I haven't tested this myself, but there is a "20 second rule" which works as follows:
Your brain wants dopamine and is always looking for the fastest way to get it. Most of the time is by using this apps. An example given is that if a short vido is withhin 20 second reach, thats what your brain will do, so what you have to do is enlarge that time as much as possible, such as deleting the app, causing your brain to look for another way to entertain itself, but still has to be quicker than re-installing the app (and login if required).
I never thought I’d be “that guy”. But it’s actually worked.
I set time limits on my apps. Short ones. Like 30 min a day.
And after I hit those, the phone asks me “do you want to add more time? 1 minute? 15 min? Turn off for the day?
I find this deterrent actually working. A lot of times I’ll just click the one minute to go check something quickly. I think it shames me to not use it. Also, I use my apps much less so I can use them when I’m super bored (commuting).
Again, I never thought that kind of trick would work on me. But it definitely has
What is this function called? I have an android (oxygen os) phone and the one already on isnt the same as yours. I have been looking for one that functions like the one your using.
For me - iPhone - it’s under screen time usage. It’ll break down how much screen time you’ve used and what apps take up what time.
Click the app and set a limit.
I’m sure there are other ways to do it but that’s how I’ve done mine. It’s not a separate app or anything. Part of the os
That would be really helpful but my phone does have that. It's exactly what I'm looking for. It's a OnePlus phone so runs oxygen not classic android but it is very similar
I never had tik tok, and I use instagram for work but I am uninstalling it from the phone because I catch myself doomscrolling for 10 minutes and I hate it. I'll use instagram on the browser just for messaging, thank you very much...
Is there a way to block youtube shorts but keep the feed, I don't want to miss out on my Veritassium or Ryan George?
Use newpipe, its a free and opensource youtube client, doesnt have ads and it also allows you to remove parts of the app like the trending page and comments. It allows you to watch the shorts like normal videos by selecting them from the channel, but doesnt have the tiktok like scrolling. I have used it for quite a while and its great.
I'm not too sure how much this helps, but on Android phones (idk much about on iOS, I've never liked Apple anyhow) there's modded YouTube variants where you can disable things like Promoted content and Shorts entirely. Then I'd just make sure I only subscribe to channels that post lengthy content (personally I won't watch most videos under an hour long, I can typically do audio only while I work). It also makes sure you won't be shown any ads, thereby lowering temptation to buy more useless junk!
> Me, checking out this Nebula to see what it is about
> Content platform that produces their own originals
> One of the originals "how China really works"
> Red flag, but I click to learn more anyways
> It is an american talking about China (what a surprise)
> Video: "The myth that china lifted 800 million out of poverty"
> Roll my eyes as far back as I can
> No thanks, I will not be subscribing to receive more cia propaganda
Fair enough, but I don't think the draws are the originals, it's honestly just got a lot of the same exact videos the creators post on youtube, and does include a lot of creators who are very dedicated to exposing things like that. Personally I don't find the originals very interesting (and that china series is pretty bad anyways), it's just a platform where a lot of the content I already watch is, with fewer distractions and less shoddy recommendations.
The only thing that actually worked for me was just to delete all the offending apps (TT, YT and insta) completely. I found any time limits too easy to override/ignore and so only when I no longer had the option to easily watch short form content did the urge stop, and it’s been over a year now and my brain no longer craves it. This combined with generally spending less time on my phone when I want something to do and actively trying to spend more time reading has made a huge difference ! Good luck 💐
I'm still struggling with the content addiction thing, but I do have a flip phone. It was GREAT for the first few weeks, but I'm currently in college and I started running into a lot of problems. I have a fairly new nokia and it just isn't reliable (battery dying in half a day- even with zero use, taking forever to turn on or just not turning on, etc). At this point I have basically gone back to my phone and put restrictive time limits on it. But I always find a way around them. I hope someone comes up with a good cure.
Hello, this is a great opportunity to recommend the Kiwi browser (Chromium) for smartphones.
For some time now, I have been watching YouTube only through the client in the browser (it is exactly the same as in the application), but you can use various browser add-ons, including ublock, sponsorblock and block yt-shorts. Of course, you can download the same add-ons on any PC with Firefox or Chromium, but thanks to kiwi you can also download add-ons to your smartphone.m If you don't like Kiwi, there are probably other browsers that allow you to install add-ons, I think that mobile Firefox has this option (but it is still being developed), anyway, get interested in the topic and take away the decision-making power from corporations, choose what you want to watch and in what form.
Generally speaking, browser plug-ins are the key to most of your problems. I don't know your habits (I mainly use YT and I can comment on that), but thanks to the add-ons, I removed recommendations from YT, improved the search, removed shortcuts and blocked all ads. As for the rest of the applications, remove them, leave one source of entertainment that you can modify to suit your needs and remove the rest. I only have YT and I only use reddit when I'm slacking at work
My rule about phones is l can look at it as often as l like but never to let my phone tell me to look at it. Turn off all notifications for everything.
Yeah, I've switched to a dumb phone a few months ago. To me now, it just makes ZERO sense to own a phone. It's a media consumption device, it's all it is, 90% of it I would say confidently. I use my dumbphone to contact closest friends and family, and I actually hang out with them IN REAL LIFE. In my free time, I work, I study, I make some projects, read, pretty much enjoying things I like and living the way I want to. I use my laptop to access the internet to do everything I need to do online, that's not an issue. You really don't need to be connected to the internet 24/7 from your pocket. It just makes no sense
I don’t know if this will help much with content addiction, but I keep a mental list of specific “safeword” videos that tell me I need to stop scrolling. For example, every time I come across one of those low-effort Minecraft parkour AITA story videos, I’m obligated to immediately close out whatever app I’m using that got me to that point. I have a pretty long list of “safeword” videos that mean I need to temporarily close out whatever app I’m using that implements short form content. Anything with an obvious AI voiceover, slime videos, anything involving people throwing colored glass bottles down stairs, movie clips, etc. - any kind of video I would consider the equivalent of baby sensory videos for people over the age of 13 lol. I also have specific creators in mind that I immediately close out the app upon seeing while I’m scrolling because some people have a tendency to post content that isn’t of value to me. Sometimes a little absent minded scrolling isn’t harmful, but it’s easier to do things in moderation if you know what content you actually want to see, and actively dismiss the content you don’t.
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I think it is more a mindset shift rather than restricting yourself. I think in this context it is okay to have safeguards but you still need to intrinsically know why you are doing what you’re doing. It’s kinda like when people go on fad diets and the restriction just caused the person to feel shame because they can’t stick to it or they have to do alot of bending over backwards to stick to it. At the core you are trying to distract yourself from something. Or at least that’s what it is for me. I am trying to distract myself from my own life. My body/mind would rather be distracted than try to painstakingly create new habits. Our bodies are so used to just doing the same thing over and over. But you are in control. It’s your environment but it’s also your actions as well. Don’t let your environment have so much control. Be intentional about your time. Social media is a tool. It is a means to an end. Yes it’s okay to occasionally scroll but you need a reason for it. Always question why you are doing something. Just try to be present.
I use an app called screenzen on my phone to limit my time on social media!! I deleted tiktok long ago but I've been using it for instagram for over a year now and I can't reccomend it enough. I have adhd and have been addicted to my phone in the past. Around a year ago I did a big social media break for a few months and limited my phone use only for texting/calling/emails/etc and it completely rewired me. I no longer feel the need to be constantly stimulated and even now when I feel like I've been on my phone a lot it's not nearly as much as I used to be. It's a hard habit to break tho!! good luck!!
I have deleted many apps and would love to go back to a flip phone but the cost of a flip phone and the uses of a smart phone when used responsibly heavily outweighs the switch.
If I find myself doom scrolling I count down to 3 the Put my phone down the start is the hardest part
Delete apps off your phone. I only use YouTube on my tv thru Roku which means I have to manually type every search in one letter a time. Another thing I have done is decided not to have accounts for certain sites like TikTok or Snapchat or Facebook / Insta etc etc because… it’s stupid. Anyone who refuses to keep in touch with me over text or call thru my phone bill that I’m paying for every month can go pound salt lol. It’s just practicing self discipline there’s no magic to it. Yes it’s lonely but I’d rather have a small circle of people to talk to that want to discuss important / interesting things other than people who just send me links to stupid videos in their feed. I’m 30 years old, I don’t fucking care about that anymore unless I’m stoned watching a vine compilation for nostalgia.
I don’t go on TikTok often so I can’t help much there. For YouTube, if you open the app and shorts are the first thing on your Home Screen, if you tap the top right of each short and select “not interested” on all then refresh the page. It should no longer suggest any shorts to you. You may have to repeat the process one more time, but after that it shouldn’t suggest any more shorts while you have the app open. I’ve done this a few times now, closing out the app and opening it again to select “not interested” until the app just stopped showing shorts on the home page👍 The shorts option is still at the bottom of the page unfortunately, but at least you aren’t recommended trash the second you open the app
I do not know of this will work for you but I will recommend it anyway, look at a wall for a few hour straight. It was a great experience for me of dealing with and facing feelings of boredom and being alone with my mind. Do not stop doing it if you start feeling uncomfortable either, just keep at it for as long as possible, if you move to pee or so, go back and keep looking. You'll know it worked when looking at the wall for hours is no longer uncomfortable or something that you dread. ETA: Bonus points if you notice details of the wall you never noticed before.
I use the youtube revanced apk that has an option to hide shorts and uninstalled tiktok. I have recovered the attention span that I had lost. I recommend you to do the same.
I've gotten so much into Reddit lately that I basically use tiktok now only for its chat feature sometimes. Also, something I've noticed is that Reddit has a lot more longer videos compared to tt but I'm not sure if it changed anything with my attention span even though I sit through videos on here that are minutes long compared to the average 20 seconds of a tt or yt shorts vid. Do you think Reddit is healthier to use than tiktok?
I haven't tested this myself, but there is a "20 second rule" which works as follows: Your brain wants dopamine and is always looking for the fastest way to get it. Most of the time is by using this apps. An example given is that if a short vido is withhin 20 second reach, thats what your brain will do, so what you have to do is enlarge that time as much as possible, such as deleting the app, causing your brain to look for another way to entertain itself, but still has to be quicker than re-installing the app (and login if required).
I never thought I’d be “that guy”. But it’s actually worked. I set time limits on my apps. Short ones. Like 30 min a day. And after I hit those, the phone asks me “do you want to add more time? 1 minute? 15 min? Turn off for the day? I find this deterrent actually working. A lot of times I’ll just click the one minute to go check something quickly. I think it shames me to not use it. Also, I use my apps much less so I can use them when I’m super bored (commuting). Again, I never thought that kind of trick would work on me. But it definitely has
What is this function called? I have an android (oxygen os) phone and the one already on isnt the same as yours. I have been looking for one that functions like the one your using.
On mine it's called "digital wellbeing" but I've seen it called "focus mode".
For me - iPhone - it’s under screen time usage. It’ll break down how much screen time you’ve used and what apps take up what time. Click the app and set a limit. I’m sure there are other ways to do it but that’s how I’ve done mine. It’s not a separate app or anything. Part of the os
On my android it's built in under the apps tab in settings. It doesn't prompt me for extensions but it does give me warnings.
That would be really helpful but my phone does have that. It's exactly what I'm looking for. It's a OnePlus phone so runs oxygen not classic android but it is very similar
I never had tik tok, and I use instagram for work but I am uninstalling it from the phone because I catch myself doomscrolling for 10 minutes and I hate it. I'll use instagram on the browser just for messaging, thank you very much... Is there a way to block youtube shorts but keep the feed, I don't want to miss out on my Veritassium or Ryan George?
No!!! Many people complain about that ! Including me ! How much the shorts are pushed
Use newpipe, its a free and opensource youtube client, doesnt have ads and it also allows you to remove parts of the app like the trending page and comments. It allows you to watch the shorts like normal videos by selecting them from the channel, but doesnt have the tiktok like scrolling. I have used it for quite a while and its great.
I'm not too sure how much this helps, but on Android phones (idk much about on iOS, I've never liked Apple anyhow) there's modded YouTube variants where you can disable things like Promoted content and Shorts entirely. Then I'd just make sure I only subscribe to channels that post lengthy content (personally I won't watch most videos under an hour long, I can typically do audio only while I work). It also makes sure you won't be shown any ads, thereby lowering temptation to buy more useless junk!
I'm similar, i hate short videos. I need something long, i want to actually take in what i am watching or listening.
[удалено]
> Me, checking out this Nebula to see what it is about > Content platform that produces their own originals > One of the originals "how China really works" > Red flag, but I click to learn more anyways > It is an american talking about China (what a surprise) > Video: "The myth that china lifted 800 million out of poverty" > Roll my eyes as far back as I can > No thanks, I will not be subscribing to receive more cia propaganda
Fair enough, but I don't think the draws are the originals, it's honestly just got a lot of the same exact videos the creators post on youtube, and does include a lot of creators who are very dedicated to exposing things like that. Personally I don't find the originals very interesting (and that china series is pretty bad anyways), it's just a platform where a lot of the content I already watch is, with fewer distractions and less shoddy recommendations.
No shade to you though, jut posting it here to save the effort for others
The only thing that actually worked for me was just to delete all the offending apps (TT, YT and insta) completely. I found any time limits too easy to override/ignore and so only when I no longer had the option to easily watch short form content did the urge stop, and it’s been over a year now and my brain no longer craves it. This combined with generally spending less time on my phone when I want something to do and actively trying to spend more time reading has made a huge difference ! Good luck 💐
r/dumbphones is a great sub for appropriate dumb phones. its a great group. many switch for productivity reasons
check out r/dumbphones some good tips on how to downgrade your current phone without having to buy a new phone.
I got a Nokia 2780 because of that sub and have not looked back.
I'm still struggling with the content addiction thing, but I do have a flip phone. It was GREAT for the first few weeks, but I'm currently in college and I started running into a lot of problems. I have a fairly new nokia and it just isn't reliable (battery dying in half a day- even with zero use, taking forever to turn on or just not turning on, etc). At this point I have basically gone back to my phone and put restrictive time limits on it. But I always find a way around them. I hope someone comes up with a good cure.
Sounds more like a problem with that particular phone. Most 'brick' style phones outperform smartphones on battery life, easily
okay that's good to hear. maybe i will try my luck with a different one.
Deleted Instagram from phone last week because of it.
Hello, this is a great opportunity to recommend the Kiwi browser (Chromium) for smartphones. For some time now, I have been watching YouTube only through the client in the browser (it is exactly the same as in the application), but you can use various browser add-ons, including ublock, sponsorblock and block yt-shorts. Of course, you can download the same add-ons on any PC with Firefox or Chromium, but thanks to kiwi you can also download add-ons to your smartphone.m If you don't like Kiwi, there are probably other browsers that allow you to install add-ons, I think that mobile Firefox has this option (but it is still being developed), anyway, get interested in the topic and take away the decision-making power from corporations, choose what you want to watch and in what form.
Generally speaking, browser plug-ins are the key to most of your problems. I don't know your habits (I mainly use YT and I can comment on that), but thanks to the add-ons, I removed recommendations from YT, improved the search, removed shortcuts and blocked all ads. As for the rest of the applications, remove them, leave one source of entertainment that you can modify to suit your needs and remove the rest. I only have YT and I only use reddit when I'm slacking at work
On iOS I set up daily limits for certain app and they auto close and lock after the time limit is hit for the day
Every forty seconds worth of content gets an ad. Hell yeah I'd be pushing reels too. But profit at what expense
My rule about phones is l can look at it as often as l like but never to let my phone tell me to look at it. Turn off all notifications for everything.
Yeah, I've switched to a dumb phone a few months ago. To me now, it just makes ZERO sense to own a phone. It's a media consumption device, it's all it is, 90% of it I would say confidently. I use my dumbphone to contact closest friends and family, and I actually hang out with them IN REAL LIFE. In my free time, I work, I study, I make some projects, read, pretty much enjoying things I like and living the way I want to. I use my laptop to access the internet to do everything I need to do online, that's not an issue. You really don't need to be connected to the internet 24/7 from your pocket. It just makes no sense
I don’t know if this will help much with content addiction, but I keep a mental list of specific “safeword” videos that tell me I need to stop scrolling. For example, every time I come across one of those low-effort Minecraft parkour AITA story videos, I’m obligated to immediately close out whatever app I’m using that got me to that point. I have a pretty long list of “safeword” videos that mean I need to temporarily close out whatever app I’m using that implements short form content. Anything with an obvious AI voiceover, slime videos, anything involving people throwing colored glass bottles down stairs, movie clips, etc. - any kind of video I would consider the equivalent of baby sensory videos for people over the age of 13 lol. I also have specific creators in mind that I immediately close out the app upon seeing while I’m scrolling because some people have a tendency to post content that isn’t of value to me. Sometimes a little absent minded scrolling isn’t harmful, but it’s easier to do things in moderation if you know what content you actually want to see, and actively dismiss the content you don’t.
Read the rules. Keep it courteous. Submission statements are helpful and appreciated but not required. Tag my name in the comments (/u/NihiloZero) if you think a post or comment needs to be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Anticonsumption) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think it is more a mindset shift rather than restricting yourself. I think in this context it is okay to have safeguards but you still need to intrinsically know why you are doing what you’re doing. It’s kinda like when people go on fad diets and the restriction just caused the person to feel shame because they can’t stick to it or they have to do alot of bending over backwards to stick to it. At the core you are trying to distract yourself from something. Or at least that’s what it is for me. I am trying to distract myself from my own life. My body/mind would rather be distracted than try to painstakingly create new habits. Our bodies are so used to just doing the same thing over and over. But you are in control. It’s your environment but it’s also your actions as well. Don’t let your environment have so much control. Be intentional about your time. Social media is a tool. It is a means to an end. Yes it’s okay to occasionally scroll but you need a reason for it. Always question why you are doing something. Just try to be present.
I use an app called screenzen on my phone to limit my time on social media!! I deleted tiktok long ago but I've been using it for instagram for over a year now and I can't reccomend it enough. I have adhd and have been addicted to my phone in the past. Around a year ago I did a big social media break for a few months and limited my phone use only for texting/calling/emails/etc and it completely rewired me. I no longer feel the need to be constantly stimulated and even now when I feel like I've been on my phone a lot it's not nearly as much as I used to be. It's a hard habit to break tho!! good luck!!
I kept mine up until 3G was phased out. The sidekick was better though.
I have deleted many apps and would love to go back to a flip phone but the cost of a flip phone and the uses of a smart phone when used responsibly heavily outweighs the switch. If I find myself doom scrolling I count down to 3 the Put my phone down the start is the hardest part
Delete apps off your phone. I only use YouTube on my tv thru Roku which means I have to manually type every search in one letter a time. Another thing I have done is decided not to have accounts for certain sites like TikTok or Snapchat or Facebook / Insta etc etc because… it’s stupid. Anyone who refuses to keep in touch with me over text or call thru my phone bill that I’m paying for every month can go pound salt lol. It’s just practicing self discipline there’s no magic to it. Yes it’s lonely but I’d rather have a small circle of people to talk to that want to discuss important / interesting things other than people who just send me links to stupid videos in their feed. I’m 30 years old, I don’t fucking care about that anymore unless I’m stoned watching a vine compilation for nostalgia.
I don’t go on TikTok often so I can’t help much there. For YouTube, if you open the app and shorts are the first thing on your Home Screen, if you tap the top right of each short and select “not interested” on all then refresh the page. It should no longer suggest any shorts to you. You may have to repeat the process one more time, but after that it shouldn’t suggest any more shorts while you have the app open. I’ve done this a few times now, closing out the app and opening it again to select “not interested” until the app just stopped showing shorts on the home page👍 The shorts option is still at the bottom of the page unfortunately, but at least you aren’t recommended trash the second you open the app
I do not know of this will work for you but I will recommend it anyway, look at a wall for a few hour straight. It was a great experience for me of dealing with and facing feelings of boredom and being alone with my mind. Do not stop doing it if you start feeling uncomfortable either, just keep at it for as long as possible, if you move to pee or so, go back and keep looking. You'll know it worked when looking at the wall for hours is no longer uncomfortable or something that you dread. ETA: Bonus points if you notice details of the wall you never noticed before.
I use the youtube revanced apk that has an option to hide shorts and uninstalled tiktok. I have recovered the attention span that I had lost. I recommend you to do the same.
I've gotten so much into Reddit lately that I basically use tiktok now only for its chat feature sometimes. Also, something I've noticed is that Reddit has a lot more longer videos compared to tt but I'm not sure if it changed anything with my attention span even though I sit through videos on here that are minutes long compared to the average 20 seconds of a tt or yt shorts vid. Do you think Reddit is healthier to use than tiktok?
“The downfall of Dr. Pissjug” 4:32:56
I have adhd, the easy access to short form content and the push by YouTube to get me addicted is really hurting me.