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Mental Health Screen/TV addiction

Vastness

Vastness

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Mar 10, 2006
Messages
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iterating through cyclic eternities
Was really debating where to post this - not quite dark enough for The Dark Side, not quite suited to the Film/Television section... I'll go with this place since the topic I want to discuss is primarily mental health oriented topic.

Anyway... I want to discuss a non-substance addiction which I'm sure is prevalent in today's world even if it's not often acknowledged. Addiction to video media. For a while now I feel like I've had an on/off screen addiction, specifically a video media addiction, even more specifically - at least recently - a Netflix addiction, although it doesn't have to be Netflix, I can just as easily waste time on whatever other streaming service might have whatever I want to watch on. For a long time I refused to pay for streaming services and would just download stuff via torrent, but obviously there are plenty of other places to watch stuff obsessively without paying, YouTube for one, rabbit hole of mindless bullshit that it is... I feel like I do watch good shows - but there is just a lot of good shit nowadays and it's clearly just escapism/avoidance of responsibilities, etc, I recognise a lot of the same psychological patterns I'm familiar with from compulsive drug use.

Namely that "just one more" feeling, getting to the point of not even enjoying it that much anymore but just waiting it out because obviously you can't do anything more useful now anyway - "better wait til this wears off/til the episode ends" - then the feeling of reluctantly and resentfully pulling yourself away, epic frustration you can't just continue to indulge the addictive behaviour because of responsibilities, or sometimes just surrender, "fuck it, it's too late/I'm too tired/whatever, I'll do that other stuff tomorrow"...

I'm currently on day 7 of "cold turkeying" (lol) from this addiction, but I really don't like to think how much time I've wasted, how much longer it's taken me to do more important things, or what I could have achieved in the time I've poured into this fairly vapid hobby. Not that TV watching always has to be vapid, as I said there are many good shows, and I don't doubt it's entirely possible to indulge sensibly and mindfully - this just is not what I've done.

I feel like there could be some resistance to this comparison - a la Gabor Mate's addiction to buying classical music - and obviously I'm not saying this is on par with an entrenched and destructive substance addiction either in the difficulty in quitting or the potential destruction to be wrought on one's life - but nonetheless I think the comparison, without any suggestion of equivalence, is valid in terms of it's potential negative effects on one's mental health.

Mainly I'm posting this though to see if anyone here can relate - surely I can't be the only one. Anyone experienced or experiencing something similar? :unsure:
 
In one word, loop. You are not the only one with this ''condition'' or should I say uhm.. mechanism? Anyway there a lot of people out there living in a loop, - Drugs, music, internet, loneliness, sleep -, I say and I am right bout this, I ain't rich either fuck no, I think I am more broke than the monkey on the corner so haha. Because it's what it's, if you would have $ you would be out there, and you can't throw those repeated answers that everyone uses when they're asked, in the end it's the $ that set-up the table. I throw all these words because they're linked with the screen addiction. As everything has its own advantages and disadvantages, technology overall it's good for developing knowledge bout something, instead to go to a library you would open up Kindle and bam, instead to go to a record store and buy music you have access to not only that genre but a whole lotta genres although we are humanely disconnected, everyone it's a digital zombie, screens everywhere, CCTV's. Let 's say through absurdity that a local has a mascot, this mascot has been clearly and precisely instructed to perform something, instead to watch him dunno, flippin some bottles, you watch that new video on X platform with Y. Self-control it's a tool that everyone needs to master, the ability of understanding yourself and your limits it's essential in life in order to survive, this beside making $. This loop has a negative effect on your mental health, your thoughts repeat themselves and you cannot think nothin new, basically you created a bridge? ya, a bridge between logic and insanity, this fantasy has lead to this foxhole, I would say it's better than rabbit in this case, no one will get you up, you have to pick yourself by pieces, even if it's hurts, little by little in order to build a machine that make sense. So my advice as to start getting out of this, would be to experience new stuffs, like for e.g travel somewhere, go to a museum. So you acknowledge your issue but you don't fix it? How's that?
 
Thanks for responding. I'm not 100% sure that money is the important factor, I mean, I have enough money to do other stuff, I often think even if I had fuck you money there's a high possibility I'd just veg out for days watching shit, knowing I didn't need to do anything. Granted though, if I did have this kind of money I'd have a lot more options for more exciting things to do than just sitting on my ass watching TV, so I'll give you that. Also obviously the sometimes soul-crushing pressure of having to work on things that maybe aren't your passion in life just to get by itself induces a need to just escape, which would not be a problem if money was not a problem.

Shady's Fox said:
So my advice as to start getting out of this, would be to experience new stuffs, like for e.g travel somewhere, go to a museum. So you acknowledge your issue but you don't fix it? How's that?
Click to expand...
How do I not fix it? Well, good question, but why do any us keep doing things we know are bad for us? Many, complex reasons that are not easy to explain or to solve. That said, your advice of course is good, replacing this mindless lazy time with more outward reaching activities. I'm working on it, In the last week I've watched maybe 2 hours of anything compared to maybe 10 or more in previous weeks... trying to cold turkey it still as much as possible, and even substitute free chunks of time with more mentally interactive stuff, like reading books, or posting here, at least in that way I need to actually engage my brain.

Surprised no one else has commented so far, I thought this would be a commonly identified problem, you say I'm not the only one, but, well, evidene suggests... :LOL: I guess though I may have misjudged this as being any kind of unique addiction to a maladaptive behaviour when really it is just another version of a pattern that exists in countless iterations... as you say.
 
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