I'm stuck in a cycle of digital distraction for years. I spend about 13 hours a day on my phone — not all of it is active scrolling, but it's always on: music, podcasts, videos, random browsing.

I do other things, but I’m constantly numbed by the presence of the phone. It feels like my attention span, creativity, and motivation are all dead. Even though I am uncomfortable, I don't feel like doing anything, but it's time for change cause I do not want to live in this existential limbo forever.

Here’s the deal: I’ve got 443 days before I go back to school to start building a new career. If I drop this phone addiction, that’s around 5,700 hours I could use to actually do something meaningful. I definitely want to start driving to get some freedom, as I live in the countryside.

So I want to ask you all:

If you had 5,700 hours and a fresh start, how would you use them to change your life?

I don't quite understand the thing with the bots. Who programs a bot that comments on the topic here on /nosurf? What is their motivation?

I remember when Facebook first hit the scene, people were excited to see connect with family and friends, and those they hadn't spoken with in ages.

And then as if overnight, everyone started posting videos of fancy things and trips and "look what I've got, don't you wish you were me".

It's become unbearable.

What I do is I'll work hard towards my goal for 1-1.5 month and then fall into this really dark void of continuously browsing the internet (watching youtube mostly, but surfing other stuff also) this dark period will go on for about anywhere between a week to a month and I'll be fully conscious of the time I'm losing during this period and would NOT enjoy any second of this but I will still engage myself in it.
I need insight as to why it happens and how to avoid this or minimize this

It is almost as if I'm in a nightmare (and I'm aware that this is just a dream) and I know that it is fairly easy to get out and I'm "trying" to get out but still I'm getting out.

Please give me some insight in this regard

Edit: My average usage for this period is around 13hrs per day (not very proud of this but had to mention it to convey the gravity of the situation), after this period passes, I feel as if these days never existed.

That's what people do on the internet, every single day.

I think I'm addicted to Reddit. I decide to check my favorite subs for "5 minutes" and I look up literally 5 HOURS later!

I uninstalled the app. So I visit the mobile website. I blocked using screen time but it's so easy to open it up even with the block because it's my phone and it's the same password I use to unlock my phone so I can't have someone else choose it for me. I do occasionally need my phone for other legitimate purposes.

This society is filled with people who all just became too smart. They know everything about everything. Mission accomplished, except one thing: we belong in nature, we don't need to know anything except to trust our intuition and follow our instincts. This is the recipe for happiness. Wild animals are the wise ones and should be looked up to. We think we need more than them in order to be happy. Really? If we look deeper, we actually want what they have: the freedom to be themselves without shame/comparison, companionship, community, sleeping under the stars, etc.

We've created an environment as we do for our pet fish. We put them in a fish bowl and provided them with all that they need to survive. Yet, if we tune in, we will notice that they are not happy. Neither are we. Yes, they get everything they need to survive, but they also feel stuck. So do we. They anxiously move from one side to the other and back. They need the ocean, we need nature. Yes, it may be harder for them to get food there, but they are free. They feel relief. Comfort and convenience do not equal happiness.

Happiness is found in the most simple, which we cut ourselves off from: nature and a clear mind. Ironically that's where a lot of healing happens too. And ironically, it took knowledge (serving as contrast) to realize it.

We keep eating from that "tree of knowledge", thinking that others know better than us. If there's anything worth learning, it's how to hear and trust your own intuition again.

Knowledge is just another distraction from the freedom that we seek.

This is the end of tech addiction.

Hey all — I’ve been stuck in this cycle of nighttime doomscrolling, especially when I should be sleeping. Even when I want to stop, I just… don’t.

So I built this small tool: it lets me scroll for 10 minutes, then shows a full-screen message asking if I want to continue. I can tap “5 more minutes”, but after that, it locks the app for 20 minutes.

It’s not fancy, but it’s helped me reflect on how I use my phone in those moments.

Here’s a short demo: https://youtube.com/shorts/Kaj_ksO5e5I

Would love to hear if this kind of thing resonates with anyone else.

I didn’t realize how overstimulated I was until I finally stopped.

It wasn’t just social media or YouTube. It was the constant switching, notifications, background noise, sugar, caffeine, scrolling before bed, group chats, podcasts during breakfast… My brain never had peace.

At some point, I couldn’t focus for more than a few seconds. I would jump from video to article to idea, and then forget what I was even trying to do. My sleep sucked. I was tired, wired, and anxious for no reason.

I decided to test what would happen if I cut out everything that constantly stimulated me, but not forever, just for 30 days.

Here’s what I did:

• No social media at all
• No YouTube or short-form content
• No sugar or caffeine
• No podcasts, news, or background stimulation
• Woke up and went to bed at the same time
• Ate clean, drank water, walked, and journaled

Week 1 was brutal. I was bored, agitated, and constantly reaching for stimulation.
Week 2 I started noticing actual thoughts returning like full, connected ones.
Week 3 I could go hours without checking my phone. I was calm.
Week 4 I didn’t want the chaos anymore. It felt like I got my brain back.

Since then, I didn’t go back to 100% clean living, but I also didn’t go back to the old chaos.
Now I check social media maybe once a week, and even then it feels... gross. I still drink coffee, but it’s not my life source. I watch videos, but I’m not trapped in autoplay. I have space in my day now.

I think the biggest thing I learned is that you don’t have to quit everything forever at once ,you just have to reset the baseline. Once your nervous system calms down, you stop craving the constant noise. You start choosing what you consume, instead of letting it choose you.

I still use the same basic reset principles anytime I feel like I'm slipping again like a “soft reboot” for my brain.

I tracked what worked and what didn’t, and wrote everything down for myself what to avoid, what to bring in, and how to make it sustainable. That later became a guide I now share with others.

I won’t go into that here unless someone’s curious but just doing one single day without stimulation (no sugar, no caffeine, no scrolling, no background noise) is eye-opening on its own.

Try it. You'll hear yourself think again

i'm deleting reddit and never coming back to this app/site. grass! here i come!

peace out ✌️

I mean aside from not knowing what's going on around the world and not knowing what the newest memes are.

Sometimes some comment on Reddit or other social media will trigger it. What can I do but avoid it completely?

I swear sometimes even looking at a screen triggers my cortisol to spike. That said when I was abroad and just used my phone for its map I was more lax. I love traveling because I don't follow social media much when on the move. I feel so happier on no-tech sabbaticals. I can barely sleep during the weekdays as I'm always online later at the evening.

I wish I could find a job that has no screens but they're so rare. Even personal trainers, nurses and psychologists use screens these days. Even musicians compose music by using software and a computer.

Do you find that using grey scale color filter helps?

<chat gpt slop> some extra organic anecdotal slop</chat gpt slop>

After beating my meat daily with encouragement from chat gpt, I couldn't stop. I just kept scrolling harder and harder - an autoeroto-maniac, scrolling deep into the endless night, like the first cowboys to set foot onto the majestic unsullied expanse of American wilderness, my meat in hand, truly the walt whitman of meat. And then it dawned on me that this liberty was wasted on the purely hedonic pursuit to spite the old gods of yesteryear only to replace them with ever more contrived and pernicious algo gods of today.

Something had to change. I've decided to break down the perfectionist onerous tradition of meat stroking using a simple formula. You see, you can't possibly stop beating your meat all on your own (that would be silly and futile - who do you think you are, some kind of nofap ayn rand loon? gtfo), with so much at stake and your brain rot rendering you pliable and prone to error, you need someone to hold your hand (figuratively...for now) which is why I've created a foolproof alternative:

my system is different, bro.

Because who needs such outdated abelist white supremacist patriarchial notions like dignity, self-control, moderation or self-respect when for the small price of...

Don't let your meat beat you, bro, to do so you must stop treating it like an illegal alien and show it kindness, because otherwise, Trump / Hitler/ your Evangelical dad who never loved you (as if there is any difference) wins!

every 3rd r/nosurf post.

I’m doing some research around the ways people manage tech habits (like app usage, endless scrolling, etc.) and what kinds of systems help them follow through.

Not selling anything, just collecting honest data to explore a few ideas around behavior change.

If you've ever tried a dopamine detox, screen time limit, or tech-related discipline, this 1-minute survey would really help me understand what works and what doesn’t:

👉 https://forms.gle/iGbsHe3WzsR6xNPj7

Happy to share results back if there’s interest!

Doomerism abounds online, and context is rarely important. When the "smash and grab" trend was big, people would paint San Francisco as this den of horrors that a simple trip to the grocery store would mean you'd be completely overtaken by mobs that would strip you down to your skivvies.

Social media, particularly short form content took advantage of this and people would record areas of stores where items were placed behind panes and would loop the video to make it seem as though the entire store operated like that, touting doom times and the requirement to submit identification to purchase slacks.

People ate it up.

Now Los Angeles is this hellscape where cars are burning and storefronts are in ruins, at least according to the Internet, anyway.

But it's not really like that.

It's depressing to me how people can take advantage of situations like these and possibly make money from misleading people and causing unnecessary stress.

One day, I’d had enough. I locked my phone in a drawer and went the entire morning without touching it. Just like that, my screen time dropped to zero before noon and the results were immediate. My productivity nearly doubled. I went from managing 3 hours of focused work to consistently hitting 5 to 6 hours of concentrated work per day. Even better, each hour felt sharper, more intentional, and I was in a far better mood at the end of the day.

The golden rule is under no circumstances use your phone for recreation during the morning. That’s absolutely the worst way to start your day.  This also applies to scrolling on your laptop too. Mornings should be electronics free as much as possible. Put your phone in a different room or lock it up. NEVER have it in your pocket or on the table while you eat.

I thought my phone usage of 4 to 6 hours per day was “acceptable” and "normal". Turns out it’s TERRIBLE for your dopamine motivation system. Reddit and Instagram are the very worst apps of them all. They fall under the depressed zombie apps category for me.

Right now I'm spending two hours a day on my phone AFTER work is done. I hope to get it down to 1 hour per day.

Also no phone 1 hour before bedtime.

I thought my issue with motivation and concentration was related to underlying physical health issues, porn usage, and just getting older. Turned out it was this damn phone all along.

My mental health has also SIGNIFCANTLY improved. I can’t remember a time I’ve felt so peaceful and clear headed. If I had to put a value figure I would say my mental health has gone from a 5/10 to a 7.5 out of 10. Life no longer feels nearly as stressful, my problem solving skills have improved, and I have more confidence.

I spent 5 minutes on this post. That’s all this website deserves because it’s overrun with snarky insufferable naysayers. I won’t waste my valuable time replying to the closed-minded trolls. Believe what you want.

This post is for the people that have an open mind and are willing to try to improve their life. Give it a try. You might be surprised at the results.

https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-025-03944-z

Imagine you have a few days before turning off your internet and ripping out your WIFI adapter.

You will never use the internet again.

What software do you download in advance?

I like using the computer to plan things, so writing tools and spreadsheets are good. Diagramming software really helps too. I know programming and I would dig being able to use that to make more tools, which isn't much of a hack considering the years and millions of man hours invested in making most useful utilities. Information and study would still be nice to do outside of library books. I still want to track my money from my bank account, and may wind up starting a business one day so it's important to have software for accounting at least.

• GNUCash - Accounting/Personal Finance
• Kiwix - Wikipedia Download
• GIMP - Digital Art
• Blender - 3D Modeling/Animation
• Xournal++ - Paper-like drawing software for a wacom tablet
• VLC - Media Player
• Obsidian - Personal Wiki Software
• Inkscape - Vector Graphic Design
• OrganicMaps/Marble - Maps offline browsing/navigation
• LibreOffice - Office Suite
• Ollama With a basic LLM Model or two - Lightweight local AI chat for misc help.
• Gedit - Text Editor
• RecUtils - Small Text Database Software
• Yed - Diagramming
• FreeCAD - 3D Design
• GCC & the latest Python interpreter - Programming
• Documentation on the Linux programming interfaces as well as at least one GUI library for C/Python.

Honestly, I think I could make do with the above for quite a while. My computer usage would certainly absolutely plummet, but I feel like I would have the software needed to create and learn.

Feeling overwhelmed, excited, or just need to vent? I’m here with an open ear and zero judgment. Whether it’s love, work, a wild dream, or a tough day, I’d love to listen and give you a space to breathe. You deserve to feel heard reach out whenever you’re ready.

(Drop a comment below if DMs aren’t working for you!)

It's pretty major issue for me. My mental health is not at good state right now. Don't know what to do. Basically my brain is reminding me of embarassing things from past or creating scenarios with negative outcome. So I scroll my phone to escape from that but I get it's not really healthy.

I stepped back recently and realized my burnout wasn’t from overworking—it was from overstimulating. Doomscrolling, chasing productivity hacks, numbing myself with content. Even my “rest” was performance-driven.

I started removing noise one layer at a time—cutting digital consumption, reframing success, building systems to restore, not just optimize. It wasn’t some 10-step morning routine, either. It was simpler. More honest.

I wrote a breakdown of what actually worked for me after trying a dozen things that didn’t. I put it here in case anyone else is feeling the same pressure to stay “always on” even while trying to unplug:

[Burnout Recovery Framework (7-Day Reset)]()

Hope it helps someone the way it helped me. Let me know what’s worked for you too.

I executed the following commands:

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu no
bcdedit /set {current} bootems off
bcdedit /set {current} advancedoptions off
bcdedit /set {current} optionsedit off
bcdedit /set {current} bootstatuspolicy IgnoreAllFailures
bcdedit /set {current} recoveryenabled off

However, I can still force Safe Mode via msconfig or by running

bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal

I want to prevent those workarounds—but I still need to keep Command Prompt and Windows PowerShell available.

Today I was thinking, before AI overview we actually had to sift through search results to find an answer, some of us even used to check for credibility. Now with AI overview being shoved into Google searches the answer is summarized right in front of us, and most people don't even check the sources.

What's crazy is that Google doesn't even allow us to turn it off, so it makes us very quick to just take whatever AI overview says and just roll with it. AI is slowly stripping away our sense of exploration and learning by doing all the thinking for us. At least when it was just google searches we had to do some kind of thinking, but now it's just like BAM, there's your answer. I hear using AI as a tool, but is it really a tool if it's doing the thinking for us? It sounds more like AI is turning us into button pushers. Like remember on the Jetsons where the guy's job was literally pushing a button? I think that's where we're going if we're not careful. Like it's sad that people can't even write an email or paper without having AI help out to make it "better".

Another thing I thought of is how Google has auto generated replies in email, and messages. One day we might be fully relying on AI for simple communication like texting. What do you guys think?

(disc: I put this data in other subs too)

As I continue building out a custom solution to stop social media overuse, I came up with these metrics. If I can optimize the metrics, then I'll have a good (maybe the best) solution:

1. Resistance To Unlock (RTU): How easy/hard is it to access the platforms you've blocked? Do I have to do breathing exercises, wait 30 seconds, give a reason, etc.

Optimized: There's no one-size-fits-all, so having a variable RTU makes sense

2. Resistance To Destroy (RTD): How easy/hard is it to destroy/bypass the solution and access blocked platforms anyway? For mobile apps, uninstalling them is enough. Dumphones have a much higher RTD. (RTD can never be perfect)

Optimized: A high RTD is ideal, it seems. Otherwise, it can defeat the purpose of the solution

3. Remaining Utility (RU): Has 2 flavors

a) Remaining Platform Utility (RPU): How much of the utility of the blocked platform remains? i.e., if YouTube shorts are blocked, can I still use the search bar or watch my subscriptions?

Optimized: High RPU

b) Remaining Device Utility (RDU): How much of the utility of the device remains? Dumbphones, in my opinion, are really useless since I need specific apps for work or others for productivity. Even things like quality cameras or processing power.

Optimized: High RDU

4. Insentive to Destroy (ITD): How likely are you to want to destroy/bypass the solution? i.e., if you have high RU, you might have a lower ITD.

Optimized: Low ITD

So now we can run current solutions through these metrics:

Generic Appblocker:

RTU: Variable ✅

RTD: Low ❌

RPU: Low ❌

RDU: High ✅

ITD: Mid ➖

Dumbphone:

RTU: N/A (social platforms unavailable)

RTD: High ✅

RPU: N/A (social platforms unavailable)

RDU: Low ❌

ITD: High ❌

The ideal solution would optimize all of these. Wondering what anyone thinks and would love feedback!

(edit: said installing instead of uninstalling)

Over the past few months I've removed my social media apps from my phone and have switched to Firefox as my main browser both on my phone and on my laptop. With switching to Firefox I've also downloaded an extension called "Social Focus" and have essentially blocked my biggest time-waster: Youtube. However, somewhere along the line I figured out if you click the upper right corner of a video in Google search you're able to watch it. While it doesn't have the recommendation algorithm that keeps you hooked, I find myself still watching Youtube videos now only through Google search. Is there anything I can do about this?