I have seen this listed as an alternative to surfing, but most meals only take between 30 min to an hour to cook so that would only take up a small amount of my surfing time. Any pointers for me? I want to get more into cooking. I have seen on r/cooking where people suggest looking up recipes online but wouldn't that lead you in the wrong direction if you want to quit surfing or not surf as much? Seems like a trap

I'm 23, and this past month I've realized I have an issue: I cannot stop myself from masturbating and watching porn. I can abstain for a day or two, but I always end up failing. In the past, I've always masturbated a lot—probably way too much—likely because I was exposed to porn at an early age and never really stopped.

Now, more than ever, I notice it affecting me mentally. I'm starting to look at women differently at work and just in general, which really bothers me. I want to look at women with love rather than constantly having sexual thoughts. It makes me feel like a creep and disgusting. I need help on how to stop, as I'm starting to notice the negative effects of porn and masturbation and want to stop it early.

I'm also scared that I'm genuinely damaging my penis from it, worried that I might give myself erectile dysfunction or decreased sensitivity due to how much I used to masturbate, sometimes 4+ times a day.

I managed to stop for a while and moderated it to a couple of times a week when I was busy with school and gym. But now that I'm on summer break, I've gone back to my habit of masturbating multiple times a day.

Does anyone have any advice or reassurance for me? I'm really worried I'm damaging my own body.

I've posted about how the internet is boring before , and here's a few reasons why.

Now obviously different apps and websites have different layouts but it seems like in terms of content, it's all the same.

Everyone is making video essays, short form content just seems all similar to me - same text on screen, similar delivery, everyone tries to get them to loop in stupid ways, ads keep getting more and more annoying, especially on mobile with a similar look and feel to reels or tiktoks or whatever they're called now.

Some ShortFormCelebrity discovers a word in their Word-A-Day calendar and they use it in a video and suddenly everyone is using it without really knowing what it means or how to use the word correctly (see 'demure').

It's all just quite similar, that it feels factory made and to me it just bores me.

The one thing that no longer gets traction anywhere online is written content, but I assume that's because no one wants to write their own content and would rather let AI do it for them and people have very small attention spans to be able to read (and comprehend) a long wall of text.

It's depressing.

A big question I’ve been riffing on is when does excessive screen time shift from being a “bad habit” to an actual problem?

I ultimately landed on these two guiding questions, and have found them helpful for looking at my own screen time. Hopefully you do too.

1) Are you achieving everything that you want to do in the day? 

Nearly every person I’ve spoken to has what I like to call ‘The Someday Goal’. 

There’s always at least one thing that they ‘wish they could do if they had more time.’—maybe it’s picking up an instrument, tackling a fitness goal, or deepening a personal hobby.

Ironically, most of these goals would see major progress with just one hour of deep daily work and many of these same people have daily screen times ranging from 2-4+ hours . 

See what I’m getting at? 

2) Are you leaving your ‘tech time’ feeling better than when you started it? 

There's a running joke that after spending all day working on our medium-sized screens, we unwind (and ‘reward’ ourselves) by switching to our small screens (phones) and our big screens (TVs).

It’s dystopian af and a little sad, but it’s true. 

A lot of people use their phones and social media as a form of relaxation. And tbh, I see no problem with that. 

As long as you meet these two criteria: 

a) You have accomplished everything that you’ve set out to accomplish during your day (aka you’ve hit all the things you truly prioritize. For me, it's health, career, family, friendships.

b) You actually feel relaxed when you put your phone down or close your laptop. This is often where the problem lies — most of us feel worse after prolonged tech use.

This was by far my biggest issue, I would use Twitter for hours per day and actually feel like shit after it every single time. When I caught myself subconsciously opening up my browser and pressing "T" before I did anything else, I knew I had to change.

If you meet these two criteria, then great. Keep doing you. 

If you’re hitting both, great. Keep doing you.

If not, consider what this pattern really means. You’re engaging in something daily that leaves you feeling worse, yet you keep coming back to it. Sounds like a problem to me.

Why? Maybe there’s a reason, maybe not. 

The answer doesn’t have to mean cutting it out entirely but could simply be auditing your screen time and content diet to include less of what is causing you stress and unrest.

Gonna write an entirely new post re: auditing our content diets because imo it's just as important as our physical diet.

--

p.s. -- this is an excerpt from my weekly column about how to build healthier, more intentional tech habits.

All the internet is just gone and we go back to living the way before it was invented. How would you life change? Would you like it or not? What would you do differently if you find out there's no more internet from Jan 1st?

Hello,

Most of yall dont realise this but excessive phone usage steals your life force energy and messes with your biofield . After changing your biofield you will experience different thoughts/interests/ideas, most of these wont be to better yourself but more of what the media you consume.

Think about your humam biofield as a radio channel, if you spend hours next to these electronics, the radio channel will be tuned to receive and work with information from that.

You need to get a 3g old ass mobile phone for calls/texts only. Limit internet usage to work related projects. And do alot of grounding work like running in the morning and being around nature/other so your biofield resets.

Being out of the loop is peaceful, but the more I stay out of it. The less I care about online issues.

People always ask me if I have heard of this or that, and when they proceed to explain it's always something about some YouTube guy who ripped off some other guy or a Tiktok person who used AI and is getting heat from that.

And I'm always thinking "Who cares?" and I'm starting to wonder if people see me as bitter for not caring about online drama.

I'm not bitter, I'm actually quite content, however... do I actually have to care about these things?

How are these users relevant in offline settings?

This might seem pretty duh obvious and extremely simple to you all, but it took me a while (of today) to figure out. I will share here anyway in case it helps someone.

Please note, I only tried this with WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Telegram.

Also note, I did this on an Android OnePlus phone so I don't know if it could also apply to other OSs or smartphone brands. Please let me know in the comments if it does.

Steps:

1. Keep WiFi and data on.

2. Put phone on Do not Disturb. Allow messages from no one but allow calls from anyone.

3. In each app’s notification settings, go specifically under calls and allow notifications when Do not Disturb is on. (Yes, this is an option. I don’t know if every OS has this feature.)

Why did I want this? Because I am always in a state of anxiety about forgetting to reply. Phone calls are more in your face. Jarring but only in the moment. Imo.

I have seen people on here say that they stopped listening to music as a part of their nosurf journey. Music is healthy so I don't understand why people would do this. I would find it hard to just get addicted to spotify to the point where you scroll for 6 hours a day or something. Someone help me to understand.

Mmm? Aaaaaaaaaa I couldn’t do my planed thighs this year

People have been doing this for centuries, millenniums: Chroniclize your life to keep track of events and situations that happened to you.

I wouldn't call this a 'nosurf' habit since before the age of the internet there wasn't a thing called 'nosurf', though here, this habit makes you a 'nosurfer', so I share this.

holy fuck when i used twitter i could swear to christ that most of "blue check" people are just shills or grifters or bots , nothing in between

and the consumer fucks and commenters that are not bots are idiots who are eating it up , simply put.

you think that liberal or white supermacist or pro israel or pro palestine or videos sharer is actually genuine ? nope , he just found the niche to make money off . fuck this shit i miss 2010 internet .but for some reason im also unable to resist any of it despite being aware that teyre just trying to make money off idiots like me

Update to my last post. I made it another 7 days without watching any youtube. Here's to another 2 weeks.

Replacements: 1. Reading (finished another book and halfway through the next. Had no idea I still had it in me to read this fast.) 2. Spending time with family (Thanksgiving did make it easier this week.) 3. Christmas decorating.

The only "social media" of any kind that I really struggle with is YouTube. I have deleted all other social apps & such from my phone and have cultivated my hobbies enough that I am pretty successful at avoiding mindless scrolling during my free time.

However, when I am doing a mindless admin task at work, doing housework, etc, I justify putting YouTube on in the background since it's not the main thing I'm doing anyway. I also seriously rely on it to fall asleep. I have tried podcasts, audiobooks, TV shows, and music in place of YouTube for mindless work and falling asleep, but nothing ever seems to hit quite the same button.

My issue here becomes that watching YouTube tends to consume more time after the mindless task (just finished the dishes, I'll watch the last 5 minutes of this video before moving onto my next activity). I have no trouble motivating myself to cut down on the internet during my free time since I'd much rather take part in my hobbies, but I struggle to cut out YouTube because that 5 minutes saved is not motivating enough to do chores and admin work in silence.

Was curious if anyone had similar experiences with this kind of scenario specifically. I actually have no personal issue with consuming YouTube if combined with another task, but have not found a real way to cut down on the overflow time, time spent scrolling to select a video, etc. other than completely cutting out YouTube (which I don't think is sustainable long term because of the sleeping issue). Do you see any downsides to engaging with the internet while completing a mindless task? Have you cut out internet usage during mindless tasks, and if so, what benefits have you experienced? If you engage with the internet while performing a mindless task, how do you reduce "overflow time"?

Since I can easily uninstall any blocker app using >!safe mode!< I came up with the idea that I could prove to my friend every day that I dint uninstall it. Anyway to check when an app was last installed or something?

Im kinda desperate ngl

Hi all, I wanted to share something I did today that really helped me avoid stress-scrolling Reddit instead of working.

I wrote "number of times I DIDN'T open reddit or Youtube today: " on a piece of paper by my desk in blue marker. Each time I got stresed and reached to open Reddit I stopped myself and added a tally to the list instead.

I did have to open Reddit to post this though. I hope this helps :) -Devon

Thank you :)

Have you ever felt like you're broken in some way? Is the person you want to be and the person you actually are two completely different people? There's a good chance you have ADHD. Here's why:

• About 20% of young adults with ADHD have an internet addiction.
• Having severe ADHD is linked to higher odds of being addicted to the internet.
• Symptoms of internet addiction are similar to ADHD symptoms.
• Youngsters with ADHD may become addicted to the internet because it satisfies their need for speed, immediate gratification, and new and stimulating situations.

I used to choose Reddit over assignments, even when I knew I really needed to get working I would literally be stressed out the whole time I was watching youtube because I knew I had deadlines coming up. I would stay up late to do assignments because I spent the whole day playing games instead. I could only rely on external blockers to cut down my time online and never my own internal willpower.

I used to think I either wasn't capable of or interested in education, since of course I must not want it badly enough if I can't stay focused or even get started with it.

So what do you think? Ever felt "broken" like you're missing something that other people seem able to possess with ease? Ever feel like if you would just work harder you could achieve your goals, despite the fact you've never worked hard enough for your own liking in the past?

Seek the answers. Take a test. It's up to you.

I just happened upon my Reddit achievements page.

I have a 150 day streak. Without even trying.

That's not something to be proud of.

I am thinking about quitting social media, and I spent last 6 month analysing what keeps me there and what drives me. Now I am reading Anxious generation as a part of the journey. Internet addiction for me is interconnected with my views on work - I always criticise myself and therefore not having enough enjoyment from it - with my social habits and with immigration experience. I am a software developer and spent 10 years of my life learning about ux, testing, design, exploitive technologies of social media. I am 29, so my childhood was less connected to the internet, I had a lot of offline friends and I don't have that much of attachment to my social accounts. I wasn't ever popular online, my life in school hasn't ever depended on my virtual life, so overall, quite different stuff than what younger people now have to deal with.

I understood that I use smartphone as a thing to calm down, as a tool to work and write texts on the go. I understood that I treated my time too harsh and that it is only humanly to slow down and allow myself to not reach these imaginary KPIs. I understood that I should look on real people more and compare myself to them, because outside of internet bubble, their life is not as flashy as it seems. They are usual people, and I am a usual person. That was a humbling experience and I wasn't ready for it.

I needed to address how I avoid people and to start reaching out more. I also start noticing how younger people, my friends, people from my uni and work, feel lonely and anxious, because of the pressure of social media, and I understood how to behave in real life to let them relax a bit. I needed to face that there are thousands of things in social skills where I am incompetent. I co-hosted the event with my friend and I was terrified, and it failed. It is all OK. Now I even DMed in DnD, so I overcame that.

So honestly, if digital detoxing and mindful practices have opened you up to your insecurities, I am glad to share this experience with you, so it be better. All nice things to all of you.

Is anybody here using screenzen. I just want to ask is that why there are still trigger pause alternative even when i use quick unlock. Thanks

There is a popular hivemind right now that has biased, naive, monithic views of girls and women "these days".

Stuff like this:

.Modern white women are nasty and unloyal

."Modern western women do not like anyone but they only prefer 8ft tall men who cheat on them, rape them, unhygienic, (or any other crime, even fgm)"

."Modern western women are backstabbers and all cheaters"

They even use these naive thoughts to justify why rape is very high in western countries like the US. Because these guys think that "women today like getting raped" apparently. Of course this isn't always true. Hybristopillia is a thing, but it isn't 100% of all "these women".

This really makes no sense.

You know, as a guy, I kinda get why some people ignore men's feelings of problems. Because on any community online that actually is supposed to have suppport (like being a victim.of abuse) mainly ends up into becoming a bigoted incel echochamber, rather than actually needing ethical support. This isnt to say that misandry is justified. It is a shame because there are alot of men and guys who subject to misandry and they genuinely want to be helped as much as women, but as the vast majority of these "support men" communities are just bigoted manosphere echochambers, no support gets given to them.

And shockingly every once a month, I get these types of shorts on my home feed when I click not interested.

^(And how you can do it until the end of the year)

After dealing with procrastination and dealing with bad habits for years, I came across a framework that helped me eliminate bad habits and build good ones.

In my previous posts, I wrote about the Why, What, How Method, where:

1- Why?

You ask yourself why you need to switch the bad habit or in what ways this bad habit is destroying your life. This step is crucial because, in tough moments, you need to keep in mind why you’re doing this.

Most people fail at this step because they outsource their motives.

It shouldn’t just be: “ I want to change it because someone said so.”

You need to truly ask yourself why you should even consider changing this habit.

2- What?

This step is where you start working on the main issue. Most of the resources out there only focus on the external side, which results in superficial solutions. The real change happens inside us.

The idea here is to ask yourself, “ What is causing me to do this? What is the trigger of the trigger?

You may find interesting causes that you never imagined

I found a few tools that can help you work on these root problems, such as journaling, contemplating, and meditation.

The idea is to go into the roots of your addiction and work on it.

3- How?

After mastering why and what, you can start thinking of ways to eliminate your bad habits based on your current situation

There are multiple ways of doing this, so you should focus on things that are already in your range.

This step depends on your current schedule and what works for you. Don’t make the mistake of copying what works for others. Test and see what best describes your needs.

Now, I'll discuss how to develop habits that last and, at the same time, eliminate the bad ones.

To develop any good habit, you only need three things: intention, replacement, and time.

Intention

This is where you consciously decide what habit you want to build, but it needs to be something you want to, and that is important for you; otherwise, you’ll fail. You need to have a strong reason why you want to build it.

Replacement

Every new habit replaces an older one. If you want to quit your phone addiction, you need to find a healthy replacement for that. If you don't replace it, two things will happen:

1- You go back to your bad habits

2- You'll end up building one worse than the previous

For example, I quit eating chocolate, but sometimes I feel the urge to eat something sweet, so I eat fruits or a “healthy” sweet.

Time

We still struggle to develop good habits because we’re programmed to think that we should have instant results for every change. But one thing that I noticed is that real change takes time to happen because it is the only one that aims at the root causes. It does not matter what you’re dealing with. If you want to truly change, you need to be patient and let the time do its part.

If you have the first two things aligned, time will do the rest for you.

Feel free to ask me anything in the comments or dm

I want to be a teenager in 2008-2011. This was the very last time teenagers didn't own phones. They had face to face conversations and socialised outside by shopping, going to clubs and cinemas. Teens that time were ambitious and had good goals.

Teens since 2020 refuse conversation and lack manners.

I was born in the wrong generation.

(n.) Supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration.

They go into it further here. The term actually has a long history and first appeared in Thoreau's Walden.

The Internet is convenient, but

My mental health deteriorated after seeing hate and bullying on social networking sites.

It's been about 2 years since I started thinking about putting an end to this situation.

For the past three months or so, I have been thinking about selling my cell phone and stopping using the internet.

However, this plight has not gotten any better, so I decided to sell my cell phone tomorrow.

It is the ultimate digital detox. I decided to make my life a little better.

Honestly, nosurf is full of the nicest and nicest people on the internet!

Apparently I can't delete my account because I haven't created a password, but it won't send me a password creation email. I've been trying for the past week and have tried everything but I just can't

What would happen if I were to stack these in a closet and lock them up for a month or so? What results should I expect? I have dozens of books on my bookshelf I haven't read yet, will this motivate to read more? All I do on my phone is watch Netflix.

Did anyone try?

No ifs and no buts I cannot download streaming services or games ever again.

I tried to 'take a break/detox' and come back with a view that I would be more aware and yet I simply cannot do that.

Like an alcoholic, I can't just have one more drink or one more show. I have to practice abenstance. It's the only way, long term, to cut my screen time down.

Also, putting my phone not near my bed to charge at night has help a lot with the night time binge.

Hello,
Is there a way to track individual website usage on Android (eg: Google.com, etc)?
I have been looking for this for a while.
It can be using an app or a browser extension (on any browser).
I want to understand which websites I use the most to block them using Leechblock.
Thanks!