What worked for me was to switch off all notifications, remove all bookmarks/shortcuts and gradually stop checking.

This too was a problem for me (and sometimes continues to be). I've been using `hosts` (https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts) to block all of the social sites so I have to rethink my decision to visit one. It's enough of a hiccup to stop the mindlessness of it. Thankfully, Hacker News still feels valuable and worth the time I spend on it.

It took some time and effort. We started with TV about a year ago. I was talking to my wife and I mentioned how today I watched some news and some shows and after I finished I couldn't remember what I had watched but that I was in a negative mood. I told her I was going to turn off the TV and save the money per year. She said okay, and I did. For a few weeks I would sit down to watch shows etc, and then realized I couldn't. I started doing more important things and deep working more often.

Eventually, I said hey, we should do this with our son. So we did, he had the same problem, took about 2 months before he started drawing, building, tinkering. After getting all this free time back I decided to cut off all notifications on my phone except phone calls and text messages.

It was hard giving up my Instagram account, which I had grown to over 500 followers for my pottery side work, but even though I wasn't much of an Instagram person, I still would find myself checking it randomly when I was bored. Each thing I cut off helped with the next thing. Once I got all this stuff cut off, I realized that the important things I wanted to know about in the world I could just directly check their website once a week and be good to go. So I usually start my Monday off with my deep work in the morning, then I read things that are important to me.

What is amazing is when you cut it all off, how much you still think about it. You reach for your phone then realize you uninstalled all addictive apps. It has been a long time now, and sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night, I still reach for my phone before realizing the only thing on my phone is my email and I only get email from personal people as I have unsubscribed from everything that isn't positively influencing my life. This includes marketing stuff because they are just really good at making me want things that I don't need.

I know I sound absolutely crazy, but this AskHN question really sparked my interest. I tell people all the time who ask me why I am so happy, positive, etc, and I tell them, "I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, I do some sort of exercise daily(mostly gardening right now), and I am not on any social media, negative news, and I have no TV." People will look at you like your absolutely nuts, but let them, I feel 1000x better than I have ever felt in my entire life. If you want a place to start, just take your phone, uninstall anything that you feel you need to check that doesn't:

1. Make you money

2. Brighten your day 100% of the time when you open it

3. Isn't a huge time suck for no mental or physical gain

Once you do this, DON'T go back. Surround yourself with things you love, eat good food, exercise and spend time in the sunlight. Any politics you feel strongly about, find their website and check it when you start your week or end your week.

Last of all, you can do it!

I stopped using Twitter and switched to the weekly print copy of The Economist for news. It means you're slightly behind, but anything you learn you learn more deeply. And a lot of up-to-the-minute stuff is just needless button-pushing anyway.