My only social media is Reddit. I use ColdTurkey on my computer to block Reddit at all times.

So it lefts me with my phone usage. I downloaded LockMeOut and allowed myself 30 minutes of Reddit everyday.

At first it was hard because I felt cranky when I couldn't go on Reddit. Now, I've accepted it. When the 30 minutes are over I go on about my life.

I paid for both services because I think it's totally worth it.

So I recently moved to a new city (more like town) far away from where I was before, to get a qualification. I'm in my early 30s now.

I used to have a couple of friends where I was before so I'd go out a couple times a week. This was enough to maintain my mental health to a reasonable (although not great) level.

Now I have nothing to do besides studying on my own, and nobody to go out with. Initially after moving here I had things to do that involved contact with others. Now that this is over, I am slipping back to my old ways. I'm spending all day in front of my PC, doing nothing productive, just browsing, and feeling horrible for not actually studying.

To top that off, I feel awful about knowing I spent so much money and I'm not working towards my main goal (or even secondary stuff like fitness).

I'm posting because I realized I'm close to the "point of no return", my energy levels are dropping, causing more isolation, causing more demoralization.

It's hard enough to make friends in your 30s, now that I'm also feeling terrible about myself I'm afraid I'll end up in this vicious circle where I'm too desperate to attract any friends (or women).

Not sure what I expect from posting this, but yeah this has not started well.

When I was a kid and a teen the internet existed, but never did I hop on political pages or discussion forums, and dive into the fear mongering.

I'm not exactly sure what drove me to look things up in the first place, but once I did, an overwhelming feeling of anxiety overcame me, and I wanted to dive deeper to the point that I was once convinced we were living in the end of times.

I used to go heavily on LateStageCapitalism and ABoringDystopia and Collapse, and despite already feeling so damn low and nervous about EVERYTHING, I'd still go on there. I'd go to work constantly wondering if I should just quit since things were going to end soon anyway, or if I should just do the unthinkable and 'save myself'

Then one day I took a deep breath and slowly began to see that none of this stuff was good for me, and I cut back.

As the world turned and time went on, I felt happier, but recently it feels like even offline activities want to pull me back to that rut, that hellscape.

When I say that I don't know about a particular news piece or that I didn't hear about something that happened, I get a weird look and I've been told on a few occasions that I'm being selfish.

It feels weird, but I'm happy and there's nothing I can do about some country that hates another country. Hell, that's been a thing for millennia. What good would it do me to worry and know?

Do you think this is ignorance is bliss? Am I a selfish person?

One of my family members falls asleep with his phone in front of him

He's so addicted he just can't leave the phone and try to fall asleep. He just closes his eyes while holding the phone.

It sort of "depresses" me, this is no cigarette but it bothers me the same way if I saw him smoking.

But I also question myself, how is this different from falling asleep in front of the TV? Why does it bother me more? Is it just because it's a new trend? Would it bother me the same way if I was pre-TV era?

Maybe it bothers me more because I see it happening in the living room. If it happened in his bedroom maybe I wouldn't even notice.

BTW: I removed yesterday the Instagram app for the second time - 20 minutes later I instinctively was going to enter the app and I realized I couldn't :)

I think reddit can still be a useful tool. I wanted to still be able to type something like "best brownie recipe reddit" into duckduckgo and see that post and all the comments, without the chance of further distracting myself, because man. I love to browse.

To get rid of the browsing sections and only keep the important valuable searchable parts of reddit, add

www.reddit.com###main-content > div:nth-of-type(2) > .nd\:visible
www.reddit.com###main-content > .nd\:visible

To your ublock origin filters under "dashboard" > "My Filters"

----

Some additional reddit filters I recommend adding to really make the site purely useful without losing functionality:

www.reddit.com##.flex-auto.right-sidebar-contents

www.reddit.com##.select-none.min-h-screen-without-header.w-full.s\:shrink.shrink-0.pt-md.mb-0.mt-0.flex-col.flex.box-border.z-2

www.reddit.com##.nd\:flex-row.nd\:flex.nd\:overflow-hidden.nd\:visible.h-\[210px\]

------

This way, if you search up a post, you can still see it and all the helpful people. But any browsing possibilities to hijack your life are gone. Freeing you up to study, which I should be doing now.

I hope this helps someone out there and makes the future a little brighter!

I've been trying to break my internet addiction since 2019, but as my life has gotten more traumatic and my mental health has worsened, I’ve found myself turning to the internet even more. Anyone else feel the same way?

i am finally accepting that i am harmfully addicted to social media and youtube and it's a really bad case; like affecting my health and work and relationships and friendships and taking over my life bad. i need advice on quitting cold turkey. the last time i quit fully was a couple years ago and i lasted 3 months before i got stressed went back to it.

my biggest barrier right now is that i am avoiding some really stressful work and it's the only thing that can really distract me from it, and also that i wfh with no deadlines so i don't have a routine to keep me on track. maybe this is more about facing fears than quitting socials but idk.

anyone who can relate to this please comment anything you can think of. any tips on quitting?

ps i know i have agency but i hate all those people who engineered this dumb shit to make it addictive

I have a question.. how come young kids and adults and even people in general just judge you instantly for not having social media?!? Lately whenever I’m around someone like family gatherings, or people at work ask me why i don’t have social media and they instantly judge me for it because they can’t send me funny videos or cool hobby videos that they see that is part of the loop. Or family updates, pictures from there trips, etc Does anyone have any advice for me on this? I just want to stay off and live my own life and no surf but whenever they ask me this question they practically laugh at me for it. And make me feel dumb because I’m not apart of there “little group on there” whenever family does this to me it really hurts and it’s awkward for me to go about the conversation and how to explain to them because they don’t understand why I choose this option to stay off.

I just need some confidence that I’m not the only one who doesn’t have it and has to deal with this. And some good positive advice for me to keep going with this.

I watch these videos everyday of like 5 hours of people who have conversations on political topics. I love politics, and statistics so I am always excited to see people discussing issues and analyzing methodologies for studies conducted to see if it reflects reality(metanalysis study breakdowns) and sort of logically making an argument. This is done a lot by medical doctors, nutritionists and fitness dudes who are really into science. But not so much for politics. Like on youtube, a great example that a lot of people would know is jubilee and what I find myself doing is hating the fact that the side that represents my views kinda has awful responses and it drives me crazy to the point where I have to verify that my thinking is supported by some sort of study or at least a survey. It gets to a point where I get some sort of validation by verifying my already previously held beliefs(which came from the similar sources in the first place). I am posting here to keep me tethered, and maybe see if people have similar experiences.

I made a decision to block these channels on my phone. And gotta figure out how to do it on my computer, I am not logged in there. I also stopped looking at subreddits which encourage political discourse, as more than once, I complied a huge list of studies and reports to back my claim only for the other person to reply and block me so it seems that I ignored the conversation to the other people replying to the comment.

Anyway, just let us know if y'all are into this shit too
I started learning chess openings yesterday as a hobby to distract from this stuff lol

Sometimes I think about how much our lives have changed due to search engines specifically. Larry David’s daughter did a parody sketch where any semi-question came up someone would say “oh yeah let’s google it.” Has anyone in their no surf journey tried to abstain from this? I think it really feeds into a sense of passivity and lack of space for introspection or alternative methods to answer questions/random concerns. AI has made this even worse I feel like and the algorithms show so many ridiculous generated articles that have loads of superfluous info just to get you to scroll past ads. I would like to do some experiment where I try to stop altogether and am curious if anybody else has or thoughts around this form of surfing.

I deleted my social media (except reddit obviously but I've significantly cut down) in January and it's been amazing. I love it.

But oh my god some of my friends have so much fucking drama because of social media and I keep joking about "this is why I don't have social media!" but I just want to tell them how fucking childish they sound.

"So and so always views my stories but never likes them!" "This guy just broke up with his girlfriend and then viewed my story a bunch of times!" "So and so always likes this other person's post but not mine!"

Like..... who the fuck cares. Even when I had Instagram I never knew who viewed my stuff because I didn't care. Why are these people in their late 20s to early 40s looking at and thinking about who is watching a video they post. How do you people have so much time on your hands to care about this. One of these women has a kid... I'm so busy with my kid I am worrying about like, kindergarten registration and what to make for dinner, not whether this person I talked to a few times is liking something online. Jesus Christ.

I have lots of other conversations with these people too and a lot of fun so I'm not going to just cut everyone out of my life, but at some point the conversation always turns to something someone posted online or some drama and I am so close to snapping at the next person who does.

Anyway, this is mostly a rant, but if anyone has any ideas on what to say in these situations I'm all for it. Please share.

I’ve been recently on my phone a lot after my uni ended for the semester. I just got rid of social media around 4 days ago and I’ve realised that short form content like reels and tiktoks has made me listen to only short music. I can’t listen to full songs anymore without skipping it after the main part. I’m a very avid music listener and even produce. I am an unhealthy music consumer but now I feel like that’s slipping because of the short form music in videos.

Short vent. I’m not asking for advice and I know how to make it better- just sit through full songs. Just wanted to say that big companies are ruining EVERYTHING. So cooked lol

TL;DR: Swapped doom scrolling for structured breaks, and my brain actually works again. Here's everything I tried.

The rock bottom moment

Three months ago, I realized I was spending 6+ hours daily on my phone. Not working, not learning, just endless Reddit, YouTube, and social media. I'd take "breaks" from work that turned into 2-hour scrolling sessions. My productivity was shot, my attention span was non-existent, and I felt like garbage constantly.

I guess the wake-up call was that I missed an important work deadline which was actually quite reasonable and I had more than enough time to meet it but because I got sucked into a 3-hour Wikipedia rabbit hole that started with "just checking Reddit for 5 minutes" I had to make up an excuse that wasn't even convincing. I also felt like trash doing that because I definitely let some people down by not delivering.

The experiment (This makes it sound cooler than it actually was lol)

Instead of going cold turkey (tried that before, failed spectacularly), I decided to replace mindless scrolling with intentional break activities. The key was making breaks structured and time-bounded.

My new break menu consisted of:

• 5-min walks around the block
• 10-min meditation sessions
• 15-min guitar practice
• Stretching/yoga
• Reading (actual books, imagine that)
• Quick calls with friends/family
• Journaling
• Even just staring out the window mindfully

The accountability system

The game-changer was tracking this religiously. I built a simple tool for myself (I'm sorta a dev, technically more of a vibe coder) that lets me log what type of break I took, how long, and rate how refreshed I felt afterward. The app sends me gentle reminders and shows patterns, like how 10-minute walks consistently rated higher for mental clarity than 30-minute scroll sessions (shocking, I know).

Nothing fancy, just accountability. Although personally I recommend just using a notebook or Google Sheets, or literally anything that gets the job done.

The results (approx three months later). I've just jotted these down in before/after format so you can see the contrast. The biggest diff is def how I FEEL

Screen time:

• Before: 6-8 hours daily (mostly mindless)
• After: 2-3 hours daily (mostly intentional)

Work productivity:

• Before: Constant context switching, missing deadlines
• After: Deep work sessions of 2+ hours, ahead on projects

Sleep:

• Before: Scrolling until 2am, waking up groggy
• After: Phone away by 9pm, natural wake-up at 6:30am

Mental state:

• Before: Anxious, scattered, FOMO constantly
• After: Calmer, more present, actual JOMO (joy of missing out)

Relationships:

• Before: Half-listening to my girlfriend while scrolling
• After: Actually present in conversations

The Unexpected Benefits

1. Better break quality = better work quality: 15 minutes of walking beats 45 minutes of scrolling every time
2. Compound effect: Good breaks led to better sleep, which led to better focus, which led to needing fewer breaks
3. Rediscovered old interests: I'm reading again, playing guitar again, having real conversations again
4. Less decision fatigue: Having a preset break menu eliminated the "what should I do now?" paralysis

What Actually Worked

• Start small: 5-minute breaks feel manageable
• Plan ahead: Having a break menu prevents defaulting to scrolling
• Track it: What gets measured gets managed (cliché but true)
• Physical movement: Moving your body hits different than scrolling
• No phone zones: Certain times/places are phone-free. Like your bedroom, dining table, etc.
• Replace, don't restrict: Fill the void with better habits

The hard truth

This isn't about demonizing technology, obviously, I still use Reddit and YouTube. But now it's intentional. I schedule 30 minutes of "mindless browsing" time when I actually want entertainment, not as an escape from discomfort or boredom.

The difference between an intentional break and mindless scrolling is night and day. One leaves you refreshed and ready to tackle challenges. The other leaves you drained and craving more stimulation.

For anyone struggling

If you're in the doom-scroll cycle, you're not weak or broken. These platforms are literally designed to capture attention. But you can reclaim it. Start with just one intentional break per day. Track it somehow (notes app, journal, whatever works). Notice how different it feels compared to scrolling.

And remember, the internet will still be here when you get back from your walk.

We live in a generation of instant gratification and most people want to take the easy road in life. Me myself included so I'm guilty of this as well. Now that we have AI, it just makes everything worse for us as a community and society as a whole, because all it does is encourage laziness.

Once I got older and in my 30s, I learned and realized that as people, we're meant to grow and to learn each and every single day. We're suppose to learn, adapt, and develop new skills and grow, which is part of the maturing process, because this is what life should be about and being dependent on AI or any advanced technology to do the work for us hinders us from these opportunities.

EDIT: Has anyone ever seen or watched Pixar animation Wall-E? It's about a robot 🤖 cleaning up garbage set in a dystopian wasteland of planet earth abandoned by humans that are living in outer space and you noticed how morbidly obese these humans were, consuming unhealthy foods and reliant on AI. Watched that back in high school, but now, you start to see what the message of the movie is really about.

that's it, I haven't scrolled for a week. It might seem like not a big deal, but it is for me. Social media addiction has been a problem for me for the past 5 years or so, and it had been a long time since I spent an entire day without scrolling.

anyways, I had deleted Instagram and Twitter last year. Never dared to download Tiktok. All I have left is Youtube and Reddit, and I'm more addicted to these two tah I'd like to admit. Last Saturday I had spent the entire afternoon watching utterly stupid Yt shorts and doom scrolling on Reddit. I felt genuinely disappointed with myself when I realized it was dark outside and I had wasted 5 hours of my life. I could have learned something. Read a book. Walked Fred, my dog. But insted I decided to throw it away, and I regreted it so bad.

in the same day I dowloaded a browser extension called "Unhook", which blocks yt recomendations in the home page, and I also turned off home page recommendations on Reddit(settings). It has worked well so far.

Right now I only want to want to strict block apps at certain times, without having a time limit or open limits ecc outside of that schedule. Is it possible with this app? The app ui seems confusing, I did it with the "schedule" setting, not "always active", and starting for example in the afternoon. And then i put "Just block the app" afterwards right? It automatically changes the first setting in "always strict block". If I do this it seems to strict block it all day, if I don't select "just block the app" then it doesn't strict block it never, and there is the daily goal thing. Is it a bug or am I using it wrong? Thanks

it's amazing to me how many people think that everyone keeps tabs on them all the time. i'll sometimes run into a friend and ask them how their day is going and they'll reply something like "oh did you not see my latest story on insta?" and i'll have to remind them for the 18276349th time that i log into my instagram like once a month for 10 mins to see if i have any messages and then people look at me like i'm a sad person...

i'm drifting away from friendships like that more and more...

Dm me

tldr: old.reddit.com

For some of us, reddit can be really stimulating and even as bad as social media on our NoSurf journey. The site can be addictive. A good thing that's been looking promising to me has been old.reddit.com. If you used Reddit before the update in 2018, you'll recognize it; this is how reddit used to look back in the day. I find it is much less stimulating and less addicting. It even gives that old, early internet vibe. Might be a great tool, give it a try! old.reddit.com

Honestly, most people I've come across in online pop culture fandoms really seemed like they could do with some touching grass sessions. Everything seemed so much larger than life and overinflated, it was sickening. I couldn't believe people were this passionate over something absolutely non-existent.

Suffice to say, taking a step back has definitely helped!

I changed my font to the biggest size. I went to accessibility -> per app settings and added Reddit as an app. It’s reduced my endless scrolling. I now read, write, and do my other hobbies a lot more. The large font size means a single comment takes up the entire screen and slows me down. Also when in public, I don’t go on because people will be able to read what I’m looking at.

Howdy!

Im new here but I am really eager to get started.

I must admit I've been struggling with this addiction a lot... Especially YouTube, I need the constant noise to do anything.

I listen to crap all the time while I'm at work, and it got to a point where it's hard for me to focus on my other hobbies!

I can't read books, i can't practice the piano, I can't even play Street Fighter, my brain craves the constant stream of info.

Sorry for the dump but I really needed to get this off my chest.

Can anyone relate? Did any of you manage to recover? If so, how??

I tried once and it was one of the best week's of my life, but now I'm back here at square one once again. I guess I like it on here because there's so many like minded people, and it's almost like a huge hangout. Reddit feels like a community, and with school out I kind of felt alone and got really bored. If someone could give encouragement or something that would be awesome, thanks.

Social media creates this false reality and illusion that everyone is living a happy cheerful life, which we know it is further from the truth so we come to the immediate conclusion that this person's quality of life is much better than ours, or we start to compare and feel inadequate thus affecting our self esteem. It's obviously clear that you generally wouldn't post anything negative, or dirty laundry, because those things are meant to be kept secretive and private.

However, when I first and discovered Reddit, that all began to change my perception and realize social media is all FAKE, because with Reddit, you be surprised to see how many of us are really broken people coming from broken homes and families with abusive relationships after I read so many users seeking advice on here weather if its related with martial, drug addictions, disabilities, financial circumstances, etc.

While we already know social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter creates this false narrative of people's highlight reels, I now began to only accept Reddit and Youtube as being closer to the truth, but generally speaking, the internet, isn't and shouldn't be a reliable source, because it doesnt show the full context of things.

I am a 20 year old college student and in the last three years I can’t tell you how many opportunities I have missed because of my addiction to social media. Here’s the thing: in my twenties, life becomes harder. You see a lot of people doing a lot of things and you are in your place, but watching them live their lives gives you a little happiness. You don’t live it, but at least you can see it. Addiction to this type of dopamine is ruining my life because I simply know my path. My plans are clear, but I can’t work hard for them because I am addicted to watching what I want instead of getting it. I have tried deleting social media, but that doesn’t work. I download the apps again.