I live in Brazil. I don't know if this is a worldwide problem but there's a strong "Get rich, fuck hoes, use drugs" culture around here. Artists with weird songs that emphasizes the need to feed the flesh and to live purely based on hedonism.

For years, during my younger years, specifically, I was surrounded by people that lived this culture. And, by being immersed in this, I didn't realized how pointless it was to live a life based on superficial things.

As I realized that there's more to life than that, I started developing new habits. Healthier - habits. Started to exercise, started to read books, started to seek God, etcetera.

But, everybody I knew (that I thought were friends) just couldn't understand my new views. They seem me as crazy, strange, weirdo, and gradually started to remove me from events, meetings or to treat me differently.

After deep thinking and consideration, I decided to reset my life completely and just reset my social circle. I deleted all my social media accounts. All of them. I simply just don't exist anymore in the internet, except for Reddit (that is not that popular in my country, and, besides that, it's still anonymous) and leave my home only for gym, work and when extremely necessary.

Not a single soul from all the people I used to hang around came to visit me. At first, I felt sad and abandoned.. but then, it came to my mind some sense of freedom and even joy. I felt free.

Free from other people's opinion, free from the need of posting everything I'm doing online, free from the urges of showing everyone what I'm eating, where I'm at, etcetera.

The weight of the world just drop out from my shoulders. Life has meaning now. I don't need to fake anything. I don't need to pretend that I like that shitty music. I don't have to tolerate drama from anyone. I don't have to be mistreated just because I think different.

And the anxiety from living a fake life with fake friends? Gone.

Now my next goal is to seek new friends with the same mentality. Maybe in church? I don't know... Time will tell.

Ads are generally designed these days to get users to buy the most unnecessary, cheaply made garbage from places like Temu and AliExpress. Things that no one would really need or use but buy anyway for fear of missing out.

Influencers push this too, like labubu. "Everyone is into it, why aren't you?"

But if one doesn't scroll, browse, or watch. How would they get suckered in?

The less they engage, the more willpower they have to see advertising as just advertising and don't necessarily have that 'need' to buy the advertised product.

Are these people much safer from online manipulation?

I swear my thumb has developed muscle memory at this point. Open Twitter. Scroll. Get bored. Open Instagram. Scroll. Get bored. Open YouTube shorts. Scroll. Get bored. And somehow… back to Twitter.

It’s like I’m not even choosing anymore — I’m just trapped in a hamster wheel of apps.

Has anyone actually broken this cycle? What snapped you out of it (without becoming a monk 😅)?

Yes, I know everyones addicted to scrolling. But my average screen time can be over 11 hours a day, and I can’t control it no matter what.

Ive tried everything:

Switched to half a dumb phone

Kept my phone in monochrome mode 24/7

Installed ScreenZen and blocked almost every site I could think of

On top of that, I work out every day (cardio and weights), I meditate, I journal, I even volunteer outside. Basically all the advice i can find online.

But when I dont scroll, the world suddenly feels unbearably slow and boring. No matter how many restrictions I put on myself, my brain finds a way around them. Without even realizing, I undo my all the blockings and go right back to scrolling. And if i cant manage to undo the blockings? grab my computer or any device that can connect to the internet and look through the most obscure sites just for the sake of scrolling

Ive got ambitions, things I want to do, skills I want to learn, stuff I want to memorize. I literally have a math test in three days that decides my whole next year. Even when I start studying and get into it, I get stuck, look something up, and before I know it two hours i spent scrolling down the drain. I don’t even care about the test in that moment, despite how important it is.

If anyone has actually managed to fix and gain back control on an hijacked brain like this, I’d do anything to hear how.

thanks

• or after a long day. It feels so distressing not using my phone as a main source of entertainment after work to decompress. I have many simple things and enjoyable hobbies I can do, it’s just the period after work I never want to “waste” as I’ll just be back at work the next day— so I pick the most stimulating and unhealthy option: screentime. Anyone else relate?

Im not very good but its one of those things I've always wanted to be good at, among many many others (thanks ADHD).

Getting decent at drawing will let me draw some of the projects I want to build. In the past I've spent a bit of time learning digital tools. Photoshop, Fusion, Sketchup. I'm ok at a few, but after a long day at work it's hard for me to login to practice.

My new nighttime shutdown routine is dim the lights a bit, maybe have a tea or something and some fruit (instead of ice cream and chips and doomscrolling). Put on a comfort music and just sketch. Right now it's a lot of practice. Shapes, lines, circles, patterns. I've spent hours the past few nights instead of consuming Reels.

You could say "whats the point", and how is that different then scrolling. To me, it just is.

What I like is I can do this when I'm incredibly low energy. I can sketch on my tablet or paper. Doesn't matter. Just doodle, sketch, color, shade. Eventually I want to get better at drawing objects, and with practice I will be. I think it will help me use Reddit quite a bit less, and I'll also waste less time on Reels as I slowly gain a skill which still has plenty of uses, even in a digital age. Thanks for listening to my Ted Talk.

I watched a few youtube videos and picked up a few pointers, especially about simple drawing warmups which are fun practice (line work, shapes, rotating shapes), but most of its just drawing. I also have a huge backlog of videos I want to watch in my watch later, but they're almost more lecture based / podcast format. I can't just sit there and watch them, but I can absolutely draw while they play in the background. Or I just put on comfort music.

I guess I am toxic. But not toxic like "somehow toxic", "average toxic" or "a little toxic" I mean I am probably more of a full blown toxician (does that word even exist?) and this comes from being online since 56k modem times (too lazy to check fucking google for how old the friggin internet is). So regarding the question "Did I have been toxic before the internet or was it the internet turning me toxic?", I am not sure, but it also doesn´t matters at all because I am done with internet communities (to some point) plus I am not here to give a detailed and exlusive psychological insight to myself including stories of my childhood when it is just a few thoughts I am havin.

So, I don´t even feel bad about being toxic, especially these days because communities are full with toxic mofos and if not, then it´s only abut a question of days until you meet this one person you feel for unleashing hell upon (regardless of who is to blame at the end). The funniest thing is, I almost feel like a reasonable, good and decent person, when I compare myself to that shit going on in forums/communities these days.

For some weird reason (either I am too old for this shit or the internet grew more toxic than I am myself today), I got more and more sick and tired of unleashing hell upon (dumb) people (are they really that dumb or just dumb as soon they log into the internet?) over the last years and this all went to the point where I was actually happy about getting a lifelong ban (=active account, just not able to join discussions or post comments) on the Steam forums two years ago. I mean Reddit can be very toxic but compared to Steam it still seems like a heavens place full of angels to me. So what I am telling is that I am happy about not being able to participate in a hellhole like the Steam forums cause as long I am able to talk to the steam-people, there is this itch I have to scratch and now with my lifelong ban, that itch ain´t there. And no, there is absolutely no way I can participate in a room full of brainless morons without becoming one myself. So once again: I am not sure if all those dumb/bad/shitty people are born like that and how far the internet is playing a role there.

Today I read certain threads from time to time and then I instantly have to think of how I would really advise "good people" (in my terms/from my viewpoint) to just avoid online communities at all costs while speaking out serious warnings to people not being "mentally strong enough" to handle certain things going on there.

Now I read lots of posts about people saying how bad/toxic Reddit is but fact is, Reddit is just the ugly mirror of the internet (rather than "The Frontpage..."), meaning that it is in fact the whole internet going down the gutter and that again is because the (real) world is going the same route (more unhappy people who log into the net to take it onto others and fuck up other people, who in return either end up just being fucked-up or in revenge then just start fucking up others too).

If someone would ask me for the worst things when it comes to the Internet:

.) FREEDOM OF SPEECH: A bad joke. In fact the baddest joke ever. Just say the "wrong" thing and you´re done. Things get even worse when you really say what you think and you still don´t even change your mind when the hive is speaking, coz then you´re a "troll" too.

.) HIVE-MINDS: That happens when people come together and each one of them suffer an even lower self-esteem than the other one. You notice them as soon a discussion gets a certain heat and each one of them starts talking plural, to give you (who isn´t a part of the "hive") the idea that you are outnumbered. Last time this happened to me I went: "Oh! The Hive is talking!" but those dorks did not even had an idea what the fuck i was talking about, as if they did not even knew the term "hive-mind".

.) MODERATORS: Oh boy! Chances are high that this post doesn´t even make it (either my "karma" ain´t too high, my nickname´s too stupid or god knows what reasons or mysterious "rules" this sub is pulling out of its arse to get rid of certain unwanted guests) but if I am telling my thoughts on this delicate subject then this post will never see other users for sure.

.) ANONYMITY: The "Boon And Bane" of the Internet. We are happy to have it, on the other hand people do and say things, they would never say or do when everyone would instantly know who they are.

So, boys and girls! Only use the Internet to buy or ask things and stay way from communities, especially the Steam-Forms, Reddit and X. I am not kidding.

I'm looking for a good app for my Android phone to restrict my screentime

I want to bring to your attention Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous (ITAA)(https://internetaddictsanonymous.org/). I realize I have an internet addiction and I am eager to quit the internet, aside from checking e-mail infrequently, and dedicating itty-bitty time to absolutely necessary research.

I'm trying to find a balance that works for me. And I guess this may be a little akin to people with food addictions, in that, one cannot live without food --- and many Westerners cannot live without e-mail.

Nevertheless, I want to share this resource with others. I am going to look into an ITAA phone meeting.

Remember, we are in this together. We are the guinea pig generation trying our best to strike a healthy balance with this tool called the internet. We may make mistakes along the way, but we will find the solution that works for our desired lifestyles, one day at a time.

For those of us reducing screen time, one constant trap is the clock itself. Every device shoves it in our faces: the lock screen, the taskbar, timestamps on every message. It’s not neutral: it fuels distraction, FOMO, urgency. And we don’t even get the option to hide it. I’m pushing for change: the freedom to hide time on our devices.

Join me by signing the petition: https://chng.it/KWJXFcSRZt

Curious to hear if others here feel the same, do clocks pull you back into the digital loop too?

I thought my phone use was normal. Scroll a bit before bed. Check stuff in the day. Maybe a few videos. Nothing crazy.

Then I looked at the stats. Over 300 pickups in one day. That’s like once every 4 minutes I was awake.

What got me wasn’t just the number. It was how I didn’t even remember half of it. Unlock scroll close unlock again. Pure autopilot.

And honestly I couldn’t even tell you what I got out of it. No good convos. No new info. Just loops that left me drained.

Seeing that number made me feel gross. Like my brain’s been hijacked. I don’t want to keep living like this but breaking the reflex feels almost impossible.

Anyone here actually manage to retrain themselves? What worked for you?

Aliens visited Earth in 1994 at the Ariel School UFO incident and communicated through telepathy that humans are harming the planet, creating too much pollution, and becoming overly dependent on technology, which will cause something very bad to happen. I believe all humans are psychics and interdimensional beings, just like them, meaning no one really needs technology to communicate, but of course, the elites in charge don’t want the public to know this

Here are some tips I've cultivated over time to help curb with extended phone usage. I have gone from ~6 hrs a day of screen time to only ~5 mins (no joke).

1. Limiting notifications: only have notifications on for apps that positively require them; it could be different for everyone, but a good example could be having notifications on for messaging (and apps specifically used for messaging like WhatsApp, NOT Meta/Facebook/Instagram), phone, mail (if used for business). The less notifications/noises/distractions coming from your phone, the better. You are much less likely to pick them up. In addition to this, especially if you have mail notifications on, UNSUBSCRIBE from mass email subscriptions like Target, Reddit, etc. anything that you find to be junk. You can still get emails for purchase and delivery notifications, but you can choose to unsubscribe from random advertising.
2. Switching to greyscale/red light: if you have iOS: go to accessibility in settings, and look at color filters. You can switch the color palette of your screen to greyscale, which will make everything much less visually appealing. Bonus, at night, you can switch it to red light, which completely blocks any blue light emissions making the phone much less likely to cause eye strain and keeping you up. If you need color on your screen for anything, you can add the accessibility shortcut to your control center so it takes only a second to switch back and forth. You can do the same thing for a MacBook.
3. Remove your watch history on YouTube: YouTube's main tool of attracting your attention is the 'home feed' -- algorithm-based home page of content YouTube is sure that you will like. However, if you turn off your watch history tracking on YouTube, YouTube cannot generate a home page of videos. That way, you can only use YouTube to search for videos you had consciously wanted to watch (and if you're into the random binge watching gig, recommended videos will still be generated under the video you are currently watching). Your 'liked' and 'watch later' playlists will still be saved. To do this: You have to access your account on Google -- Find 'Activity Controls', turn YouTube history to off.
4. Only have Instagram/Facebook/Reddit/etc on your computer: you do not have to completely delete your accounts or apps if you still enjoy using these from time to time. However, it is most productive to have these on your computer since the computer is much less portable than your phone. You have to be sitting down somewhere, most likely at home, at a desk, with your computer out to access these. You will use these apps much less because there is a much less probability of you subconsciously opening these apps. Also as a bonus, the 'doom scroll' feed is much less functional on a computer since most of them are not a touchscreen. It would be best to have these apps from your browser rather than downloaded as an app. But, if you would prefer to keep these apps on your phone, move to tip #5
5. Remove apps from your Home Screen: This one I don't see talked about much but it helped me a lot. Removing distracting apps from your Home Screen does NOT delete them, but it removes them from your Home Screen so you do not see it, and you have to search it in your finder on your Home Screen. This will also make it much less likely to subconsciously click on these apps. One of the main problems people with phone addictions have is that when they pull out their phone, they, seemingly on autopilot, click on an app like Instagram or TikTok that is sitting on their home screen. When you remove these apps from your home screen, you have to type in "Instagram" or whatever the name is into the finder to open the app. That means you have to be consciously looking for it to open it, so you won't just randomly open it compulsively.
6. Utilize Do not Disturb/Focus: These can come in handy. You can set them up so they're activated on location (e.g. when phone detects you are at school/work, it turns on work focus). When my phone detects I am hooked up to my car's bluetooth, it automatically turns off all notifications and makes it so I cannot open my phone. People can still contact me in an emergency.
7. Block Distracting apps with Opal/the like: Opal is a game changer, and it does not need a subscription to use. I use it free. Since I don't have apps like Instagram on my phone, my biggest compulsion was using Safari to search things related to my health (I have had a history of health anxiety). Compulsively searching things had been limiting my critical thinking because I never allowed myself to really work through problems. Safari was my biggest problem. Blocking this helped push me to a sub-10 minute screen time daily. Do NOT bother with the 'screen time limit' on iOS because all it does is tell you if your time is up and you can just click to ignore it. Opal has time limits and also time windows in the day to allow you to access apps when you want/need. But when it is blocked, it is *blocked*, and you cannot access it unless you go onto Opal to turn it off.
8. Do not have your phone charging near your bed: Some recommend having your phone charge in a different room at night. For some, that may not be practical. At least try to keep your phone away from reaching distance of your bed so you are not inclined to wake up and start scrolling.

Relevant, but tangentially:

9) Read about social media/digital addiction: Johnathan Haidt's 'Anxious Generation', Robert Putnam's 'Bowling Alone' (that book is about the downfall of third places, but still worth a read imo), read online, listen to Ted Talks/YouTube videos on these topics. Just educate yourself so you better understand how detrimental these devices are designed to be for our health. The more you know, the smarter your decisions you can make. But obviously, it's not necessary -- if you know your phone habits are bad, that's enough reasoning to fix the problem.

10) Spend more time with friends: Just go out, you don't even need to plan anything. Just talk with them. If someone pulls out their phone, don't be a jerk, but gently try to guide them out of that and have an interesting conversation. Hey, sometimes even using your phone with a group of friends can be fun for certain activities like multiplayer games, etc. Don't have friends? You can still do plenty alone. Even try talking to strangers, engage in small talk.

11) Journal: keep track of your habits. Most importantly, congratulate yourself for the smallest wins. Ask yourself who you want to be in 5 years. Talk about your emotions. I don't want to direct you on how to journal, because every one has different ways of doing that. Do what helps you best.

Need some more hard advice?

1. Delete social media for good: Trust me, you don't need it. You are not missing out. During emergencies, people can still reach out to you through text or call. Social media is not necessary unless if you have a job in social media management or something like that. Ask yourself if you were 60 years old and looking back on your life, do you want to see years of your life taken away from scrolling on Instagram? Answer is probably no. Don't get me wrong, forums online and stuff like YouTube and Reddit can actually be beneficial for talking to communities, but with good practice you can use these sites in a much healthier way. But Instagram, TikTok? Sure, you can see what your friends are up to, but is that necessary?
2. Switch to analog as much as possible: Get a flip phone. Get a journal. Maybe an MP3 player, a GPS, etc. I'm hoping to move to a flip phone after college.

This post is intended to just give maybe a few pointers if the reader finds them useful, that is all. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Maybe it's just me, but I've began to notice people latching on to YouTubers or other internet personalities that echo the same things they think is reality.

Yeah the world isn't the best, but I don't think it ever has been, but we're living much better lives than even 50 years ago by comparison.

The internet is causing people to become afraid of life itself, and just seclude themselves in echo chambers where their favorite online people will tell them exactly what they want to hear.

It's concerning, and albeit feels a little weird being seen as the kooky one when I'm mostly calm and just living life.

I'm looking for a lock box that makes the phone hard to use but still makes it possible to use an authentication app and turn on hot spot. I think another option would be to drill a hole in one that I could use a stylist through. Anyone know of an option for this? Amazon has one for 60$ tha I could drill a hole into but that seems kinda steep

I use the internet from Japan, but lately I am starting to believe that G**gle is actually a giant scam company.

It began when my mother started talking about fake news and political propaganda she saw online. I hacked into her account and checked her history. She was watching propaganda short videos again and again.

Then I checked ads in Ad Center. The ads were trying to make my mother, who is not tech-savvy, install malware. It seems she even installed some. There were also fake ads saying things like “a celebrity made an investment app and was arrested by police.”

The rule is clear: “security is only as strong as the weakest link.” G**gle is abusing this rule perfectly, turning it into a fraud system. Stop watching short videos.

It's already september. I can't believe how fast time is going by. I still remember people saying in the start of this year how it's already January of 2025 and panicking over it. And now what, we're just around 4 months until 2026. What even is going on?

I feel like this is just another one of the phone's effects. Time going by too fast. I barely even remember the months from April to July. It feels like a blur. I don't even remember what I spent my time doing and it disgusts me. This literally makes me want to vomit. The fact the a whole year went by in mindless scrolling. So I've decided to really try to lessen my time, keep my screen time to only around 1 hour daily. No phones after dinner. I will keep you updated on my progress after one week and tell if there's any improvement, I'll put in comment section ok.

I’m 15 years old and I am just starting my sophomore year of high school. As part my generation, social media is everywhere. Almost everyone at my school has TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and countless other apps.

I remember trying to sneak my phone in class and use it while the teacher was teaching. It quickly became a never-ending cycle, especially since I have ADHD, which makes it even harder to control phone use.

What really made me realize I needed to stop using social media was learning about psychology. Understanding how my brain works helped me see why I was so addicted and how I could take control. I even bought several psychology books, but I couldn’t read them because I was too attached to my phone.

So, I made a big move: I deleted every single app TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, everything. It wasn’t easy, especially with ADHD, but I did it.

However, I found myself still using Reddit through Google, along with YouTube. I thought it was harmless until I read “You Should Quit Reddit”. That opened my eyes and made me realize this platform wasn’t helping me either. And just to note, I won’t say it’s “ Bad “, it was just taking up too much time.

So, I’ve decided to delete my Reddit account as well and if not I’ll be inactive. Thank you to everyone who read this I would really appreciate an upvote if this inspires even one teenager (or anyone) to take control of their social media use. Goodbye, Reddit!

Has anyone ever tried using a Chromebook instead of a smartphone? I have a serious addiction problem and my phone is always with me no matter what I do, unless I literally turn it off, I just keep scrolling and looking up useless stuff. Do you think it's possible to survive only with a Chromebook and a computer? Since they stay in the same place, it’s harder to use them everywhere I go. Also, I can still send messages to my family through WhatsApp. Has anyone tried this? Did it actualy work?

People often defend smartphones by using this logic. Their point is that people used to look at newspapers while commuting or waiting. People always had something to stay distracted like newspapers or TVs and thus the recent change in society is normal.

Something about it lately is scaring me so today I’m done with it, I hope it heals in the meantime

I hate these things. I hate smartphones. However they created a viscous addiction that's really hard to break out of. I hate social media. I might have came to look at small creators I like. Stuff like fan art and what have you. Only to leave bitter and pissed off. Like getting pissed off by politics, drama, all of that. I should have known "ok social media and phones bad" but I go right back on it! I have a problem and I hate how prevalent these damn things are in society. Like you're required to have one. Dumb phones are hard to come by. I just want something for communication. Not a literal rage machine. It sucks. Is there any way to help curb this addiction. I hate how my phone did benefit me in someways. Like I did research and what have you on it. But at the same exact time I dealt with it feeding me dopamine to keep me on it. Wasting my time and getting outraged. This addiction would have been easy for me to lick if phones didn't have any good uses you know. Been outraged by politics that sometimes it gets in the way of my judgement. I hate it. I tend to get intrusive thoughts. I feel like I go insane. These devices barely give me joy. A lot of the time wasted time I could have been doing something better with myself.

In the bottom of my heart. How can I curb this addiction when these things are prevalent in society and did help me time to time regarding researching things?

I legit can study for a new job, a job tjat pays very well snd will increase my standard of living, I can't do that simply because I'm always kn my phone, I've been trying over and over and over again. I keep failing in controlling myself when it comes to my phone use. I am very worried about where zi am leading my life to and I am worried that I will end up being a failure because of my phone use. I really want to stop but it has being extremely hard to do that.