It's become second nature to Ctrl+T and 'fa' for facebook, 'news' for HackerNews, 'red' for reddit, etc. that I barely notice I'm doing it.
I also regularly stay up another hour instead of going to sleep, "to catch up" on things that really don't matter or I can view tomorrow.
Also, it might help to know that your body is craving the immediate dopamine rush it gets from Facebook or news. The trick is to find something more rewarding and that usually comes from starting as small as possible. Try doing 1 pushup, reading 1 page of a book, taking a 5 min walk, etc. Sometimes these little pattern disruptions can be the spark that lights the fire.
It's not easy to change our behavior, but it is possible if you want to and it sounds like you do.
Here are some resources I found useful:
Wait But Why - https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrasti...
(visuals / cartoons)
Stoic Philosophy - https://youtube.com/watch?v=A0XxceO4qX0
(step by step process)
If you're mindlessly switching to websites to browse them, it could be best to just block them on your work computer. If you really want to catch up with the news, use your phone or a different computer.
Separating the environments will help you keep your focus where you want it to be.
An idea to make it more difficult might be to setup a firewall on a separate device (that's linking your computer and your uplink) and maybe setup authentication to that device to require a yubikey or even just a flash drive with an key inside. That way you must do the physical act of pulling out that key if you want to unblock those sites.
Wherever you put that key, try to forbid yourself from reaching for it.
I use SelfControl and it is life-changing.
- I permanently deleted my Facebook account
- I block certain sites in /etc/hosts. My /etc/hosts file also blocks several hundred Facebook tracking urls, and I scatter the “tempting” sites randomly throughout these so that unblocking them requires more than muscle memory
- I change the passwords on the tempting sites to random strings but don't save them so the only way in is to do a password reset
- I use content blockers
- I excoriate myself in a journal entry each day (this hasn't worked yet, but I keep on doing it)
These things sorta slightly work in that they slow me down for a second and give me a chance to consider whether I really want to visit [website]. However, my lizard brain tends to adapt pretty quickly, and disabling the blocks gets incorporated into muscle memory as well.
So I think my solution will have to involve zen-like self-discipline as opposed to hacks. I keep telling myself I want to give it all up for good, to become a person who makes things instead of a person who consumes things, who reads books instead of surfing the internet. My solution will have to be simply deciding to change.
That's not me, but it's the list I use.
Fail to see how this will help
Rescuetime is also similar but I think it was more of a reporting app than blocking app.
Anyway my addiction was reddit (facebook, twitter never appealed to me in the first place) and my niravan was an openwrt router that my brother gifted me. It had a hosts blocker and i changed the password to unknown. Only way to get back was to do a hard reset and that meant doing umpteen setting up tasks like ppoe, adguard, hosts, etc which made it quite a friction. The only workaround was browsing on 4g and thankfully 4g here is very slow which made browsing ridiculous. Soon the addiction was cured.
In fact I think temporary internet deprivation is a decent way to describe meditation to most people in this era. But it's not just a deprivation because you'll probably find it quite interesting.
Maybe you'll feel a bit restless, but then remember you're on a trip, it's like you're camping, you need to amuse yourself. Maybe have a bath. Tidy a bit. Maybe even clean your downloads folder. Light a candle. Sit on the floor for a while. See what happens.
Offline life is a pretty good place to enjoy some coziness. The internet usually isn't very cozy. And coziness is nice. It's not like without internet you'll be actually suffering. It's kinda nice.
And then it's "just" a matter of habits. Getting acquainted with the niceness of offline life seems like a necessary first step to start forming any kind of offline habit.
I'm curious in what ways the internet could be made more cozy (?)
In a sea of pushed content, I actually find harder to find things I'm genuinely interested in. This may have turned a generation of curious minds into passive consumers.
For example, the paginated list on HN's home page is great: I've never needed to move to page 2, whereas if it has been an infinite list, I'd probably spend way too long there.
I expect it varies from person to person.
Unfortunately the lack of context when using text-based communication leaves interpretation errors wide open, and with it come the emotional responses we know and loathe (from angry texting to trolls to flat earthers).
Therefore since the internet is mostly text-based, it's probably better to leave the arguing off it for the moment. But I think the problem is not limited to the internet.
The specific thing I'd add to the comments already here is four things that have worked for me. These are more about phones specifically than internet addiction in general, but I think they help with that larger topic too:
1. I bought a travel alarm clock. At night, I leave my phone downstairs. Having an alarm clock means I can no longer use the excuse "I just need the alarm function on my phone." This also helps in the morning as I literally can't just wake up and go online.
2. I removed Facebook from my phone. If I were on twitter, etc I'd remove those too. Communication is better from a keyboard anyway -- I'm on social media less frequently, and when I'm on I have an input device that actually supports writing full thoughts and sentences.
3. For web sites, I stay logged off on my phone. Similar to above, though less drastic than making those sites completely inaccessible on my phone. I still browse, say, Hacker News, but there's now often a forced wait between reading and replying.
4. I have a small phone (iPhone SE). It feels "cozy" (to one commentor's point about making the internet a more cozy place) since it actually fits nicely in my hand and pockets.
I guess I'll throw in another point too -- I experiment with different ways to change my environment. I think that's the real trick, more so than even the above -- I came to those through trial and error. Try changing something, and use the results of that to inform what you try next. Recurse to improvement. Good luck.
Edit: realised I should have left some tips for others in this thread as it's something I have been working on recently myself. Two things to add that I've found help:
- Making the bedroom an electronics-free zone. Bought an analog alarm clock for waking up and leave my phone in another room to charge overnight. I also try and read for an hour before bed to cut down on screen time.
- Installed the app Quality Time which has the ability to limit app and phone usage for scheduled times or when desired.
As for podcasts, I listen to them when I am not in a position to be creative, e.g I am not going to write code when I am driving, or vaccuming the house, or shopping, etc.
I am also a developer and I've found one thing that I've enjoyed recently is revisiting old projects where the client and I disagreed on the execution and building it out the way I wanted to. It's fun to test your assumptions and also gives you more perspective when you build things in the future.
If you use AWS, sign up to acloud.guru for a couple of months and get an AWS certification.
Bottom line is that change isn't easy. Just make a list, get dressed, leave the house and go do something. Eventually you'll see wasting time online as exactly that, wasting time.
I think pointless browsing online has largely taken the place of zoning out in front of the TV. I am bad about it when I'm sick and exhausted.
So, for starters, work on your general health so you aren't so tired all the time. Second, find more satisfying means to meet your needs.
Because browsing twitter and the like is about like eating a single potato chip at at time all day long as your only sustenance. You never really feel full and you wonder why you are growing fatter. If you occasionally have the equivalent of Christmas dinner where you are so stuffed you couldn't eat another bite, then you can stop mindlessly eating potato chips.
(as just one example:)
Social media is frequently a substitute for a real social life. Establishing meatier friendships may have you less invested in refreshing Twitter all day long. (No offense intended to my twitter buddies, some of whom are delightful and really enhance my life.)
This is tough for me. Any tips on how to bypass the contradiction that is "I am too tired to work out, but I am tired because I don't work out?"
Then start walking more. Park a little farther out from the office or store. Take one flight of stairs instead of the elevator. Get a step counter to help you track your progress so it isn't invisible to you.
For me the biggest turning point was when I decided that I don't want to get promoted, I only want to make wealth by investing my money (even if it's less money). This frees up a lot of time and energy and simplifies life.
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} - Mindlessly browsing the internet (FB, YT, HN, Reddit)
- Dating apps
- Nintendo Switch online
- Added the Stayfocused browser extension and limited my internet wasting time to 30 min a day on weekdays
- Deleted all my dating apps (this by far gave me the most sense of freedom and clarity which surprised me)
- Stopped playing Switch altogether
Let me tell you, it has been an absolutely AMAZING life change. I highly recommend everyone take up this challenge for a month or two and see the difference in your life. If you're like me you'll never want to go back! Good luck out there!
PS. In case it helps motivate anyone, one of those companies was Google. I passed the phone screen :). I know that may be easy for some people here but I was completely unprepared when I was approached and I know this life change 3 months ago made the difference.
[1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankej... [2] http://viewpure.com/
One simple route can be to make checking some sites more difficult, so that you need to make an effort to log into e.g. Facebook.
For example, you can use Temporary Containers [1] so that all cookies are deleted when you close a tab. Hence, every time you open a new tab and go to facebook.com you will need to make the effort to log in. As a side effect, this approach reduces tracking by third parties.
[1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/temporary-con...
Get more engaged in something particular. Build your own car, for example. But that might just be me.
It's possible, that if you have free time to idle away reading, that your work isn't occupying as much of your time as you'd like.
Shift that free time usage to something you find more personally rewarding or that involves more in person social interaction.
It's tough. Bear in mind this is my own take and might not reflect the reality of your situation.
Take a step back and examine why are you craving this comfort -- what in your life is lacking that makes so uncomfortable that you want to soothe it with internet immediately.
What I did find worked was tracking my usage and reporting on it each week. Most of my mindless usage happens on my phone, so I used the built-in Google Wellbeing app.
Every week I'd write down my hours on key problem apps (reddit, facebook, youtube) and then comment on it. Perhaps I spent more time than usual on youtube this week, or I was able to cut things down.
Recording this metric allows for several benefits:
1. Create correlations. For example, I found that I was weakest during weekends when I didn't have any plans to start my day. I then fixed this by ensuring I always had some kind of task/event first thing in the morning.
2. Allow for non-internalised judgement. Since everything is reflected on after the fact, you can judge your performance without beating yourself up. The bit of perspective really helps.
3. Allows for celebration. When you do improve, you are able to celebrate and feel proud of your achievement. I've found this boost to be really motivating.
For social networks, I blocked them at the DNS level in /etc/hosts (along with other annoyances) [1]. I've had the muscle memory to CMD+T , 'F', Enter for a few weeks after quitting cold turkey, but seeing the "Could not connect to host" message on the browser reminded me of why I did that.
A few months down the line, I don't regret my choice. Sure it's harder to keep up with friends, but it's a small step in making them realise what a social hazard those platforms are.
[1] https://gist.github.com/franky47/6835b4a7ca5c072e4b75efa08bc...
I suppose this means I might have bigger problems if I recognise how much of a waste of time it is but don't feel massively compelled to change behaviour.
Also to spoil a procrastiation pattern a bit I use Leechblock NG on FF. Sure you can unlock pages pretty easily but that one obstacle makes you remind your resolution.
This is helpful, though occasionally it creates conflicts when there's a mixup between "lazy pages" and things I want to get done (e.g. sometimes twitter DMs are the way I reach people).
Still though, there are a lot of distracting ideas that come up as I work: what should I do for dinner? What's my routine for the gym tonight? What's the weather? How's the stock market today? I've started using a pomodoro app to make me psychologically less inclined to paying attention to distracting ideas as I work. Admittedly, depending on the difficulty of the task, it works more or less.
Part of the problem comes from not being completely motivated about my work. It's an issue that is hard to address, so I try to cope by increasing discipline.
I'm not kidding. People who got addicted to World of Warcraft and then quit it, recommend migrating to another server. It gets boring to grind again (or whatever happens, I'm not a player).
So far it’s been working to stop my sub-awareness level typing of these URLs and wasting time.
Another approach would be to look into mindfulness so that you become more aware of your actions/habits.
As an aside, if interested in the topic of awareness/attention, I was just listening to a great podcast that’s sort of related to your question:
https://smartdrugsmarts.com/episodes/episode-123-consciousne...
To illustrate my point: two years ago my phone died so I figured it would be a good opportunity to wean myself off it(especially given that I couldn't afford a replacement at the time). I spent 9 months without a smartphone only to discover that pretty much all the symptoms of addiction came back once I finally bought one.
In my case the problem was overwork combined with the inability to gather any savings and a somewhat uninspiring work environment.
I started budgeting and switched jobs, which is helping, but there's a long way ahead of me.
Which brings me to another point: it's usually a long process that requires daily work.
One way to approach it could be a slow morning, as discussed on hn a few weeks ago - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18857090 - take your time to arrive in the day, to remember what is important to you, and then do the most important things. If browsing the web is important to you, reserve a certain amount of time to do just that and stop once the time is up.
I have used the Pomodoro technique on and off over the years, and I find it to be really useful for exactly what you suggested. I promise I will do just one Pomodoro, twenty minutes' of work, and then I can go do whatever. Twenty minutes is short enough to not trigger avoidance or distraction, but it's also long enough to really get rolling. Almost without exception, at the end of the twenty, I don't want to stop. I keep going and end up with a full set of four Pomodoros completed, and desire and energy to continue beyond that (if other responsibilities allow).
127.0.0.1 reddit.com
127.0.0.1 www.reddit.com
127.0.0.1 m.reddit.com
127.0.0.1 old.reddit.com
So, instead of finding ways to "lessen" darkness, I tried to increase light by adding more productive habits.
For adding good habits, I use the BJ Fogg's Tiny Habits method. And it has helped so far.
Have Reddit and Twitter perpetually blocked for the next 6 months. Hacker news only accessible on weekends.
It’s well worth getting the pro version for scheduled blocking as well. Plus it’s indie software so you get to support a the fantastic developer who built this!
If your work and personal computers are one and the same, create a different user account for work.
But i started by doing a full 48h 100% offline. It made ma realize how much time i lost every day doing nothing online.all of the sudden i had so much time i had to fill that i started doing new things ( drawing, discussing things with people, etc)
I know I am, and it's sad.
You actually should try redirecting sites you waste time on to something productive.
https://sixtymeters.com/hack-your-productivity-by-editing-yo...
That gives you details on redirecting sites to google, but I would redirect your time wasting sites to trello or your to do list.
https://findfocus.net/Overcome-internet-addiction/
Reduce proximity and exposure by design I discovered that overcoming my smartphone addiction was "relatively easy" while it was way more difficult to deal with internet addiction on my computer.
Especially when I wanted to get work done and engage in deep work habits.
For most people, the computer is still the place where we can work most efficiently.
The big advantage of using a computer to access the internet is that it's LESS convenient and therefore easier to not use the internet too much.
The whole approach is based on reducing proximity and expose to the internet and our smartphones.
This will remove most of the triggers that start the addictive hooked model. It will also make it much more difficult to engage in the 2nd step of the model and perform the action tech companies want us to take.
By designing an environment that removes the trigger or and makes making the action much more difficult, I was able to overcome my internet addiction.
If you follow this you will be able to do the same.
The secret ingredient I used is something I stumbled upon in Kelly McGonigal's book "The Willpower Instinct" and it's called Delay Discounting.
Delay Discounting Delay discounting is a mind trick recommend by behavioral scientists.
Researchers found out that the longer you have to wait for a reward (e.g. checking your favorite social media site or playing a game online) the less it is worth to you.
The reason is that your brain chooses immediate gratification at the cost of future rewards because immediate rewards trigger the older, more primitive reward system and its dopamine-induced desire in the brain.
To make this work and to delay gratification, the prefrontal cortex has to be forced to cool off the promise of the reward.
The reason is that even small delays can dramatically lower the perceived value of any temptation.
In practice that means your urge to visit Facebook, Reddit, Youtube etc. or playing a game has only a narrow window of opportunity to overwhelm your brain.
As soon as there is any distance between you and the temptation, the rational part of your brain takes over. For example, even putting your phone on airplane mode and putting it in the drawer will work.
For your smartphone: 1. Delete every app that is potentially addictive from your phone.
2.Download the app Appdetox and add times for apps that you have to use less often but cannot delete completely.
3. Download the app Applock for android to block the play store and your internet browser
For your computer: The Approach That Worked For Me Using the FindFocus (https://findfocus.net)
1.Block distracting websites throughout the day. 2.White-list all the websites that you need to work and force myself to unlock the Internet (for max. 15min per session) if I want to visit a site that’s not needed to be productive. 3. Block email during the day, while still being allowed to send email without seeing the inbox. Works like magic for me!
I can access almost any website (except proven distractions & email) all the time but for a maximum of 15min at a time.