The REAL Effects of Internet Addiction 

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Video games are garbage these days how did you choose that over the other? Well videogames require a bit more focus then youtube let alone tiktok, so kinda better choice.

@@balladin9200 What? Video games are awesome. I was just playing Breath of the Wild again in hype for the new Zelda.

@@balladin9200 it's not like indie games or old video games don't exist anymore

Does your therapist using phone 📱 to? If he is not therapist he is also addict.

@@pushupsforlife8564 preaching much?

Oh yeah. An anecdote where that really hit me: At some point, I had uninstalled Twitter from my phone. It went well fore a few days until I got a message that caused a stressful reaction and I reinstalled it to distract myself and avoid the situation.

Whenever I've gone cold turkey I just sit around and do nothing. Because internet addiction has not been hindering my productiveness in general. It has only been a coping mechanism for things that are the main culprit for my procrastination.

Absolutely, Darth. If I didn't have the internet, I would just stare at the walls.

Very interesting right, its almost like its not an issue when that new baseline has been created. I love leaving my phone in the car when I go skateboard

@@ijustlike0010 for me it's doing jiu jitsu. The only moments in my life when I only concentrate on one thing and don't get distracted by anything else.

I've noticed that the same effect can be achieved by completely avoiding any technology (apart from your alarm) from the start of your day. And as soon as you touch a computer or an entertaining phone app, you get instantly sucked in until you go for a long walk or do something else that contrasts with your normal context

power outage doesn:t even do much these day because 4g esixt :))

Yeah I have that same feeling as well. It's why I love getting rid of tech and go bare minimum. I.e a laptop which isn't very powerful. Grey mode screen on phone. Makes it less desirable to use. Ultimately leaves for more time doing things which are more personally valuable and worthwhile.

I'm incapable of using any form of technology when there's other people to interact with, but whenever no one's around, I'm completely entangled by the internet... I just find this odd about myself, and reading your comment made me think about it.

@@GirlLove4Ever maybe use the same curiosity you have about others and show that same curiosity to yourself in your alone time? Not sure if this makes sense

@@GirlLove4Ever when I’m alone I can be off the internet but when people are around I can’t put my phone down

@@sprocastersprocaster Does having company stress you out?

Yeah… to watch TV lol

Actually, RU-vid is doing the targeting, not him.

@@Tully-Henderson They know, it was a joke.

LOL

@@KayKayBayForever The reply was also a joke. This is a therapist response to a someone with schizophrenia.

My exact thoughts

thats a very useful comment, thank you

In come the anxieties/the overthinking, though. Like, I know that addiction is probably the result of tough life circumstances but are my circumstances really that tough? There are people worse off than me who seem to do fine without any addiction. How come I have to cope with my minor problems in such an unhealthy way while they deal with their much more real issues in such a sensible way? At least that's my train of thought when I try to tell myself not to be ashamed of myself for my addictions.

​@@naan-oyobizniz3168 So this is actually a whole other topic and I recommend doing research into it. Although in my earlier comment I referenced "people have addictions worse than yours", I was more saying this to speak others' language since not a lot of people are aware that measuring problems and tough circumstances is fundamentally useless, and even impossible. For example, let's say my super empathetic friends' pet died. And now let's say my sister died. You might think I have it worse, because a sister means more than a pet. But not only is that not always the case (some people have estranged families), I have a much easier time adapting to and dealing with death, whereas my friend does not (this is based on real life events in my life). Thus some people would argue that maybe I have it easier. The truth is nobody has it any easier or harder, and even if people did, it wouldn't matter. Whether you're a mother in Africa attempting to provide for your starving family, or an upper middle-class US citizen who finds it hard to communicate with other people does not discount or discredit either scenario and the emotions we feel in them. In fact, it kind of has to not do that. The truth is most people in North America, even most parts of Europe, don't know anyone from Africa, and someone you don't know has no business holding you back from overcoming your troubles. Measuring or having to measure how hard certain circumstances can be isn't necessary because it's not like we have a tank full of tough-ness of problems and we have to save space in them. There is no tank. The space is infinite. Take some.

Thank you for this comment 💗

Don’t give yourself a free pass for every shitty behavior.

Godspeed Narcissus

Good luck mate

Bro were you really stalking him 🙄I get your message but that's something you shouldn't do to a stranger on the internet.

Cheers dude. Rooting for you

@@flyorfloat Supportive stalking, it's more like spotting somebody while they exercise to make sure they're doing it well

you put words to how i feel. I was just journaling about how I can’t remember names/words anymore

Probably nutritional deficienct in something

That's the thing. It's probably not smart to cut off internet completely cause most work,study,related things are on the net. But if there was a way to keep us accountable that would be bettte

@@oo--7714 how would one find this out/fix it?

I'm bit late to conversation, but there are programs what can keep you accountable, like timer programs used in computer clubs and programs used in university/school computers to whitelist/blacklist sites. They're aren't perfect, but you still can "outsource" a lot of discipline

I have struggled to get outside of my house for the last 10 years. Basically since high school. I'm starting to learn that the uncomfortable parts of life are where all the good things are. Gotta get out in the world, put myself in uncomfortable situations, and be proud of enduring them instead of disappointed in the results.

You can even have a social life and enjoy awesome activities and still have internet addiction. Sometimes enjoying exciting videos is more exciting than actually having a conversation

Try martial arts. Worked for me.

@@Vincent-kl9jy 100% this. Become comfortable being uncomfortable, and all of the sudden it's not as bad any more. We adapt quite quickly. It's sadly the entry cost to a good life. Gotta go through it.

Why should we try?

literally i struggle with this sm

The problem is the "scrolling apps" for me. I don't think you're addicted to, say, Wikipedia. And you still have the tool, I'm trying to remove specifically scrolling of my routine.

@@romansdump The problem for me is I not only have an internet addiction, but I also have a learning addiction and no social life to speak of, so I get absolutely absorbed into these seemingly endless internet rabbit holes for sometimes weeks, binge learning. To the point where I start forgetting to just "live" and enjoy real life. I'm getting to the point where I'm seriously considering just getting rid of my computer and unplugging completely. I already ditched my smart phone. The idea of living an internet free life sounds kinda nice and refreshing.

I use it for learning but not exactly what I'm supposed to be learning.. I'll spend hours watching plumbing videos when in a week I have a software engineering exam, I should at least be watching videos about that, but no my brain doesn't work like that

​@@romansdumpI have deleted all the scrolling apps, on RU-vid I blocked shorts. I still waste time regardless

I was also thinking about that exactly

100% I agree. We feel we shouldn't have to give it up because we feel we "should" be better than this. It's a disappointment with ourselves. But the truth is that technology is designed to be addictive, so maybe it's not all our fault. Maybe some people are good enough to control themselves, but at this point in time, maybe we're not good enough yet, and that's okay.

Your interpretation is a classic manifestation of shame. Shame is when you put the emphasis on your identity, "I am bad" as opposed to the action "I did a bad thing". Shame is one of the worst emotions a person can feel. But talking about it and getting empathy is the way to overcome that.

Shame and unfairness are both moralistic, one against yourself, the other against the world. The non moralistic, practical answer is "well, that sucks, but that's how I can deal with it".

yup! all my friends can use tiktok and RU-vid a healthy amount. why can’t I?

Just what are those insane rewards supposed to be? How likely are they in reality? Because it seeems like even most of the things that make life "easier" just make us dumber in the end, as we lose the ability to think deeply or even care about solving a problem. Or interact with humans face to face, even if it takes more time and effort. You gain instant convenience and gratification, but don't you lose your ability to function as an actual human?

@@tsurutom when I say rewards, I’m talking on a individual level, for specific people (social status, fame, money, success etc). For society, this is not necessarily a reward, and is harmful in a lot of ways like you’ve alluded to.

And how likely? Very low for most people

@@tsurutom if you arent born well off, the internet is pretty much your only avenue for networking into a better living condition. no one will socialize with people who dont have cars or money IRL

@@Dimitris_Balf for me. ive attained my dreamjob by coming across a forum back in the day randomly and learning from the people posting there. if i didnt happen upon that forum and thier wealth of knowledge, chances are that id never have made it to the position im in right now

Right! I wish the ppl that intentionally created this thing to be addicting should be held accountable because in the early days us was just a useful tool as now it’s just evil…been infiltrated for profits but at our expense

I'd replace that last "good enough" with "capable." I don't think it helps to put a value judgement on it. But yeah. Shoulds are the root of a lot of shame.

Your mom did the right thing.

I wouldn't say scrolling through reddit and watching youtube videos is a bad thing. Maybe cut down some of the gaming and youtube + reddit time but you probably just lost interest over time.

@@flyorfloat lol did you even watch the video

I was like this. Being an artist is honestly like cursing yourself to isolation. My Gacha Mobile Game addiction doesn't help. My friends ALL said to me, catch me on Telegram, Insta, WhatsApp, Line, Discord. I ended up accept this internet addiction is now everyone's problem. The way I can get out of the Pandemic and Internet Addiction is to pay a relaxed learning course and minimum buy healthy cafe food like soup and juices. I should get out of my house first and get some air and grass. It doesn't stop me from using internet. Why is that? Because when I quit internet, my friends called me a stalker for being a satellite conversation starter. On top of that, I quit using suppressant or sleepers (Diazepam/Valium) because it got me fired from a job accident. Gym got my head busy, and the best saving grace exercise is not building muscles but flexing the joints to enhance bloodflow. In flu season, I bought 2 1kg Dumbbells and it saved me from myself. Even today, I still play games. 7 of them in fact, but not all the time. Granblue Fantasy, Arknights, AL, Project Wingman, Vampire Survivors, Mahjongs, Chess, many more. The difference is now I got fired, stretch every 20 minutes, set up automation for my games, bask in the sun, and opened my house doors for better air vents. Job and work will follow a healthy body. Not the other way around.

I think part of it was the content. There simply wasn't so much and it was DESIGNED to grab and spit out your attention. We would browse for a while and then get bored and go do something else. Nowadays there is no such thing as "logging off".

Liking/disliking doesen't really matter when youtube knows which video you're going to click anyway. It wiil quickly adapt to you by just analyzing what you're actually watching

@@FilinMXr I also use the "I'm not interested" button until RU-vid stops, so it's not all disliking and avoiding

I’ve done this too to cut out a shit ton of mindless/garbage content that I used to get in my feed (and inevitably end up watching). Now I get videos relating to philosophy/nutrition/spirituality etc which I consider a more nourishing alternative if I am going to fall down the rabbit hole - which I still do, but with less frequency.

@@kyleh6173 Yeah it helps a lot, i still mess up and watch things that aren't as productive as I'd like it to be but I don't get as addicted and my time is better spent.

WELL I DON'T THINK I'M ADDICTED TO RU-vid ANYMORE AS I FELT SO OVERWHELMED BY THE TIME I NEED TO GO TO WATCH 1 VIDEO :) RU-vid SHORTS FEEL LIKE A GARBAGE SO I DON'T EVEN TAP

Same, I would absolutely just sleep and daydream all day instead and eventually deal with my intrusive thoughs and cry and then be exhausted and sleep even more.

This is exactly what happens to me. I spent a day mostly without my phone and I just laid there thinking and daydreaming. If there’s books, I’ll just read my time away instead. Even when I am out in real life situations, I’m almost entirely in my head. I’ll use basically anything as escapism. I think I know what I’m trying to escape, but I’m not really sure where to go from here.

Sounds like it could potentially be maladaptive dreaming replacing the coming mechanism. Next step is to center oneself and try to anchor in the present more. It takes practice too.

@@Residentevil1.5 My guess would be that you're single and childless.

@@sxmvp which would be good for you, you need to handle your emotion

could you elaborate? thanks for the comment though

alternatively, if I replaced internet time with stuff like advancing my career, I would have a lot more money and a house and a family right now, which is clearly superior. or choosing to read classic literature over watching youtube videos, in a weeks time I would much rather have the experience of reading that book than watching a weeks worth of youtube videos.

I feel the same way! To help balance things out I just use two monitors, so that RU-vid doesn't occupy my entire “field of vision” and thus all of my attention. This allows me to work, study or engage with other things that I would have to do at some point in time. Although, when reading certain things I do have to pause the video as the audio makes it difficult to concentrate. I find myself being more productive using two screens as opposed to a single monitor (as I spend less time switching between windows and tabs etc); Although I am sure that you would get the same result using an ultra-wide monitor (by dividing the screen up). Good luck with your studies, I hope that some of this information can prove useful or at least offer a different perspective on things.

"climate science" By that you probably mean propaganda.

my goodness, you've described a lot of why i fear losing my RU-vid addiction I know it's strangling my time and my ability to do the best in life, but it's because of RU-vid i'm so knowledgable about so many things, that without it I lose a ton of what makes me 'me' but i know that's a childish thought, and at the end of the day it comes down to self control and understanding your own limits

I have the long distance problem too, it really sucks.....

I don't think using the internet for those are issues though; like you should give yourself permission to use the internet for those things. Those are imo healthy ways to use technology. But if you somehow get sidetracked and go off on tangents that's where it gets problematic.

@@latteARCH 'allowing yourself to use it' slightly contradicts the limiting part which is designed to keep you away from it it's a tacky situation cuz i completely understand where they're coming from

it's eerily disturbing how many times i've stared at my apps which have told me how many hours i've spent on YT in a day it's quite soul crushing, and yeah i get what you mean (knowing that leaving it behind won't kill you, but at the same time you can't do it)

I'm in the same situation. I'm 17 and I've been using RU-vid for about that long as well. I'm setting a goal to only use RU-vid for educational purposes tomorrow. No clicking on videos for anything else. Edit: it worked out. Today I used RU-vid a bit too much but not as long as usual. Yesterday I managed to not use it all day

@@ambienceandmusicstudios it's a tough ambition, but it's for the best best of wishes for you brother

It's SO EFFECTIVE... It's like they've been feeding us sugar all these years and then discovered crack 😖

All books are initially boring! You could also find other, funner books. Books are great

That’s how I got my gaming addiction under control. After many battles with it I understood what I got from it, decided to sometimes get that somewhere else and now let myself game but only if I genuinely enjoy it and only games that have an end. Making compromise really is the most effective way to deal with your brain. A book once explained it like sitting in the copilot seat of the car with a cracked out clown driving. Ya can’t tel them what to do, but you can make deals to have fun together.

That's very good advice. The youtube phone app actually has options to help you with that, too. You can setup a reminder after x hours spent on the app. I personally use it but I admit I always ignore it..

I'm very bad with balance and creating a schedule I'm really stuck rn in life and it confusing

@@nineinchthread fucking same, it sucks but we'll find a way,

Yup, this worked for me. I think for most people they just need to have a healthy relationship with the internet. That means, like even in irl relationships, establishing boundaries. Don't let your internet use unconsciously run over you and take you to places that you have no control over - dictate when and how you use it. I find that a lot of people on here think that you have to completely quit the internet cold turkey (an all-or-nothing approach). If that works, that's great but for me it sometimes made me rebound like 10x harder. What works for me is somewhere in the middle: controlled use. This may not work for others (such as maybe someone very addicted), but to me, my problem is a loss of agency over my actions. We don't realize how mindless the internet has made us so we need to somehow regain mindfulness of our actions. You have to be really adamant to take charge/control of the boundaries of WHEN and HOW you use the internet. It does take time and practice, experimentation, conscious effort and noticing when you've lost control of yourself. I personally set aside pre-determined (not necessarily all time-scheduled) conditions to when I can use certain mediums. One way is to give myself permission to have a nice dessert or junk food every Monday and Friday, or play games after I finish my schoolwork at 8pm. I also CONSCIOUSLY tell myself: "I'm giving myself permission to eat this snack/use porn/play a game/use my phone/take a break/rest/etc." That way you won't feel like you starved yourself of something your brain likes doing while also establishing boundaries instead of reinforcing the autopilot. It trains you to approach the activity differently. Do you like to go on endless wiki binges? Give yourself a 2-3 hour timeframe in the evenings. You will mess up here and there, which is normal as you ween off it and retrain your brain, but eventually you'll get to a point where you become more and more aware of being the owner of your time and resources. tl;dr it takes practice but little by little establish boundaries to give yourself "permission" to do the things you love, rather than instead of doing them on autopilot or feeling like you have to quit outright I've also went through and deleted a lot of subscriptions/people I follow/etc. to limit my feed to some bare essentials. But I think in order to do this you need to be in a mental place where you know what stuff really matters to you. Believe me, there are some things you just don't need to consume anymore. This also might be more advanced but I would also recommend staying away from recommended feeds. Maybe after you've established some control you can start doing that. I still get caught up on the instagram feed (you can't hide it and it's well-designed to keep grabbing your attention, which is really shitty) but I only stick to subscribers and followers on other social media platforms. That way I've established control on what I get to see, rather than let algorithms dictate it. I don't think this is a foolproof method to get rid of addiction because people experience addiction differently. If anything it's slow and steady way to get rid of something you've spent years doing. But maybe you can incorporate these things in your own journey.

Great advices.

Good thing I used alot of drugs but quit because I'm sick now

What are you going to change?

I'm the same as you, studying programming. I am working fully remotely, and do everything via the internet, and I don't go out and socialize with people at all. I think that's something productive though, it's not internet addiction. I've been thinking how to be social? I am just watching RU-vid videos about that topic, how to win friends and influence people, how to read and understand people, what are the different parts of society good and bad. So using the internet to compensate my lack of social development by studying it as an academic subject.

classic withdrawal push trough it

Totally makes sense! 7deadly sins: 7capital virtues: pride Humility greed Charity wrath Patience envy Kindness lust Chastity gluttony Temperance Sloth Diligence I barely can do anything at home due RU-vid addiction. Thank God it's manageable at work (as long as I have tasks to do. Any downtime and one earphone slides right in). 8hrs for sleep/getting ready for work, 8hrs work/adulting, 8hrs staring at the screen. The most ridiculous part is that things I watch could easily be listening only. It's usually just one person talking, like Dr.K Gluttony, sloth and greed 😶

couldn't have said it any better. we should be able to, for example on youtube, avoid what's addictive (aka recommendations, infinite scroll potential) while keeping the tool (search engine, subscriptions, playlists, etc.)

Essentially it's forced drug use. Forced casino gambling, forced private taxes. All against the law.

A notebook and a pencil costs much less than a month of broadband internet

I bought an e-reader recently, was well worth it. The one-purpose devices like that won't let you get sucked into RU-vid binges. I've been pirating since I got an Internet access, can't recommend it enough.

I consider "fun" stuff to be like waiting in an rpg or fast-travel: it's a time skip. I don't derive any more satisfaction from it. What I do derive satisfaction from is improving skills, making (non-existent and just imaginary) numbers go up - more muscles, more money, better fighting, more friends and social skills, more memories to turn into usable stories. It's helped out immensely in many regards, but also made everything a good bit grayer. And now, I don't want to be rude (tho I'll probably be), but what psychology are you learning on Facebook? And unless you're binging college courses, I doubt RU-vid helps in that regard either. It sounds to me more like a (self-) justification than anything else.

I'm having trouble I'm so bad with scheduling and time management I can't even balance things it stress me out because if I'm doing a thing I feel like I won't have time for anything else and I compare myself to others also being I'm my situation is stressful so I get overwhelmed

I deleted almost all social yesterday and still kinda struggling

How did you fill your time without the media consumption and Internet?

@@nineinchthread Maybe one thing you could do to free up time is just make a list of all the things that you do everyday and try to cut out the unimportant things. It’s really weird at first to live without looking at socials everyday but it will get easier over time as you adapt. Good luck!

@@nKarje I would do things like going to the gym, walking my dog, playing pool at the local pool hall, playing chess with my dad, etc. There really is a lot of other things in this world that will open up to you when you make the time for them. The way I like to think about it is, what did people do before the internet was invented?

Wishing you the best of luck on your journey. 🙏 I hope you write an amazing story or play a beautiful song.

Ive been thinking about stuff like this too, i dont feel like I can quit cold turkey, but I also hate that these apps exists to convince you to watch more of them. For my first step I've decided im going to try to avoid looking at the recommended videos and the homepage. So if I watch something it is because I sought it out and not because it was fed to me. If I want to hear more from somebody im not subbed to then Ill actually go on their channel and look at what they have to offer. I dunno I think that stopping is something you work towards not just something you do.

Why cant i enjoy youtube and be motivated to do stuff