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Has anyone else noticed smartphones have got significantly more addictive recently

I’ve noticed YouTube specifically has become more addictive, I never used to be one to sit and scroll for long durations before but I often catch myself spending way too long on shorts now

Even people or older generations seem to be getting sucked in nowadays

Vampire ,
@Vampire@hexbear.net avatar

Even people?

magic_lobster_party ,

TIL not only robots can get addicted to social media

magic_lobster_party ,

I’m feeling the opposite lately. YouTube recommendations suck. I often open the app/page for the quick dopamine rush, but few of the recommendations interests me, so I just bounce off. For me, YouTube is mostly for long form content nowadays. Something I can put in the background while cooking/doing dishes.

Instagram is turning more and more like TikTok. Sometimes it recommends me something fun (like cat videos), but often it’s just nonsense. So I bounce off quite quickly there as well.

I feel happy about it.

Anamnesis , (edited )

I had never used Instagram reels until recently but also found it pretty damned addictive once I did try them. The ease of access and variety of content is pretty compelling. Of course, it’s information junk food. Very little of intellectual value comes with it, and it’s quite mentally passive, so it’s a good idea to limit how much time you spend on it.

Rikj000 ,
@Rikj000@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Big tech writes the equivalent of digital heroin.

The longer they can keep you on their platforms,
the more they can data-farm you,
the more data they have on you,
the more they can sell about you / earn on you.

Detox yourself from your bad heroin addiction,
by switching to fair FOSS (Free Open Source Software) alternatives.

E.g. Use Invidious, Grayjay or NewPipe instead of YouTube.

machiabelly ,
@machiabelly@hexbear.net avatar

I downloaded freetube, is that one ok?

Rikj000 ,
@Rikj000@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Have not used FreeTube myself.
However it appears to be reputable / decent.

Rule of thumb:

  • Steer clear of proprietary / closed source software
  • Always aim to use open source software if possible
machiabelly ,
@machiabelly@hexbear.net avatar

thanks bb cat-trans

python ,

Install Youtube ReVanced and disable shorts altogether! Doing that saved me years of lifetime haha

machiabelly ,
@machiabelly@hexbear.net avatar

I had no idea there was a vanced replacement!!! turtle-pogger

Transporter_Room_3 ,

I’m constantly having to recheck for updates on revanced because they are constantly changing YouTube and shorts keep reappearing.

Nonroot device so I can’t do it automatically, unless I’ve missed something.

python ,

That’s weird! My phone isn’t rooted either (Moto G100) and I’ve only manually updated Revanced once since it was released. I don’t think it has ever lost my settings either. Is the option “Auto Update Patches” checked in your Revanced Manager?

Transporter_Room_3 ,

The patches keep themselves up to date, and I have to hit the update buttons manually for the revanced manager itself, but the YouTube app I get told “this is a split apk” and apparently you can only mess with those on RvM if your device is rooted, according to the popup.

I just have to find the recommended app version on apkmirror and choose my patches if they haven’t saved from the previous time.

It’s just a little annoying to have to find the apk and do all the extra steps, but that’s what I get for not rooting. Partly because the phone is still under warranty and partly because I don’t trust myself to not brick it.

Even with every negative piling on at once, it’s still lightyears ahead of youtube base. And it’s not bad by any stretch. All the negatives I’ve experienced are partly my own doing.

python ,

Hmm, maybe ReVancedExtended would solve your problems? I know my RvM has no issues with custom patches even without root, but it might just be a device/os version weirdness. I’ve heard RvX is overall better with the non-root support, but I’ve never used it personally

Melonpoly ,

It’s been the opposite, I feel like I have to put in huge amounts of effort just to find something interesting. Most of the YouTubers I follow barely post anything anymore.

Lmaydev ,

I just avoid shorts or reels or whatever personally. They’re short and engaging making it easy to lose track of time.

But yeah you’re 100% right my parents (late 50s) have started doing it a lot. I’ve noticed a lot of teenagers do as well.

livus ,
@livus@kbin.social avatar

Me too. I've seen my partner on them and it's like a really bad version of tiktok only you don't get to train the algorithm properly. No thanks.

Transporter_Room_3 ,

My wife’s attention span has gone to shit thanks to short form videos like that. From vine to ticktock to whatever Facebook version she uses now, I’ve gotten to the point where if she picks up her phone while we’re talking, I’ll just stop talking until she looks up. If we’re whatching a new movie or show, I’ll pause it until she puts the phone down.

Sometimes it takes her several minutes to realize what she’s doing.

I’m so fucking tired of having to pause things to explain what we just watched because she was too busy watching some asshole drop a glass of milk onto the floor for a joke. I’m tired of having to repeat myself because she “needed stimulation” and decided the conversation we are were actively having isn’t good enough.

So now I just don’t bother. If she’s interested, she’ll ask. If it’s important, I’ll tell her to put the phone down because it’s important.

pr06lefs ,

Lately I’ve been more conscious of my decisions to watch trash on you tube. You watch a few traffic cam videos and pretty soon that’s half your feed. So I’m finding myself thinking twice before clicking.

Shorts I mostly avoid because I feel that feature is toxic clickbait.

JPAKx4 ,

I had to get YouTube revanced to disable the shorts player for me, and then had to disable notifications. It’s a place of no return.

marx2k ,

I’m finding it to be the opposite. All content on YouTube and social media, including lemmy, seems to just be endless reposts of the same limited list of topics and memes.

Its become boring to the point where I’m just going back to specific interest forums websites for content.

Selkie ,

People talk about how good algorithms are now, but they can’t figure out anything I actually want to watch nowadays

avapa ,

YouTube Shorts doesn’t even work properly for me. At least half the videos, that are suggested to me, I’ve already seen multiple times before. Boring, as you said. I’ve found myself staying off of social media or news sites more in the last couple of weeks. News’ll make me depressive, social media bores me. Then again, more time for hobbies!

marx2k ,

more time for hobbies

Exaaaactly

LemmyIsFantastic ,

No, not at all. And there are more tools than ever to monitor, track, and notify high usage.

PEBKAC or whatever the modern equivalent is these days.

huginn ,

If you find yourself suddenly grasping for more and more time escaping reality consider seeing a psychiatrist.

You could have major depression: it was one of my symptoms.

flashgnash OP ,

Jesus Christ lol make a comment about social media on the internet and immediately get diagnosed with depression

huginn ,

It’s not a diagnosis it’s encouragement to see someone about an issue you’ve expressed.

flashgnash OP ,

Therapists are gonna be pretty busy then because it’s a good proportion of people I know that have been sucked into this kind of content one way or another more than they’d like

ElGosso ,
@ElGosso@hexbear.net avatar

There’s definitely negative psychological effects to having a skinner box in your hand at all times.

ExLisper ,

If you find yourself randomly diagnosing strangers with depression consider seeing a psychiatrist.

huginn ,

If you interpret “talk to a doctor” as diagnosing someone consider seeing a dictionary

SHamblingSHapes ,
@SHamblingSHapes@lemmy.one avatar

I find YouTube is less attractive than a year ago. Ads are more invasive and more difficult to remove. Recommendations skew heavily to the rage-inducing, e.g., I watched one late night comedy sketch making fun of Jordan Peterson and then my feed was full of clips of him spewing his hot trash for weeks.

I gave up on reddit earlier in the year when all the API / sub blackout / forced mod removal stuff was going on.

Freemium apps seem to be pushing ads more and more, which makes me more resistant to using them.

If what I read online is true, the days of investors throwing money at anything tech related are slowing down. Which means some companies that have never had to be profitable before now must find a way to do so. Which means tightening up subscriptions and/or more ads.

vivi ,
@vivi@slrpnk.net avatar

I try to spread this tip everywhere i can: If you ever find that you’ve watched one of those videos that fucks up the recommendations, go to your watch history and delete the video. It really works.

jtk ,
@jtk@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

I disabled and cleared my history, now I don’t get any recommendations except the ones related to the video I’m currently watching 👍

friend_of_satan ,

Say no to shorts on every platform.

remus989 ,

Even porn is getting shorts. What the hell is going on Internet?!

jtk ,
@jtk@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

That might be the one genre where I wouldn’t even notice the difference.

GissaMittJobb ,

Do you mean to tell me that you don’t watch long-form porn, spending 6 hours in a row on one video?

Zahille7 ,

Really? Where?

Rai ,

Tumblr, a decade ago lawl

Rai ,

Is getting? Tumblr was waaaaaay ahead of the curve then, a million years ago

MrFunnyMoustache ,

I mostly agree, but I really like Daniel LaBelle’s shorts.

intensely_human ,

As someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s I disagree.

They remind me of the d nickelodeon pictures that actually cost a nickel. I think you youngins should salute your shorts. It’s fun to watch wild and crazy kids doing stupid bottle tricks. Legends of the hidden temple in some state park nearby. It’s just cool stuff and you can’t do that on television.

Tlaloc_Temporal ,

I might agree with you if the shorts player wasn’t ass. Everything about it works differently to the video player, and everything about it pushes you to more shorts. Even on the video player I disable autoplay and the prev/next buttons, having a player built around those was DOA for me.

Thorny_Insight ,

Not really. I never got into mobile gaming, tiktok, reels, shorts, instagram, snapchat etc. so I mainly use my phone for podcasts, maps and browsing lemmy while on toilet. While on my computer I spend 95% of my time on YouTube but I feel like even that has gotten worse lately. I’ve been getting suggestions about videos with like 19 views constantly and no matter how many I mark as “not interested” or “don’t recommend channel” they just keep coming back. Apparently because I like watching TheRunningManZ I must also like every other DayZ streamer that no one has ever heard about.

Jay ,

This reminds me of “Gum’s Gotten Mintier Lately. Have You Noticed?”

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