5 ms·

I fall into video game binges rather easily, and what's been helping me a lot is a practice of intentionality & timers. It's a combination of advice from my psy

I fall into video game binges rather easily, and what's been helping me a lot is a practice of intentionality & timers. It's a combination of advice from my psychiatrist and therapist, and it's pretty straightforward. Before doing a thing - particularly things I can easily lose myself in, like doom scrolling - I take a few moments and ask myself what I want out of that time, which naturally dovetails into how long I want to spend at it. Maybe it's ten minutes. Maybe it's three hours. Then I set a timer for that long, and when the timer goes off, (notionally) I halt, walk away from the thing for another few moments and re-evaluate. Maybe I go back. Maybe I don't. Maybe I go back after doing something else for a few minutes (say, loading a dishwasher). One of the key bits it to not judge myself or my wants. If I want to binge Factorio for a day... like, alright. I'll do that, even if I know later-me won't like having done that. No judgment, no beating myself up about it. Another key bit seems to be not not doing the thing. That's a hard fight. AFAICT it's one part awareness, one part wedging in some mental/emotional space to make choices inside the habit loop (stimulus -> response -> reward), and one part good old fashioned habit-loop interruption (AFAIK if you literally add breaths-worth of time to each step in the habit loop, it drastically diminishes the oomph of what's happening neurologically). The magic seems to happen in two forms: 1. "Taking control of my time." - Even if I'm making the same choices, now, my experience is that I am making them, instead of "them" making me. 2. "Stopping before you're tired means you don't start the next thing exhausted". Previously I'd binge until I beyond exhausted my enjoyment of the thing. Now I have a way to do a thing while I'm enjoying it, and stop once I no longer am. PS - I've also started wondering if this is whatever the hell people actually meant when they talked about "time management" when I was kid, but no-one actually ever explained.

ajd1988 3y ago
As devs we could create an app that sets a timer for social media use and then shocks you with a mild electric shock every time you exceed your set limit! We'll call it the Zapchat or the Zapper and we guarantee it'll be SHOCKING how effective it is at keep us from looking at our screens every 5 min
- TedDoesntTalk 3y ago
  I mean, why not just lock the device instead? If only there was a way to lock for X minutes without the ability to unlock…
- 1123581321 3y ago
  That already exists. https://shop.pavlok.com/pages/pavlok-homepage/ https://shop.pavlok.com/pages/pavlok-homepage/ You can combine it with a service like Beeminder to both shock you and part you with your money to make sure all the motivation centers are hit. :)
all2 3y ago
> Another key bit seems to be not not doing the thing. That's a hard fight. I was told to replace bad habits with other things. It didn't have to be some "good habit", but there had to be something else to fill the void left by the thing I wasn't doing. I had a list (I still have it somewhere) of healthy things that I enjoy, that I can do instead of falling into a porn binge (its been almost 5 years since I last willingly looked at porn) or a YouTube hole (that's been less than a week, small steps). Having a list of other things to do, things I enjoy, made stopping unhealthy habits a lot easier. I didn't strap myself to "being more productive", rather I just replaced bad habits that produce dopamine hits with enjoyable things that produce dopamine hits.
- andrepd 3y ago
  >I was told to replace bad habits with other things. It didn't have to be some "good habit", but there had to be something else to fill the void left by the thing I wasn't doing Ding ding. I'm precisely in the process of replacing my brainless reddit scrolling with old retro games on an emulator. The point is precisely that I'm not about to replace an absolutely brainless activity with reading literature or learning category theory. I'm replacing the brainless way I use to wind down with a more constructive/"structured" way to wind down.

ajd1988 3y ago

As devs we could create an app that sets a timer for social media use and then shocks you with a mild electric shock every time you exceed your set limit! We'll call it the Zapchat or the Zapper and we guarantee it'll be SHOCKING how effective it is at keep us from looking at our screens every 5 min

TedDoesntTalk 3y ago
I mean, why not just lock the device instead? If only there was a way to lock for X minutes without the ability to unlock…
1123581321 3y ago
That already exists. https://shop.pavlok.com/pages/pavlok-homepage/ https://shop.pavlok.com/pages/pavlok-homepage/ You can combine it with a service like Beeminder to both shock you and part you with your money to make sure all the motivation centers are hit. :)

all2 3y ago

> Another key bit seems to be not not doing the thing. That's a hard fight. I was told to replace bad habits with other things. It didn't have to be some "good habit", but there had to be something else to fill the void left by the thing I wasn't doing. I had a list (I still have it somewhere) of healthy things that I enjoy, that I can do instead of falling into a porn binge (its been almost 5 years since I last willingly looked at porn) or a YouTube hole (that's been less than a week, small steps). Having a list of other things to do, things I enjoy, made stopping unhealthy habits a lot easier. I didn't strap myself to "being more productive", rather I just replaced bad habits that produce dopamine hits with enjoyable things that produce dopamine hits.

andrepd 3y ago
>I was told to replace bad habits with other things. It didn't have to be some "good habit", but there had to be something else to fill the void left by the thing I wasn't doing Ding ding. I'm precisely in the process of replacing my brainless reddit scrolling with old retro games on an emulator. The point is precisely that I'm not about to replace an absolutely brainless activity with reading literature or learning category theory. I'm replacing the brainless way I use to wind down with a more constructive/"structured" way to wind down.