Reducing computer and Internet use support thread - Yeah yeah we all know it's ironic discussing this here but don't be a faggot

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I'll admit, I'm one of those people that is a constant internet user. Morning to night, every single day for 5 years now since I've gotten out of high school, it's been using the internet, watching videos and reading stuff. I'm just gonna say this simply, 99.999% of people who are addicted to the internet are using it as a replacement for some kind of belonging that the outside world does not give them. Due to my autistic traits and other realities that mostly stop me from being able to make and keep true friendships, I've been basically addicted to some form of internet community/timewasting site since I first got a computer in 2008. Used to be a lot of Flash Games, couple years of Flipnote Hatena with the DSi, then it was surfing Reddit for quite a bit, a sprinkle of 4chan and now this sneeding ground.

Most people who truly have an addiction to screens are people who are going to have a very hard time just replacing them with something in the real world, all at once. They are people who have hardened their own personality and habits, way of life and way of mind based on them not squaring well with the real world they grew up in. They know that just putting down the device means that they're going to be adrift in a world where they are that ugly duckling that most will not easily want to be around. You're not going to convince them to give it up, even if it would be the better thing for them in the long run, when they are smart enough to take an honest look at both themselves and the people around them and then say "I won't be able to connect with anybody, I don't like most of what they like and will constantly make things awkward." They'll have lived experience with that in their school and work lives, after all. (This is me, basically, I'm talking about both myself and the abstract)

What do I think is an honest solution for this? Might be unpopular, but essentially a forced bootcamp solely consisting of those internet-addicted, throwing them all out of their comfort zones and ways of habit at the exact same time. No internet there, no or very little screens period. You and everyone else in that group just commsierate over a shared commonality of being ripped away from the internet and, crucially, being in a kind of environment they've never had to try and be in before, Easy commonality that'll allow those types to find their way together with each other, become friends, and rebuild their existence from just about square one.

Too bad that very few of those kinds of places exist right now. I wish I had advice to get out of this trap that could actually be followed, but honestly I just don't. Being social is not simple if you're not already naturally disposed to being agreeable with the people around you. It's a sad state that'll probably only manage to get worse in the Western World, the more things we do online and the more picky and choosy we all become. It might legitimately break us.
 
  • Pick up photography/video: Film development is expensive and toxic --> digital is cheaper and healthier (now on a computer)
  • Pick playing an instrument --> Recording and mixing the music (now on a computer)
  • Want any structure for any hobby --> spreadsheet (now on a computer)
I get the "touch grass" meme and it's good advice, but in the end it's really not that simple. A very disingenuous comment and not a very helpful one. A real Toa would not spew retardation like that when a Matoran is in need of help.
Isn't this basically what you advocate for in this post and your other ones? If I understood you correctly you've been saying that the computer should be a means to an end and not an end in and of itself, ie the technology should be used for something productive instead of just wasting time on the internet. I never advocated giving up computers or the internet entirely, I advocated getting a hobby to fill the time that would otherwise be occupied with pointless web browsing, gaming, ect.
 
I feel as if I need to delete my Youtube account for mental health reasons. The influx of obvious brainwashing content and AI content is wrecking my peace. No matter how much one reports obvious AI spam, it keeps resurfacing and multiplying. The OCCULT brainwashing is out of control right now... for real... .Youtube seems to be boosting actual Satanism, or the framework of said religion, which boggles my mind. What tech billionaires are pumping social media platforms with this? I suspect it's to lay the groundwork for total transhumanism, because it often encourages worship of technology and negating the reality of human death.... as if they WANT people to embrace death "for the progress of huMANity!". It's extremely sinister to me.
 
Isn't this basically what you advocate for in this post and your other ones? If I understood you correctly you've been saying that the computer should be a means to an end and not an end in and of itself, ie the technology should be used for something productive instead of just wasting time on the internet. I never advocated giving up computers or the internet entirely, I advocated getting a hobby to fill the time that would otherwise be occupied with pointless web browsing, gaming, ect.
I was just shitting on the "It's not that hard" point you made by just "getting a hobby". If you can go cold turkey that's great, but it's unrealistic today (especially if your job and school req. you to be glued to a screen...), so I'm advocating for cutting of the Internet that's the worst part of tech today in your home and make the computer more of a tool again as the first step. The lurkers in this thread are most likely not going to be able to go cold turkey uncle Ted mode to fix their shit. So a realistic option is to re-work how they use the PC rather than just ditching it (since they probably have already tried it). If the user/lurkers in the end can cut off the screen complely in the end that's great, but if they can at least cut off the Internet (that is probably at least 50% of the problem), that's a "good enough" milestone to improve their lives and a better foundation to later get rid of the screen.
 
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I would not say that I'm particularly addicted to the internet. Actually, it's mostly shit. It is a low-effort means to fill time, not something I feel compelled to do in lieu of something else. As often as people insist that you "TOUCH GRASS", the fact of the matter is most "normies" are in a similar boat. They are not thriving socialites, who go around having wild parties and crazy sex. They are people who sit in front of a screen all day when they're not at work and when they're not running errands, because that's all their time and energy allows for. Secondly, hardly anything is completed isolated from the internet anymore, including practically any form of socializing. Telling someone to get offline is like telling someone to become a subsistence farmer if they don't like working a job. Society is so much different today that it's become infeasible.
 
I advocated getting a hobby to fill the time that would otherwise be occupied with pointless web browsing, gaming, ect.
The issue is that you've got it backwards. Computer addicts generally have other hobbies, but the compulsive web browsing and gaming is taking up all the time they would otherwise dedicate to their hobbies.
Most hobbies (and I'm not counting shit like collecting mechanical keyboards and other reddit consoomer bullshit) require you to actually get off your ass and do something. But if you're zoned out and staring at a screen, getting up is the last thing on your mind.
Your advice therefore boils down to a "just stop" which isn't helpful. Everyone ITT is already aware they should "just stop." As for how, well that's why I made the thread.
 
I would not say that I'm particularly addicted to the internet. Actually, it's mostly shit. It is a low-effort means to fill time, not something I feel compelled to do in lieu of something else. As often as people insist that you "TOUCH GRASS", the fact of the matter is most "normies" are in a similar boat. They are not thriving socialites, who go around having wild parties and crazy sex. They are people who sit in front of a screen all day when they're not at work and when they're not running errands, because that's all their time and energy allows for. Secondly, hardly anything is completed isolated from the internet anymore, including practically any form of socializing. Telling someone to get offline is like telling someone to become a subsistence farmer if they don't like working a job. Society is so much different today that it's become infeasible.
As someone who was in this "chronically online" phase and did start to "hang out" with the normies, I can see the "fill time with shit" phenomena you are describing. I realized that "normies" are in fact more chronically online, it's just that it's more "spread out" so they don't notice this. Let me do a wall of text meme on this:

Non-normie
  • 12h meme/redpill/schizo documentary
  • Forums (Kiwifarms, Incel, Sanctioned Suicide)
  • Imageboards (4chan, 8chan, soyjak, lolcow farms, crystal cafe, frenschan, 16chan and many more)
  • Vidya (gaming)
  • Streamers (platforms where they aren't banned yet)
I'm exluding jannys and discord trannys btw, they are pretty much on a computer 24/7, nobody can beat that.

Normies
  • +8h binge watch on Netflix/Disney+
  • Gayming (gaming)
  • Instagram, X/Twitter TIkTok scrolling
  • Slop streamers on Kick and Twitch
  • Dating apps (Tinder/Hinge and other “flavour of the month” hookup app)
  • Food orders (goyslop home order apps)
If I'm being generous, let's say they are only doing each thing for ~1 h per day (LMAO, not true...) , that's around 6h being glued to a screen per day (realistically more)! That's your average normie, not even joking or a "cope" as /r9k users would say if you brought this up. Go to a restaruant, couples and famiies are on the phones, same shit at concerts (even orders and payments are being done on a phone now, it sucks to live in a city now). So if you are a +5h lurker on one single site, then you will know that you are chronically online because you are wasting days on a single platform (you feel "stuck"), normies have them spread out so they don't "feel" that (they might be aware due to the news telling them about it, but they don't know it). Also, there is this group pressure that you feel left out because you are not like them, the majority.

I know there are other factors when it comes to social life, but when it comes to fixing the screen time, I honestly think that these parts of the internet (the non-normie sites ones) are way more equiped to fix their habbits since they are more experienced and knowledgeable about the effects of the screen since they/we have suffered the worst part of it in a short amount of time (most are under 30 realizing how fucked it is). Normies on the other hand, they are blind for it and are only vaguely aware that this lifestyle is bad, but will only realize it too late. When I say "late", I mean they can already have kids and give their kids Internet access not knowing how bad they are messing up (if the parent uses reddit, I will assume the kid is NGMI). If you "make it" as the meme goes, you will be way ahead of the curve when it comes to the life vs. technology relationship that normies spaces are completely clueless about.

When it comes to the "wild parties and crazy sex", that's just movie/social media psyops, that's is not how normies live their lives. I think the meme comes from users who used to browse Instagram/TikTok and then got "redpilled", but they still have the normie view from said normie sites as their IRL references. Which is delusional! The ones I knew that had that lifestyle (kinda, it's often a forced LARP) are completely fucked in their life right now (mid to late 20s) and are in debt now (that's why I think it's a psyop... nobody can actually have a lifestyle like that and be "healthy"). So yeah, do not look at normies and think your life suck too much. it's just that their lifestyle is the majority and you are a minortiy. You are more aware about the situation (but alone) and the normies got more "company" (but clueless). People on non-normie sites feel shit because of an illusion of FOMO. The grass is not greener on the other side, matter in fact, I would argue that it's a mud pit!

I wish I had advice to get out of this trap that could actually be followed
We live in a time where we got no guidance for this technology relationship (we are literally the test bunnies/rats generation for this "lifestyle"). If you really want to fix this habbit, I would say threads like these are the "best" sources for information, the rest is pozzed since they got no clues and are delusional or just want to psyop/trick you with minimalizm "own nothing" products and self help scam courses/books. The unfortunately advice is to go throught trial and error since there is no "guide" or documentation on this specific topic.
 
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I feel as if I need to delete my Youtube account for mental health reasons. The influx of obvious brainwashing content and AI content is wrecking my peace. No matter how much one reports obvious AI spam, it keeps resurfacing and multiplying. The OCCULT brainwashing is out of control right now... for real... .Youtube seems to be boosting actual Satanism, or the framework of said religion, which boggles my mind. What tech billionaires are pumping social media platforms with this? I suspect it's to lay the groundwork for total transhumanism, because it often encourages worship of technology and negating the reality of human death.... as if they WANT people to embrace death "for the progress of huMANity!". It's extremely sinister to me.
It's best you do. I use NewPipe on my phone for that very reason. I don't have an alternative to using yt on the computer outside of just downloading videos and music you like on a hard drive.
 
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It's best you do. I use NewPipe on my phone for that very reason. I don't have an alternative to using yt on the computer outside of just downloading videos and music you like on a hard drive.
A desktop version of the Grayjay app (very similar to NewPipe) was released recently. I haven't tried it, but if you want an alternative way to view YouTube similar to NewPipe, you could give it a shot. I use Grayjay for Android, and the only downside I've found compared to NewPipe is that Grayjay recently started giving me errors anytime I've tried to load age-restricted YouTube videos. Oh, and I guess YouTube Shorts don't show up, but I don't consider that a downside.



Also, anyone who browses the internet using web browsers, I highly recommend installing a comment-blocking extension, like Hide Comments Everywhere. This will block comment sections on most video websites, news websites, etc. unless you add the website to a whitelist. I think reading comment sections is a huge waste of time, and not seeing them at all has improved my web-browsing experience. Most comments on the internet are made either by bots or by users who may as well be bots.

I think a good way to reduce screen time is to do whatever you can to wrangle your software so that it remains a slave for you and never the other way around. Blocking web bloat like ads, recommendations, infinite scroll, and comment sections makes the internet look a lot tidier. It's like the difference between being in a clean room and a cluttered room; the former is a lot easier to work in. Plus, it removes a lot of unproductive time-sinks and frees up that time for whatever else you might want it for.

If you're truly addicted, then it can make you anxious for a bit after you stop allowing the computer to suggest ways for you to use your time, but that goes away after a short while. Just let yourself be bored for a bit and you'll be fine.
 
I feel as if I need to delete my Youtube account for mental health reasons.
You need to learn baseline 'putering.
Just clean slate your browser before tubing, ffs.
You are logged in with an account and probably also engaging in the comment sections, so the algorithm feeds you more and more of this schizo saturnis and gnostic shit. I kinda lost a few actual online acquaintances to this phenomenon, people seem to turn schizo by self-feeding on never ending gaza/tranny and hohol shit. So, yes, you uncovered how there must be people who get sucked into these topics with algo boosted recommendations and, unlike you, they gobble it up, great find - now it's time to stop.

Use a vpn, a clean FIREFOX (waterfox for moar privacy) and apply all the good stuff like:
decentraleyes
ublock origin
cookie auto delete

Then, get a vpn with lots of different exit nodes in far away places.
Now, check youtube: It's nothing. Nothing ever happens.

Like demonstrated here:
I just tried it out on youtube. VPN, cleaned cache, everything, only girls in the first results.
A reasonably straight looking one even...
But my mom and I also agreed on that observation independently.
Which is that quite a few young girls almost seem to try looking like trannys on purpose.
But I doesn't seem to be the search aglo.
 
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You need to learn baseline 'putering.
Just clean slate your browser before tubing, ffs.
You are logged in with an account and probably also engaging in the comment sections, so the algorithm feeds you more and more of this schizo saturnis and gnostic shit. I kinda lost a few actual online acquaintances to this phenomenon, people seem to turn schizo by self-feeding on never ending gaza/tranny and hohol shit. So, yes, you uncovered how there must be people who get sucked into these topics with algo boosted recommendations and, unlike you, they gobble it up, great find - now it's time to stop.

Use a vpn, a clean FIREFOX (waterfox for moar privacy) and apply all the good stuff like:
decentraleyes
ublock origin
cookie auto delete

Then, get a vpn with lots of different exit nodes in far away places.
Now, check youtube: It's nothing. Nothing ever happens.

Like demonstrated here:
oh and get this one, too: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/canvasblocker/
It's old news and doesn't really stop fingerprinting completely but it doesn't hurt either. Def. good for clean-slating.
@FeatherPlucker
 
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oh and get this one, too: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/canvasblocker/
It's old news and doesn't really stop fingerprinting completely but it doesn't hurt either. Def. good for clean-slating.
@FeatherPlucker
Thank you!
It’s dark as fuck to see how much propaganda is being pushed online.. and I suspect many bots are in the replies, for the tranny content as well as the occult shit.. the replies are too articulate, crazy, numerous, and perfectly typed to be “human”. The occult shit is literally schizophrenia inducing. I just saw an account today that PROMOTES O9A as if it’s a “benevolent religious group”. It’s a recent channel. What the fuck?
People definitely need to keep their kids offline or at least informed about cults! Anyone with mental health issues should seriously re-educate themselves about People’s Temple, etc! Yikes!
 
I'll admit, I'm one of those people that is a constant internet user. Morning to night, every single day for 5 years now since I've gotten out of high school, it's been using the internet, watching videos and reading stuff. I'm just gonna say this simply, 99.999% of people who are addicted to the internet are using it as a replacement for some kind of belonging that the outside world does not give them. Due to my autistic traits and other realities that mostly stop me from being able to make and keep true friendships, I've been basically addicted to some form of internet community/timewasting site since I first got a computer in 2008. Used to be a lot of Flash Games, couple years of Flipnote Hatena with the DSi, then it was surfing Reddit for quite a bit, a sprinkle of 4chan and now this sneeding ground.

I'm kind of in a similar boat. I'm an autist who hasn't formed any irl connections. Once high school and community college was over, I more or less went full NEET mode and spend most of my time in my room at my computer (I don't own a smartphone or tablet and have no intentions of owning one). I probably spend way more time online than I should, especially here. I spend way to much time catching up on threads because I have massive FOMO and don't want to be ignorant on happenings in the world or even just in specific hobbies/interests.
 
I have massive FOMO and don't want to be ignorant on happenings
To be fair, ignorance is bliss. I don't envy people who don't know anything about the world. I think it was Zhuangzi who said it is better to be useless than being someone who is knowledgeable, or knowing, because people won't otherwise leave you alone.
 
If I'm being generous, let's say they are only doing each thing for ~1 h per day (LMAO, not true...) , that's around 6h being glued to a screen per day (realistically more)! That's your average normie, not even joking or a "cope" as /r9k users would say if you brought this up.
The real mc coy for the younger posters here is this:
Boomers were glued to the TV from after work til sleep, basically. It was socially acceptable, because the programming was the same nationwide or, for Americans, at least city/county/state -wide, so people actually expected you to have seen at least the big TV events and talked about them at work, so the guys who really just withered away in front to the TV, while being served microwave dinners by their wife, weren't noticeable. You could actually make a point that most internet use today is at least somewhat interactive whereas TV consumption was just going full on hypno toad. The really bad thing is that the internet, opposed to the programmed boomer TV, isn't uniting people, but actively dividing them into small, subdivided herds. If you've ever been or worked in a hospital, there's shit tons of boomers, who can't properly sleep without a TV running. And the daytime programming targeted at the elderly and "housewives" is and always was mind numbing - purposefully so.
 
The real mc coy for the younger posters here is this:
Boomers were glued to the TV from after work til sleep, basically. It was socially acceptable, because the programming was the same nationwide or, for Americans, at least city/county/state -wide, so people actually expected you to have seen at least the big TV events and talked about them at work, so the guys who really just withered away in front to the TV, while being served microwave dinners by their wife, weren't noticeable. You could actually make a point that most internet use today is at least somewhat interactive whereas TV consumption was just going full on hypno toad. The really bad thing is that the internet, opposed to the programmed boomer TV, isn't uniting people, but actively dividing them into small, subdivided herds. If you've ever been or worked in a hospital, there's shit tons of boomers, who can't properly sleep without a TV running. And the daytime programming targeted at the elderly and "housewives" is and always was mind numbing - purposefully so.
There is something really depressing with your body rotting away infront of a screen, especially as a young person, but also as you get older too. The fact that many boomers have died infront of a TV is the reason I really wanted to kick the habbit, slowly dying infront of a LED display is horrifying. I hate people who think that everything can be digitalized furthering the screen time. Especially social stuff, like we saw with the covid-19/"the meme flu" and how governments pushed that isolation to the extreme.

Look at the boomers and ask yourself: Do you really want to be the next generation of "dying infront of a goyslop display"?
 
@jray4559 I have seriously considered meditation retreats just to get put in a place away from all tech and responsibilities for a few days for the same effect as your digital autist detox camp. Not really feasible for me bow but I daydream of something similar that will help me break my habits.

I am pretty good about social media and even doomscrolling.... and games lose my interest quickly. What I end up doing is hoarding information. There is just so much information out there....and so interesting. I tend to gather innumerable educational and informational resources for projects or ideas, then realize I've spent 3 days straight researching the physics of 2 competing types of wheel bearings and their properties instead of just taking my basic and quite adequate bike around the block lol. I hate this. But I also love it. I feel glued to my phone while at the same time extremely alienated for not using it at work etc to share videos and memes and social media stuff. It's like food addiction... you really cannot just stop eating/stop being online or on a computer entirely without some sort of consequence. If I could just live completely offline I am certain I would be fine and do healthier research at my library and be able to realistically see when my inaction, in the form of extensive preparation, is past the point of solid planning and firmly into the procrastination/detrimental territory.

I keep trying.
 
The only thing I do is check twitter, youtube, and KF these days but yeah, hard relate to doomscrolling that being a default activity if nothing else is going on.
"The only thing I do when I've nothing else to do is pull up tabs and shorts and scroll til something else comes up". Brother in His worship, you're already doomin'.

I already don't feel like playing games on my phone and I've uninstalled all 'fun' apps to the point I don't actually pull up my phone in any and all downtime, even at work. Same on my PC; I realized I more or less only watch one streamer, so I unfollowed him and more or less forget to delete the twitch shortcut, so I've spent a few weeks now opening twitch to no followed streams. I just deleted the shortcut and already forgot I used to have it. That's at least a few hours of my week regained.
Get a life bro. Like, find yourself a girlfriend, get a hobby, hit the gym. And you won't have time to waste it on doomscrolling.
I know this is tongue-in-cheek but it's still such a hilarious take. "Get a life" -> convert your God-given hobbies into the gym, becoming a sycophant, and make your life all about your significant other. "Bro literally just change everything about your life to conform. It's so easy". Lift, talk with brahs, blast your ears with music, go home, meal prep, and wait to hit either your girlfriend or the gym again. Wowee!
Isn't this basically what you advocate for in this post and your other ones? If I understood you correctly you've been saying that the computer should be a means to an end and not an end in and of itself, ie the technology should be used for something productive instead of just wasting time on the internet. I never advocated giving up computers or the internet entirely, I advocated getting a hobby to fill the time that would otherwise be occupied with pointless web browsing, gaming, ect.
I've been to a lot of museums lately and a lot of them had like "this was the blacksmith's workshop!". So many entirely different professions with unique tools, circumstances and what not. Compare that to today: Wanna change career? Change the contents of your laptop. No new tools, no new workclothes, no new much of anything. You swap your laptop routines for new ones. Oh you're an architect? Software. Engineer? Software. Doctor? Software. Receptionist? Software. Marketing? The profession that used to be about smart guys using their charisma? Software.
I am pretty good about social media and even doomscrolling.... and games lose my interest quickly. What I end up doing is hoarding information. There is just so much information out there....and so interesting. I tend to gather innumerable educational and informational resources for projects or ideas, then realize I've spent 3 days straight researching the physics of 2 competing types of wheel bearings and their properties instead of just taking my basic and quite adequate bike around the block lol.
I love down-to-earth slow living vibes. Imagine yourself a partner who would do this; some boring ass brunette who went "Omg I spent the last 3 days reading about this one shift in culture in a remote village which led to literature about this one author who-". Compare that to "I ride my bike and knit". I sure as shit know which of the two I'd be interested in. Why is one kind of knowledge if even temporary less relevant than the next? Become that autistic dude who always has something ready to talk about, however nerdy and irrelevant. I'd probably fall head-over-heels if some 6/10 looking chick started sperging about trains or ink pens. Imagine talking to someone who clearly isn't fluent in smalltalk but has the ammunition to go "Im reading this book-". I'd listen to them, regardless of their age, background and sobriety, and even what kind of book they're reading.
I'm just gonna say this simply, 99.999% of people who are addicted to the internet are using it as a replacement for some kind of belonging that the outside world does not give them. Due to my autistic traits and other realities that mostly stop me from being able to make and keep true friendships, I've been basically addicted to some form of internet community/timewasting site since I first got a computer in 2008.
"An experiment showed web novices' brains changing in response to internet use, but it also showed "no significant difference in brain activity" between the novices and a web-savvy control group when both were engaged in "a simulation of book reading". In other words, people who used the internet regularly had not lost the ability to read books after all. (...) John Palfrey and Urs Gasser have actually bothered to find out what young people do online, rather than just assuming them to be glazed, distracted skimmers. Here is a far more nuanced story of a teenage girl's "newsgathering process", which alternates between "grazing" and a "deep dive", when she wants to know more about a particular topic and will indeed read in-depth."

I think the real issue in this context is that "deep diving" and actual information gathering has been replaced with influencer video essays on any random given topic rather than something people are genuinely interested in. "I spent 4 hours watching true crime" doesn't convey a sense of a passionate person who prefers information to entertainment. Some youtubers are good at covering a specific kind of interest to the point I'd argue they're deep diving, but often it really just is "this dude covers disney shows" or "this chick critiques tik tok trends". Again, if someone told me they spent 4 hours reading about the Sami in northern norway, I'd go "oh?". Smalltalk is easy when you've got actual interest in what they're talking about. Tiktok ain't that.
 
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