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Help: advice & tools for digital detox / minimalism?

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has recommendations for tools to help with digital detox / digital minimalism.

I struggle with mild impulsivity. Whenever I open my computer I almost automatically open a browser and check social media.

It used to be a problem primarily with Reddit and news sites, but since joining Lemmy my behavior has switched to regularly checking Lemmy.

I’m looking for any tools or advice, whether cognitive-behavioral or technical like browser extensions.

In the past I used the Firefox extension called Redirector to redirect myself from certain subreddits like /r/all to something more benign (I like /r/sewing or /r/books for example), and this intervention helped break up automatic behavior and was a kind of harm reduction: still feeding the impulsivity, but with healthier content.

I was wondering if there is something like Redirector that redirects randomly with some probability (like 20% of the time it redirects to the target you specify).

etchinghillside ,

You’re likely just asking other addicts.

dandelion OP ,
@dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Other addicts are exactly the people to ask.

AndrewZabar ,

I’m sorry I don’t have any advice on that but I’m wondering why do you feel this is a problem?

dandelion OP ,
@dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar
  1. I prefer to feel in control, and when I notice impulsivity and difficulty stopping or changing the behavior, it’s a red flag for me
  2. the amount of time spent is too much and I find it wasteful, the time could be better utilized, even if on a different down-time or recreational activity which leaves me feeling better or is more enriching
  3. Lemmy / Reddit / whatever social media usually has some content that is useful or good in some way, but I would say most of the content I consume when engaging impulsively ends up not supporting my mental health (e.g. doomscrolling is a more common outcome from this impulsive behavior than, for example, engaging with community or other reasons that I seek these places in the first place).
AndrewZabar ,

I hear ya. Clearly you have very responsible attitude about yourself. That’s commendable. I really hope you find what will help you!

dandelion OP ,
@dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

hey thanks!

One thing I have noticed is that I sometimes turn to this impulsive behavior when I feel really tired and I just need to rest, and I think of scrolling social media as an enjoyable kind of mental and physical break. So I’ve tried a few times to just set a timer on my phone and lay down and close my eyes for a bit instead, which makes me feel much more rested and works better as a break for my mind and body than scrolling social media.

However, this requires the awareness in the moment that the motivation for the social media impulsivity is that I’m tired and that I need a break, and I need the additional will-power to choose the better and admittedly less fun sounding alternative of actually resting - so as you can imagine establishing that new behavior has been a losing battle.

Anyway - I appreciate your positivity, thanks for your question and comments!!

AndrewZabar ,

Try music or a relaxation app. I love those. I used to have one where you could make recipes of sounds. I had thunderstorm + crackling campfire + mild creaking of wooden deck as an old sail ship tilts back and forth. Fucking pure opium to my body. I loved it. It’s like the most peaceful combination of sounds I’ve ever heard.

Anyway, I’m always around to chat if you ever want. I barely sleep lol. Also my son has issues like this where he’s online and doesn’t think to stop and rest. We are working on it.

dandelion OP ,
@dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Yeah, I like to get distracted and sucked into things, esp. on the computer. When I get that way I don’t get hungry or thirsty, I don’t realize I need to use the restroom, etc. - just completely ignoring the body (which is nice for me). I’m pretty sure it ruins my posture and creates muscular-skeletal problems, too.

Either way, interesting idea about listening to sounds or music - maybe that would increase enjoyment, but I worry it would reduce the usefulness of the resting (part of what I think helps is that I seclude my senses and I usually lie down in a quiet and dark place). Still, something to explore and see if it wouldn’t make it easier to motivate me to do it instead of rotting on the screen.

AndrewZabar ,

I think if you try different things you’ll find a balance. I really wish you all the best.

FergleFFergleson ,

It’s not exactly what you were asking for, but I’ll say one thing that definitely helped me was to remove the mobile apps to sites like reddit from my phone. It was much easier to break its hold on me when I couldn’t just view it anywhere. Obviously, it was still an issue on the desktop but nudged me in the right direction that made breaking away much easier. And once I could go several days without hitting a site at all, the addictive nature of the site really subsided a lot.

dandelion OP ,
@dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

That is good advice, but I don’t have any apps and I don’t tend to spend much time on my phone. I find the mobile UI annoying, so it’s really desperation when I turn to a phone to browse a place like Reddit. Usually I do it when I have a burning question that I want to explore and I’m not otherwise able to use my desktop or laptop.

I’m trying to find a way to nudge myself away from this impulsivity on desktop, which the redirecting helped do. I keep thinking maybe I could write some javascript and use greasemonkey to load it and do what I need.

LainTrain ,

App timers work well for me. I wouldn’t say I’m addicted though, I browse the internet a lot but it’s by choice, I find it useful and entertaining. I set my timers to 40m, but I rarely exceed half that unless I’m browsing memes with the gf and showing them to her.

dandelion OP , (edited )
@dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

What timer do you use, and does it lock access after a set time or does it just notify you when the alarm goes off?

EDIT: I found this app: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/…/mind-the-time/

It keeps track of how much time you spend on different websites (so not so much an intervention / reminder as a time tracker).

LainTrain ,

I just use the digital wellbeing timer in the settings on my phone.

For the pixel on A12/13 It’s under “Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls” -> “App Limits”. Then just hit the sand clock icon next to the app and it should let you choose a timer. 1 min before the timer runs out, you’ll get a notification and the app will turn greyscale, similarly to Bedtime mode if you use that. Once the timer runs out a toast notification will popup asking you to either change the timer or close the app IIRC. Bear in mind in either case the app will be killed hard, so all of your temp data (i.e. Lemmy comment in progress) will be lost.

On browser I use this and it’s existential dread is sufficient: …google.com/…/ndjleggnmncjmfjcgmmpimpccikiadaf?hl…

dandelion OP ,
@dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Oh, I love that - greyscale as a warning.

For a while I had my whole phone on greyscale, but I don’t have trouble with spending time on my phone - it’s really the laptop that I have an issue with.

Maybe I should write software to conditionally greyscale my desktop/laptop screen!

Thanks for the link and details, so helpful!

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