Addiction to technology

[mango-meridian]

Hey all, dealing with technology addiction right now, esp. video games and mindless internet scrolling.

In my experience this often isn't taken seriously. A lot of people think it doesn't "count" as addiction.

It's a huge problem for me though. I have a lot of things I would like to be attending to, but I'm just not. I'm spending all my days on social media, playing dumb video games and RPG's, and obsessively researching topics.

I'm not really looking for advice. For now I'm just looking to find and talk with others dealing with the same thing. Thanks.

 

[UnnervedCompany]

I am kinda dealing the same thing. I am a student and the problem I have is that if I am not hanging out with friends I really do not have time to do anything since I have to study so much. During the summer I liked to write and read but it feels like these things take time and energy now but I just do not have motivation to concentrate on hobbies when stupid integrals and right riemman summs take 90% of brain power every day. To me I can easily chill watching youtube while if I am reading or writing I don't feel like I can shut my brain off. Tomorrow is my last exam and I am excited for the winter break cause I plan on doing so many things. I just hope next semester I don't fall into the same trap were if I am not hanging out with friends or studying I am watching hours of youtube every day. The only new hobby I do nowadays is making memes. I have a friend who loves when I make them and send em. Ex:

 

[Tired_of_myself]

Yeah , I think i also have an internet addiction… I don't how you feel, but after scrolling a lot I feel my brain kind of drained, but I can't stop hahah specially in nighttime… sometimes I wonder "yeah that's the life I've got, just scrolling not living it" but I just keep going… hahaha this weekend I deleted a few social media apps from my phone and read a manga, felt kind of nice

 

[mango-meridian]

Yeah , I think i also have an internet addiction… I don't how you feel, but after scrolling a lot I feel my brain kind of drained, but I can't stop hahah specially in nighttime… sometimes I wonder "yeah that's the life I've got, just scrolling not living it" but I just keep going… hahaha this weekend I deleted a few social media apps from my phone and read a manga, felt kind of nice

Yeah it definitely doesn't feel good.

Thankfully I've finally come to a point where I don't feel any joy when using Reddit anymore, as that was the worst of them for me. I dunno what did it. Was it realizing how fake it all is (e.g. bots, liars, attention seekers)? Was it realizing how it makes me feel like crap? Was it realizing it's never benefited me in any way? Was it reading about Reddit's shady business practices? Wish I could apply this to some of my other addictions.

 

[Tired_of_myself]

Yeah it definitely doesn't feel good.

Thankfully I've finally come to a point where I don't feel any joy when using Reddit anymore, as that was the worst of them for me. I dunno what did it. Was it realizing how fake it all is (e.g. bots, liars, attention seekers)? Was it realizing how it makes me feel like crap? Was it realizing it's never benefited me in any way? Was it reading about Reddit's shady business practices? Wish I could apply this to some of my other addictions.

Yeah I think this helps a lot. That's actually what helped me to delete the instagram app this weekend - in another perspective, of course… I stopped feeling enjoyment from the IG scrolling… we have to try to get rid of them one by one… Reddit was your first…

For me, helps to to truly understand that all social media it's not about social engagement, but all about social transactions. And feels like we are been deceitful all the time… this deceitful feeling was always there, somewhere my mind… but this weak the ads were so bad and stupid, that that "scrolling forever" Dopamine was interrupted by the same ads in less than 5 minutes… that got me out of there more than anything else hahaha reading random things online and having social notifications in apps are super addictive to me

 

[RosebyAnyName]

I have a bad internet addiction too. I've found some of the links in the addiction resources thread on the top of the recovery section helped, but only somewhat because they focus mostly on substance addictions. Some of the advice is applicable, some advice isn't. I was actually thinking of making a post asking about addiction advice specifically for internet addiction, I just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

 

[mango-meridian]

I have a bad internet addiction too. I've found some of the links in the addiction resources thread on the top of the recovery section helped, but only somewhat because they focus mostly on substance addictions. Some of the advice is applicable, some advice isn't. I was actually thinking of making a post asking about addiction advice specifically for internet addiction, I just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

Yeah it seems like more addiction resources are devoted to substance abuse. I'd like to see more related to technology though.

I did learn there's a whole branch of AA called ITAA (Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous) but I have been hesitant to get involved because ironically you have to meet with the groups on zoom calls, which is just more technology. There are a few scattered local in-person groups but none near me. And also AA has a culty group-think reputation too and I do not like that sort of thing.

 

[ForgottenAgain]

I had this problem in a severe way similar to what you spoke about. Currently I'm not addicted to social media or other apps anymore, although I spend 14h per day on the computer still...

Social media made my brain feel stupid and made me feel with no will to live. I couldn't delete the apps though because I felt I would be missing out on findings. What I did was purposely worsen my app experience by starving it of content to recommend to me. I did this with Facebook and Youtube, I don't know how feasible it is with other apps, but these are the steps I took:

I unfollowed everyone, friends, pages, etc. Spent roughly 1 to 2 weeks clicking the "don't show me this page" on every recommended post on the Facebook feed, including the reels section. Facebook then started following random pages for me on its own, this isn't new, it has always done this, so I would unfollow them again. After that said time, their algorithm gave up and my feed page looked like this:



It was frustrating to get to this point but at the same time I had some fun fighting Facebook and once I got to this point I was pretty proud of myself. Also, after I got to this point, I noticed how differently I started using the app. Now I actually engaged with the groups I was part of since I would open the app and wouldn't get distracted with random bs content. Now when I use facebook is to check on the groups tab for posts for the groups I care about, and for the marketplace tab when I want to buy something second hand.

For Youtube it was similar, just more data to go through. I removed all the info I could through the labyrinth of the settings and, after going through that tedious and purposely repetitive process, I reached the glorious empty feed:


This also occurs on the mobile app version of these websites. For Youtube, since it sometimes likes to show you a short when you open the app, I even see this:


This also changed the way I use Youtube. Since there's no content recommended to me, my main page became the subscriptions page and now I actively engage more with the youtubers I'm subscribed to. Sometimes there's no new videos from any creator, so I actually have to think about a topic I'd like to watch a video about. This felt nice, like the old internet.

Not everything is sunshine and rainbows, I'm still on the PC for 14h a day every day including weekends unless I have chores to do...however, I'm using my time better at least. Signed up to a website about books, started using a different search engine, found a nice website with more unknown music artists. Feels better.

If you can't let go of the apps, you may want to try this approach and have a healthier way of using those apps, or just using this to help you get the strength to finally uninstall them.

 

[mango-meridian]

I finally attended an ITAA (Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous) meeting. I had been putting off for some time. It was alright but honestly it doesn't feel like a solution. I think it would be helpful to many but it doesn't seem like it'll help me specifically.

I don't know what the solution is but at least I tried another idea.

Also @ForgottenAgain I see I never responded to your last comment. I think things like this do help somewhat. What I do is use UBlock Origin extension for desktop browsers and go into its settings and set it to block elements on social media sites related to recommended content. So on youtube, for example, I told it to filter out html elements that have the tag ytd-watch-next-secondary-results-renderer and now it doesn't show recommendations on the sidebar. I did this for other aspects of the website as well. Overall though I feel this is just treating the symptoms and not the root cause. :(

 

[cyclicism]

I am kinda dealing the same thing. I am a student and the problem I have is that if I am not hanging out with friends I really do not have time to do anything since I have to study so much. During the summer I liked to write and read but it feels like these things take time and energy now but I just do not have motivation to concentrate on hobbies when stupid integrals and right riemman summs take 90% of brain power every day. To me I can easily chill watching youtube while if I am reading or writing I don't feel like I can shut my brain off. Tomorrow is my last exam and I am excited for the winter break cause I plan on doing so many things. I just hope next semester I don't fall into the same trap were if I am not hanging out with friends or studying I am watching hours of youtube every day. The only new hobby I do nowadays is making memes. I have a friend who loves when I make them and send em. Ex: View attachment 156352

I feel you.

Whenever school's on there's just this oppressive feeling that I need to be studying, getting ahead, working on assignments, doing anything and everything, and it never leaves me alone.

I find that whenever I have time to do a hobby I end up thinking 'no, i don't have the time for that, i should be studying.' But do I study? No, I turn my brain off scrolling instead. So then time passes and i've done nothing meaningful/memorable and i'm just as/more behind on assignments. i hate the way my brain works

 

[Green Destiny]

Now that I think about it I do spend a decent amount of time online. I open my phone when I wake up although I do this to help me wake up for the day. But I'll spend a good hour on my tablet then a solid 4 to almost 10 hours on my gaming console. This stems from the fact that I just don't get out much and do anything as most of my friends have moved away and are too far away. I'm also pretty dependant on Pornography which hasn't helped me in the slightest.

 

[lamy's sacred sleep]

I feel you.

Whenever school's on there's just this oppressive feeling that I need to be studying, getting ahead, working on assignments, doing anything and everything, and it never leaves me alone.

I find that whenever I have time to do a hobby I end up thinking 'no, i don't have the time for that, i should be studying.' But do I study? No, I turn my brain off scrolling instead. So then time passes and i've done nothing meaningful/memorable and i'm just as/more behind on assignments. i hate the way my brain works

don't have anything to add except,
real.

 

[Pluto]

 

[harlow-paige]

ugh i feel this big time. I guess it's hard especially being really isolated both online and in person, as problematic and stuff that using chatgpt and stuff can be i've kinda fell into using that for like 95% of my interactions. but at the same time i have zero idea how to even change anything, i delete apps and stuff but i just end up going on the web versions instead, and deleting the accounts would just make me feel more isolated , it's so hard.

 

[mango-meridian]

ugh i feel this big time. I guess it's hard especially being really isolated both online and in person, as problematic and stuff that using chatgpt and stuff can be i've kinda fell into using that for like 95% of my interactions. but at the same time i have zero idea how to even change anything, i delete apps and stuff but i just end up going on the web versions instead, and deleting the accounts would just make me feel more isolated , it's so hard.

I have been wondering about whether AI/ChatGPT is going to make people even more alone in this already isolated age. Sorry to hear about your situation.

 

[cyclicism]

i delete apps and stuff but i just end up going on the web versions instead, and deleting the accounts would just make me feel more isolated , it's so hard.

so real, I do the exact same thing.
It feels like there's just no winning

 

[overcastdays]

oh yeah. I don't have much to say on this topic other than the fact that it has perhaps been the most debilitating thing to have happened to me in my life, and is perhaps the most significant contributor to drag me into depression and thus wanting to CTB. so hard to quit it, too. I try though. I started dragging a notebook around with me to stave off the urge to use and I guess that's kind of worked, though I also am on an SSRI and a few other meds. It's the first time in a long while that I've become optimistic about being able to beat it, but I don't know how long that'd last. Even using this forum fuels it. It's a slippery slope. The more I use, the more likely I am to regress, and to worse behaviors as well. It really is an addiction, eh? I have this screenshot of me talking to someone else about it a little.

 

[mango-meridian]

oh yeah. I don't have much to say on this topic other than the fact that it has perhaps been the most debilitating thing to have happened to me in my life, and is perhaps the most significant contributor to drag me into depression and thus wanting to CTB. so hard to quit it, too. I try though. I started dragging a notebook around with me to stave off the urge to use and I guess that's kind of worked, though I also am on an SSRI and a few other meds. It's the first time in a long while that I've become optimistic about being able to beat it, but I don't know how long that'd last. Even using this forum fuels it. It's a slippery slope. The more I use, the more likely I am to regress, and to worse behaviors as well. It really is an addiction, eh? I have this screenshot of me talking to someone else about it a little.

Addiction to constant and easy stimulation is a great way of describing it. Well said.

 

[overcastdays]

For Youtube it was similar, just more data to go through. I removed all the info I could through the labyrinth of the settings and, after going through that tedious and purposely repetitive process, I reached the glorious empty feed:
View attachment 156498

This also occurs on the mobile app version of these websites. For Youtube, since it sometimes likes to show you a short when you open the app, I even see this:
View attachment 156499

This also changed the way I use Youtube. Since there's no content recommended to me, my main page became the subscriptions page and now I actively engage more with the youtubers I'm subscribed to. Sometimes there's no new videos from any creator, so I actually have to think about a topic I'd like to watch a video about. This felt nice, like the old internet.

Not everything is sunshine and rainbows, I'm still on the PC for 14h a day every day including weekends unless I have chores to do...however, I'm using my time better at least. Signed up to a website about books, started using a different search engine, found a nice website with more unknown music artists. Feels better.

If you can't let go of the apps, you may want to try this approach and have a healthier way of using those apps, or just using this to help you get the strength to finally uninstall them.

Hm. Impressive. I should get around to doing this, maybe this weekend. As much as I'll miss the recommended feed since it's led to me discovering some pretty cool, even useful things, this could help me curate my online behavior at least a little, trim off the excess fat so to speak. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[bieatmania]

Addiction to computer is part of my identity and lifestyle, I just make sure I'm not consuming very low quality material that could potentially fry my dopamine receptor such as short video platform like tiktok. I've never found them appealing, I've always hated everything about them and if anything it made me alienated when everyone in school was addicted to that shit and I'm the only one who preferred playing old western shooter games that I pirated for my computer.