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YouTube addiction, one month sober

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Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#91

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…

Only check it on a schedule, keep it closed, and turn off all notifications

> "Only check it on a schedule, keep it closed, and turn off all notifications""

Not possible at "remote first" workplaces.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#92

The problem I see with YouTube is that I always start on low-regret content like lectures, or a news clip about a current event I want a summary of. Or a video that a friend said was funny (that's good signal). But then rather than recommending more content along the same lines (which I would probably bookmark but not be encouraged to click), there is a short low quality video that somehow slides under the radar of "…

I had the same problem. Blocking those elements helped, but was a pain to set up on each device I used. Switching entirely to alternative front-ends like Invidious was what finally helped me stop getting sucked in by those.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#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 other. Quitting them means to forfeit a huge, valuable chunk of input and I am yet not sure what's better.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#95
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you do for two hours before bed with no screen time? Read physical material? I'm not sure what I would do to wind down before bed besides reading or watching something. I do find that I need a similar amount of down time before bed after more engaging activities like going out or playing video games online. I usually try to read longer form articles or watch tv. I'm not sure what else I'd do around the house…

I bought a kindle and read programming books on it. I have to stay away from thrillers, fiction, etc., they're almost as bad as screens for driving my heartrate up. But I've really enjoyed the 10-30 minutes making myself smarter while actively helping me sleep that Kindle provides.

I do this with history books. Right now reading Justinian by Peter Harris. I find history doesn't get my heartrate up at all and I can stop reading when I want.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#96

One thing that made a huge difference for me was turning of my watch history. If you do that you get a message on the homepage saying that it can't recommend videos until you turn on your watch history. Not very visually pleasing but it keeps me from scrolling through recommendations and now I only watch videos when a channel I follow puts out new content or when I choose to specifically search for something.

This is my favourite YouTube feature! It makes the home page lovely.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#97
post #61

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…

This might be controversial, but I've found that micro-dosing psilocybin removes the urge of such distractions, and allows me to focus on what needs to be done. I've been told I might have undiagnosed ADHD tho, not sure if relevant. Anyway, YMMV, but it could be worth a shot! Probably a good idea to combine with exercise and/or mindfulness exercises.

Also for those in your position:

- Exercise, strength training is great but always include 30+ min of cardio at least once per day. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurobiological_effects_of_p...

- Diet, vitamins/minerals. Magnesium is particularly important. Making first meal of the day high-protein tends to be helpful.

- Sleep. Generally most improved by exercise.

- Caffeine. Depending on your neurological phenotype, may be very helpful or may be very counterproductive.

- Other supplements. Many of the anti-depressive supplements like Huperzine, Ashwaganda, etc. can be double-edged swords (work well at first then backfire). Some precursors like Phenylethylamine, L-Dopa, 5-HTP, etc. can have profound effects similar to prescription drugs, though all tend to have very short half-lives. I'd honestly lump most of these in with "prescription drugs" in terms of potential for large effects and major side effects.

If you're skipping ahead to illegal (in most jurisdictions) drugs like psilocybin, you may also consider all the prescription options for anything that affects the dopamine or serotonin systems. Everyone is different and most drugs are net-negatives (sometimes in dramatic life-altering ways), so it often requires a lot of patience and effort to go through all of them until you find what "works" for you.

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#98
The YouTube addiction is definitely real... but it's quite sad since mixed in with the entertainment it's one of the best sources in the world for education (video lectures, how tos, etc)

One thing that worked well for me is having two separate profiles, one for educational and one for everything else. That way the education one didn't get as polluted with the most addictive recommendations

(little self-promotion) One thing I found to be useful was to try to focus on learning more actively, so I built a tool that turns educational videos into mini-courses where it will ask you questions about the content and then use spaced repetition to help you actually remember the information.

One of the other parts is to ensure that the suggestions/feed is focused solely on education, and that you don't fall into the addicting videos trap... (I have the v1 but still working to make this better)

But I think if the addiction is bad enough as in the post, it's probably a better idea to go cold turkey

(link is https://www.platoedu.org)

Re: YouTube addiction, one month sober

#99
post #42
post #9

I 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…

For me it depends on what I'm doing. Sometimes music works, and sometimes lyrics are too distracting, and sometimes having a TV on in the background is helpful, but sometimes it tanks my productivity. I tend to need something in the background though unless I'm working on something that takes a ton of focus or my own brain will distract me .
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