4 ms·

Screen addiction is a thing for me, I'm addicted to my phone computer and tv and i don't know how to manage it. I know its just an escape mean for me, a tool t

Screen addiction is a thing for me, I'm addicted to my phone computer and tv and i don't know how to manage it. I know its just an escape mean for me, a tool to not be there but it stop me from doing other more interesting stuff

wffurr 3mo ago
Set small achievable goals and hold yourself accountable.
Jtarii 3mo ago
The easiest way to counter it is just leave your phone at home and take a book and go to a public bench and read. You will quickly condition your brain to no longer need to constantly be looking at a screen to be happy. Your environment is your destiny, if your environment is littered with distractions you will be distracted.
- galleywest200 3mo ago
  Even when at home I try to keep my phone in my nightstand drawer. Sure I can go grab it, but that bookshelf is a lot closer to my lounge areas.
- Barrin92 3mo ago
  >Your environment is your destiny, if your environment is littered with distractions you will be distracted. I can't remember which author it was right now but they made the point about weight loss. You will hear countless of stories of people saying "I spent six months in this US city with great restaurants, man I gained 30 pounds", but you never hears someone trying to lose weight by moving to a place where people are thin. People spend tens of billions on individualized life hacks, diets, training programs, gyms and half the population is obese. In Japan barely anyone is obese and you ask the average person why they're thin and they just shrug, have never spend a buck on a personal trainer. If you ever plotted effort against outcomes from people who promote "individual willpower" as a solution to everything I don't think you could come up with a worse program. Surround yourself with the people and places you want to be like, that's all you need to do.
  - nemomarx 3mo ago
    The simplest version of this, which I did myself, is just to have less food in the house. Stop buying snacks, only get items you have a planned meal for, and you spend a lot less willpower resisting the temptation to grab stuff while you're already in the kitchen or etc. It's harder to modify what restaurants and online orders are available to you, but maybe you can work up to blocking or uninstalling those apps or something?
    - SoftTalker 3mo ago
      A big thing that helped me was just to start cooking/preparing most of my meals myself. Restaurant portions are usually too big and they load up the food with sugar and sodium to make you eat more of it and still want dessert. It's easy to learn how to make an interesting variety of simple dishes with a relatively small number of staple ingredients. It doesn't end up taking more time than going out or waiting on DoorDash.
JumpCrisscross 3mo ago
Recapitulating an old comment. Start by quitting all algorithmic, ad-driven social media. Going cold turkey is never easy. If you're having trouble withdrawing, consider what I did over for Facebook over a decade ago: 1. Turn off notifications for the Facebook (read: your main social media) app on your phone; then 2. Turn off notifications for the Facebook Messenger, Instagram, et cetera apps (read: all other social media) on your phone; next 3. Delete the Facebook app from your phone; then 4. Delete the Facebook Messenger, Instagram, et cetera apps from your phone; and finally 5. Log out of Facebook on your desktop. It took me 2 years to go through from step 1 to step 5. It has made me happier and more productive. I still have a Facebook account. But the friction of grabbing my laptop and logging in forces me to consider "is this what I want to do? Or am I thoughtlessly reaching for the crack pipe?" (It's been about a decade since I've cared to log into Facebook. Last time I tried, it felt like trudging through spam in an old e-mail inbox more than anything compelling.)
colechristensen 3mo ago
Observe the sabbath. Not in a religious way, just have a no screens day every week, once a month, or just once. You can get by one day without texting, looking for directions, getting an answer from google, ordering takeout, etc. etc. etc. Set yourself a boundary, no phones unless there's a fire or somebody needs to go to the hospital and stick to it. Make a schedule.
maipen 3mo ago
Screen addiction is a funny term that made realize that it’s the perfect term for this. I remember in a recent city blackout, me and other people , that didn't have internet or comms, would instinctively pull out their phones and open apps knowingly that there is no connection. I wonder what’s this about??

wffurr 3mo ago

Set small achievable goals and hold yourself accountable.

Jtarii 3mo ago

The easiest way to counter it is just leave your phone at home and take a book and go to a public bench and read. You will quickly condition your brain to no longer need to constantly be looking at a screen to be happy. Your environment is your destiny, if your environment is littered with distractions you will be distracted.

galleywest200 3mo ago
Even when at home I try to keep my phone in my nightstand drawer. Sure I can go grab it, but that bookshelf is a lot closer to my lounge areas.
Barrin92 3mo ago
>Your environment is your destiny, if your environment is littered with distractions you will be distracted. I can't remember which author it was right now but they made the point about weight loss. You will hear countless of stories of people saying "I spent six months in this US city with great restaurants, man I gained 30 pounds", but you never hears someone trying to lose weight by moving to a place where people are thin. People spend tens of billions on individualized life hacks, diets, training programs, gyms and half the population is obese. In Japan barely anyone is obese and you ask the average person why they're thin and they just shrug, have never spend a buck on a personal trainer. If you ever plotted effort against outcomes from people who promote "individual willpower" as a solution to everything I don't think you could come up with a worse program. Surround yourself with the people and places you want to be like, that's all you need to do.
- nemomarx 3mo ago
  The simplest version of this, which I did myself, is just to have less food in the house. Stop buying snacks, only get items you have a planned meal for, and you spend a lot less willpower resisting the temptation to grab stuff while you're already in the kitchen or etc. It's harder to modify what restaurants and online orders are available to you, but maybe you can work up to blocking or uninstalling those apps or something?
  - SoftTalker 3mo ago
    A big thing that helped me was just to start cooking/preparing most of my meals myself. Restaurant portions are usually too big and they load up the food with sugar and sodium to make you eat more of it and still want dessert. It's easy to learn how to make an interesting variety of simple dishes with a relatively small number of staple ingredients. It doesn't end up taking more time than going out or waiting on DoorDash.

JumpCrisscross 3mo ago

Recapitulating an old comment. Start by quitting all algorithmic, ad-driven social media. Going cold turkey is never easy. If you're having trouble withdrawing, consider what I did over for Facebook over a decade ago: 1. Turn off notifications for the Facebook (read: your main social media) app on your phone; then 2. Turn off notifications for the Facebook Messenger, Instagram, et cetera apps (read: all other social media) on your phone; next 3. Delete the Facebook app from your phone; then 4. Delete the Facebook Messenger, Instagram, et cetera apps from your phone; and finally 5. Log out of Facebook on your desktop. It took me 2 years to go through from step 1 to step 5. It has made me happier and more productive. I still have a Facebook account. But the friction of grabbing my laptop and logging in forces me to consider "is this what I want to do? Or am I thoughtlessly reaching for the crack pipe?" (It's been about a decade since I've cared to log into Facebook. Last time I tried, it felt like trudging through spam in an old e-mail inbox more than anything compelling.)

colechristensen 3mo ago

Observe the sabbath. Not in a religious way, just have a no screens day every week, once a month, or just once. You can get by one day without texting, looking for directions, getting an answer from google, ordering takeout, etc. etc. etc. Set yourself a boundary, no phones unless there's a fire or somebody needs to go to the hospital and stick to it. Make a schedule.

maipen 3mo ago

Screen addiction is a funny term that made realize that it’s the perfect term for this. I remember in a recent city blackout, me and other people , that didn't have internet or comms, would instinctively pull out their phones and open apps knowingly that there is no connection. I wonder what’s this about??