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Comment by davzie | Hacker News Reader

My time to shine! I spent 2 - 3 years going back and forth between dumb phones and smartphones with various different measures for the same reasons. Here is my video with my final summations on the topic and how some techniques I’ve found may help you (iOS specific): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-TKgRxdA5o

Feel free to follow me on Twitter too and chat about any questions you have. I’ve been playing around with these sorts of ideas for years and find it really fascinating / interesting. I can also recommend some fantastic books.

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One of the most insightful things I found was actually that simply feeling that phone use is bad makes it feel bad and puts you in a bad loop of “I’m so terrible I can’t stop checking my phone etc”. Also when I’m stressed with work, I focus and fixate on how much screen time I have. I would hazard a guess that you have more emotional / other issues that would benefit you to address. For me it was stress with work and feeling like I’m not good enough. Like I said, I’d love to chat to see if I can help.

This comment is on point!

You have to be nicer/kinded to yourself. Life is hard/stressful enough as is.

When you start feeling bad about yourself, as GP said, "I'm so terrible I can't stop checking my phone", you take away hope and you start living only in the "now". "I'm so terrible" is a gross overgeneralization that puts your mood and increases your need to feel good via the addictive behaviors. Compare that to thinking: "I know I'm having a hard time stopping checking my phone, but maybe today I can do a little less of it."

The thing that keeps addiction going is hopelessness.

Treating addiction as disease (like AA does) is simply WRONG. It is actively harmful to recovery. It renders you hopeless ("I have no control over my disease").

Side note: The Secret is actually a great book who’s message on positive thinking has all but dispelled my negative talk about my work and habits and simply just made life feel much easier. It’s totally whacky but I just kind of love it !

What books would you recommend? Have similar not good enough feelings towards work.

Just generally positive thinking. If you're in your head, you're dead. I really enjoyed "The Secret" for this sort of mindset. It's a bit mad but the core message I think is great!

I feel like telling a phone addict to meet you on YouTube and Twitter to chat is like inviting an alcoholic to a bar to discuss their drinking problem.

I know, the irony is what makes it so naughty and exciting !

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