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Phone addiction

TheLightBringer

TheLightBringer

Bluelighter
Joined
May 25, 2022
Messages
676
I realized I am extremly addicted to my phone. Ive been sober for 5 years yet Im as addicted to my phone as I was to drugs.


The past 2 weeks ive been going to sleep at 5 or 6am, stuck in an endless cycle of going from app to app to try and get some sort of stimulation or escape. Reels, youtube, reddit, watching short clips and procastrinating. Averaging 9 hours of screen time per day. I realize now I cant win by staying up longer.


What are some ways you guys managed to get over your screen addiction/procastrination?
 
i have a to-do list pinned as a widget on my phone, and sequence my day by thinking about what i'd like to have achieved then working backwards to the steps i need to do and then those steps are the list.

that way i don't get bogged down in thinking, i just do the task and move down the list and repeat.

it also helps to visualize the outcome and think in past-tense, so instead of being like "ugh i have to do x,y,z today" i'll fast forward mentally to the end and think "i've done x,y,z today!" and that gives me a little push to just go and do the things, because i'm looking forward to realizing that reward.

the whole list is just basic shit usually, but life is just a series of doing basic shit consistently.
 
Well, I sure as hell don't have it under control, ugh. But one thing I did is set timers on some apps so they turn off after x amount of time each day. Mostly I just use it on YouTube because when I start watching those damn Reels, hours can go by. I can and have over-ridden the timer, but it's a bit of a hassle to do so and it breaks the chain long enough that I stop. I also have alarms set to 10 pm and 10:15 pm to remind me to drop the phone and get ready for bed but that doesn't usually work for me well at all.
My big problems are news feeds and just general purpose Google researching things I'm curious about: it FEELS like it's all useful and worthwhile, but it really isn't. I'm not sure how to go about setting timers for that, because those aren't really individual apps. I probably can do it to the Google app itself (?) but it feels like flushing your stash of drugs down the toilet, hard to pull the trigger.
I'm very interested in any suggestions people have here because it's a waste of my time.
 
To the OP, I also think forcing yourself to go for a walk might help, it does for me. It gives me some relaxation and positive brain chemicals which helps and breaks my pattern. Just don't bring the phone with if you think you might be tempted to use it. Personally, I don't like walking and looking at a phone at the same time.
Also, honestly, I do way better if I'm interacting or socializing with other people. I'm always worse when I'm alone. There is a void there to be filled.
 
chippermonk said:
To the OP, I also think forcing yourself to go for a walk might help, it does for me. It gives me some relaxation and positive brain chemicals which helps and breaks my pattern. Just don't bring the phone with if you think you might be tempted to use it. Personally, I don't like walking and looking at a phone at the same time.
Also, honestly, I do way better if I'm interacting or socializing with other people. I'm always worse when I'm alone. There is a void there to be filled.
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This is true, I go for long walks every day but always have my phone with me to listen to music. Then as soon as I get back in I jump on my bed because Im ”tired” from the walk and need to rest for 10 minutes. 10 minutes turn into 90 minutes and so on…


My most productive days are when I can convince myself that I dont need to check my phone every 10 minutes ”in case” someone has messaged me. Probably only get max 1 urgent message per day unless I have plans, the rest can be answered later. The days when I do manage to put away my phone the whole day ends up being 3x more productive.
 
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TheLightBringer said:
This is true, I go for long walks every day but always have my phone with me to listen to music. Then as soon as I get back in I jump on my bed because Im ”tired” from the walk and need to rest for 10 minutes. 10 minutes turn into 90 minutes and so on…


My most productive days are when I can convince myself that I dont need to check my phone every 10 minutes ”in case” someone has messaged me. Probably only get max 1 urgent message per day unless I have plans, the rest can be answered later. The days when I do manage to put away my phone the whole day end up being 3x more productive.
Click to expand...
I know that feeling. I can't believe I've turned into such a phone addict. I'm really hoping to get a grip on myself. I use to like to read books or magazines and now I can't even concentrate on them. But I think it is helpful today that my timers on both Facebook and YouTube cut me off...but maybe I need one for Blue light, too 😬
 
Change of Medium.

I dropped back into being a 90s kid again, basically. Part of it was for the familiarity of nostalgia, the other part of it was that 90's media just doesn't jolt me as much in terms of stimuli the way that modern media does.
 
But you know what. When I go Camping or hiking in the woods. I waste my whole day out there too.

It's addiction believe me. I don't want to go back. And then nothing gets done but tripping through the

Woods. I love it. .... I love wasting my time too !!!!!!!!!


I swear I have to be addicted to something. I am still trying to figure it all out.


How to get addicted to Nothing. 💔:unsure:


I promise you, I am Serious.
 
Ki3ly said:
But you know what. When I go Camping or hiking in the woods. I waste my whole day out there too.

It's addiction believe me. I don't want to go back. And then nothing gets done but tripping through the

Woods. I love it. .... I love wasting my time too !!!!!!!!!


I swear I have to be addicted to something. I am still trying to figure it all out.


How to get addicted to Nothing. 💔:unsure:


I promise you, I am Serious.
Click to expand...
You have a good point there, Kiely. I feel like my camping and hiking time is anything but wasted time, yet in a way we all spend our lives killing time, wasting it somehow. On the internet I play word games ( I guess it's good for my brain), I research interesting or useful information ( sounds ok), chat on Blue light ( ♥️), read too much news ( high blood pressure, anxiety, depression ☠️)...ok, 3 out of 4 ain't too bad
I think the problem for me is balance and is it getting in the way of other things in my life . And also, it promotes a weirdly short attention span that I don't like but have trouble controlling. I think we all struggle with that.
But sometimes it's just nice and good to scroll and click our way to a little relaxation.
 
If it's not one thing it's another ! 🙁🧃 Like Taurine in my habit forming juice drink addictions too.

I just want to be a Neatnik.
 
I deleted the social media apps and started to read books on my phone. Yup its still looking at a screen and not as good as a paper book but it seemed to scratch the itch whilst also filling me head with something other than vapid social media shite. Was difficult at first with regards to concentration span as I had trained myself to consume things in 30 second bursts but I stuck at it and now love getting stuck into a book, particularly at night. Another benefit of this above paper books is I always have my phone everywhere I go so can bust it out for a read in a long queue at the shops or in a waiting room etc. Worked for me..
 
Delam said:
I deleted the social media apps and started to read books on my phone. Yup its still looking at a screen and not as good as a paper book but it seemed to scratch the itch whilst also filling me head with something other than vapid social media shite. Was difficult at first with regards to concentration span as I had trained myself to consume things in 30 second bursts but I stuck at it and now love getting stuck into a book, particularly at night. Another benefit of this above paper books is I always have my phone everywhere I go so can bust it out for a read in a long queue at the shops or in a waiting room etc. Worked for me..
Click to expand...
Yk what this is a fucking great idea, I never thought of this before. Any certain app you use?
 
It very much depends on how it's seen. Vast majority of the globe, around 97% cannot control this manifestation. These lock/timer apps or even a specific strategy one applies to their life by restricting certain way of behaving in that area or modifying is just unnecessary and adds more remorse to your race line. In the end, just a few can learn with the help of others, how to control themself and why their revising this bold movement they've decided to start. I say this because a phone addiction also means lacks of passions but as well as more to compromising how we're in the speed era — reason to be mindful that people were replacing this with → paint a wall or by creating cross for the dead, by triming goats, by... etcera. Is just that these things are not practiced by 100 out of 100 population but 30-15. Morale? Time changes so we, so our bed does every day when you wake up. Your mattress will slowly start to rot down in the upcoming years, is all a sign of time.

By having a Kindle app or by having a library subscription, also creates this illusion. Everything can be considered addiction. What's phone addiction considered? Caring for how you're seen within the online world. Likes/hearts... Reposts, reading a positive thing about yourself over and over till your brain rots out, mind loops... this is where yes, is a point, of no return in the context that you're addicted and should reorganize your ground. I've once tried to help a non locally school from Ireland, by, setting a sleep timer on the 5GHz band and by having the 2.4 lag out almost constantly after a while. Director said it worked because then kids had to explain to their parents how Y amount of GB of mobile data was consumed. I've heard it had a small amount of success. But again, environment and wrong time but good placing. This is just to see this can help out but only at a certain amount.
 
you may be dopamine deficient, seek out things that increase dopamine, bupropion, mucuna pruriens etc.
 
I mean I know ”why” Im addicted to my phone. I currently lack discipline and motivation due to my chronic pain and mental issues, not an excuse to not better myself btw. But I know where my feeling of wanting to escape and procastrinate comes from.

Combine that with a lifelong struggle of executive dysfunction as well as unmedicated ADHD and high functioning autism which went undiagnosed until adulthood, because of parents who feared a diagnosis would mean their child was not ”normal” and never teaching proper management and you end up in a situation where addiction and procastrination walk hand in hand with things that distract the mind.
 
Ive been considering getting back on vyvanse or methylphenidate but I dont see the risk as being currently worth it due to having 5 years of sobriety and honestly being terrified of having a presciption of the drug class that was the one I abused the most
 
i watch people with add and prescibed vyvanse go into phases of hypomania.
 
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