to be able to afford their very humble dwellings. Every financially successful person I know either inherited real estate or bought real estate before most of humans were born. Some of them also work hard, but that doesn't influence their financials much.

I'd like to ask what is the average pay for a non-working homeowner in California? How much can they expect to earn tax free per year from their real estate increasing in value, as compared to the hard working and highly taxed nurse earning from labour?

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#194

Post by swatcoder »

themagician wrote: post #90
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…

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.

You overstate how permanent one's "core identity" is.

The mentality that you mention, which really only applies to some small number of people, won't survive (1) a prolonged economic downturn that dries up ad revenue breaks the ad-supported business model, (2) a large war that summons young people away from their homes or impacts infrastructure, (3) a strong economic upswing that open promising new opportunities, (4) a legislative change in the accessibility of social media, etc.

At least some of those things that dramatically disrupt the current social media landscape will happen. It's just not that durable in its current form, and we already see that in its changing landscape, with more of the gardens becoming walled to keep balance sheets stable, more of the previously-leading service bleeding off users, more self-regulation actions meant to outmaneuver legislative hearings and lawsuits, etc

People can have social media as their "core identity" all they'd like, but they'll eventually discover that everyone's life ultimately involves a bunch of chapters where your "core identity" looks real darn different. Most don't get to keep a "core identity" just because it happens to be the one they adopted in their teens or twenties. In fact, most learn that they wouldn't even have wanted to anyway.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#195

Post by wonger_ »

autoexec wrote: post #79
pxc wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NewPipe lets you watch shorts but completely lacks the shorts-type UI, so it's not addictive. Also has no ads and lets you play things in the background or with the phone screen off.

having recommendations and auto-play disabled is great too. I only see youtube videos that I choose to see and never see anything else unless I'm searching for something

Turning off thumbnails has also helped me

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#196

Post by cynicalsecurity »

jjulius wrote: post #137
cynicalsecurity wrote: post #133

I'm sorry, but this is nonsense. An addition to information in the informational age sounds really nonsensical.

>An addition [sic] to information... That's not what they are addicted to.

Then it's not problem with youtube. Youtube is simply a tool, a media platform. The guy has problem with watching junk, not with youtube or the internet.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#197

Post by lamp_book »

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...

It’s a reference to the lotus eaters -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus-eaters

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#198

Post by jjulius »

cynicalsecurity wrote: post #196
jjulius wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>An addition [sic] to information... That's not what they are addicted to.

Then it's not problem with youtube. Youtube is simply a tool, a media platform. The guy has problem with watching junk, not with youtube or the internet.

YouTube designs itself to keep users (a word often used for addicts) glued (read, "engaged") to the platform. It is built to draw people in and keep them there, thereby encouraging addictive behaviors. It is absolutely a problem with YouTube.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#199

Post by throawayonthe »

stevage wrote: post #189
epivosism wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[dead]

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#200

Post by throwaway277432 »

zeitlupe wrote: post #93

To me, the most difficult part about quitting youtube, twitter or reddit is that these websites are incredibly rewarding and an incredible waste of time at the same time. Reddit has great discussions on careers, hobbies, whatever you do not stumble upon elsewhere, but the rewarding content unfortunately always comes in packs with some mindless scrolling and mediocre memes – I've never managed to have one without the…

Honestly Reddit has never been that great for me. In my experience a lot of content even in niche hobby subreddits is regurgitated opinions presented as authorative facts or baseless speculation disguised as professional insight.

In the few hobby subreddits that I frequented, non-mainstream opinions or new ideas were often drowned out by the hivemind and people with less experience or knowledge. In short, a real discussion rarely came up or was even possible.

And in the case of questions I realized that so many people have no clue but still feel compelled to answer.

I'll omit my rant on career advice subreddits here.

For my hobbies specifically, I've reverted back to forums. You can have a relaxed discussion over the span of weeks, and interesting threads might remain active for months. You can get to know the users by their signatures, and the average age of users is also higher. Some of the users might even be professionals instead of just hobbyists, where I feel that was rare on Reddit.

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