Related:
YouTube dominates TV streaming in US, per Nielsen's latest report
https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/20/youtube-dominates-tv-strea... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39463296)
YouTube addiction, one month sober
41–50 of 234 posts
Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober
#42I guess this is an adhd "superpower" of mine. I leave youtube on 24/7 and pay almost no attention to it. A big reason why I can ignore it though, when it's on 24/7.. mine plays the exact same documentaries, almost always WW2 or US Revolutionary War stuff over and over and over again. I watch a LOT of history documentaries but I have absolutely no interest in either of these time periods and have probably never search…
I hate this characterization of ADHD. I have it as well (diagnosed and medicated), and more distraction is the last thing I need. I cannot for the life of me imagining doing anything useful with youtube running in the background.
I think it simply depends if you were growing up with TV in the background. I haven't, so it's not soothing, it's maddening to have noise, loud chatter and unwanted sounds going on when I'm trying to direct my uneven focus.
The only thing that do not detract from focus is droning, instrumental music: psytrance or techno. But only when the workload is low. Otherwise I need absolute silence.
Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober
#43I’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…
My new job we use Teams (which sucks), but has configurable quiet-hours. I have mine set to only notify my phone between 7a-7p, and only when I'm not active on the desktop. Helps quite a bit, except I do sometimes miss notifications. So it goes. If it's _that_ important, they'll call.
Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober
#44Just realized when I logged out from YouTube I got automatically logged out from Chrome as well. There is no other way. How is that even allowed, that google single-signon infiltrated my browsing experience. Something has to change.
Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober
#45I’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…
You’ve gotten some great advice!
Running long distances works really well for me.
There’s a neat thing about running. Humans are really good at it provided we can focus on what we’re doing and maintain a pace. Focus is hard in the modern world but when you lose that focus, your lungs will tell you right away.
Work is the same thing. We really don’t want to sprint through the tape and bonk when we’re 20% through. Instead, we want to find a pace, focus and hold it.
Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober
#46It’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. Public shaming over green chat bubbles and genuine confusion if I tell someone I’m on not on a Meta owned social network.
I wonder if we’re all so addicted now that it’s no longer social acceptable to talk about our addiction. I wonder if we just started talking to each other less as well.
Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober
#47I’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…
Best change I made was to totally restrict all phone and technology usage entirely (I mean entirely) for the first hour of the day. At that point I only handle direct personal comms like time sensitive texts, and don't use anything other than directly work output related tech for the following two hours.
My ability to focus skyrocketed.
Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober
#48Good 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 problem of people reading positive anecdotes and assuming it's quick fix for all things lifestyle related. In clinic practice there's a growing number of people showing up with everything from stimulant-exacerbated Dermatillomania (skin picking disorders) to problematic behaviors with porn consumption after seeking out stimulant treatment based on internet advice. Stimulants are powerful drugs, and there's an entire other conversation to be had about the excessive prescribing practices of some of the providers out there (my pharmacist friends are in disbelief at the size of some of the doses they're handing out to people these days).
Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober
#49I’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 made a conscious decision to cut all social out of my life during the 2016 election. Since then I have done more and more to curtail my use, including setting aside time for non-electronic time: vinyl music listening, real book reading (I have never been an ebook fan), tabletop/card games, and/or puzzles.
I set specific times of day when I will allow electronics and I have disabled notifications from work-necessary apps outside of work hours and silenced notifications from all apps except from those folks I’ve explicitly allowed (my elderly parents and kids). I have silenced notifications from everyone else, always.
You have to be diligent and find alternatives to fill your time. I recently started seeing someone new after a divorce. She is amazed at how “disconnected” and “relaxed” my lifestyle is compared to others. We don’t fill our days with ‘stuff’, outside the home or electronic in nature, opting for purposeful downtime that allows for quiet, creativity, and relaxation from the mandatory parts of our lives.
You can get there. Just think of the life you would prefer and make time and take meaningful and small, incremental steps toward it.
Good luck.
Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober
#50I’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 always appear offline, and only open it a few times a day, or when needed to send a message or start real-time collaboration. Ideally I'd always appear online, but there is no way to do that with Slack. Basically I don't want my perceived presence to be a signal for others to message or avoid messaging me. I've explained my usage to my team, and expressed a preference for scheduled synchronous communication over asynchronous communication.