Some obscure subreddits remain a source of emerging thinking on esoteric areas of focus.
The trick is an app that lets you exclude everything else, fully under your editorial control, with no dark patterns.
On iOS, I use Apollo (RIP Alien Blue).
> quit any and all digital activity that's a bottomless well
I’d add “short form ‘content’” to that.
At least once a quarter try to not pick up or browse any short form content until you’ve read 1 - 5 books, however many it takes to get past any agitation pulling you out of the reading flow, till you can again read for hours at a go.
It may be easier to start with one or two fiction, then switch to two or three non-fiction. Something like:
- airport novel
- philosophical fiction / literature
- pop non-fiction
- topical non-fiction
- textbook or research book
They made it annoying enough to use the product I wanted that the barrier to quiting was drastically decreased.
I feel like this is my main problem. Sometimes I just want to turn off my brain a bit or I have to do something boring and then I pick up my phone but get stuck on it for too long.
Thank you for that. The past few weeks, I’ve started asking myself, “am I watching people I don’t know arguing about something, assigning points (likes) and considering jumping in?” to break myself out of the worst time-wasting and pointlessly agitating stuff, but you’ve given me an even better target.
* More and better work (I work for myself, so this is actually great)
* Movies (I don't consider these to be part of the bottomless well. I would very rarely watch more than one in one sitting).
* Actively listening to music and singing (used to sing in a metal band, if I'm bored, instead of going on Youtube, I'll just growl Metallica or Megadeth around the house like back in the day)
* Hanging out with friends
I've done significantly more of all of the above since I quit.
I'm also feeling more creative and entrepreneurial thanks to the feeling of mastery over my time, and the frequent boredom that comes with not having a quick digital fix that ends up turning into hours of infinite scrolling.
My biggest drains were Youtube, Reddit, and news media. I've easily reclaimed anywhere between 10-15h just from quitting those.
I've been meaning to quit any and all digital activity that's a bottomless well (ie, you can get more content ad infinitum). This includes social networks, Youtube, Netflix, etc.
Of these, Reddit was probably my worst vice, as I could just pop up my phone and endlessly read mind-numbing crap, no matter the place and time. My monkey brain has been completely addicted to this motion for well over a decade now, and I always made excuses for myself because I thought it actually had some intellectual value (when I was really mostly browsing r/games and r/soccer, not r/programming or other communities from which to derive some enlightenment).
Now I can't do that even if I wanted to, b/c their new site is a UX abomination. They're very close to hiding everything behind login, and they place all kinds of crap to herd you to the mobile app (no thanks!)
So a big thank you to Reddit management, I guess?
To anyone who may have even a mild digital addiction or bad habit, call it what you will, which you're suspecting is making you unhappy or limiting your potential: JUST QUIT.
You won't miss it and you'll observe amazing results.
In my case, I've seen the following in the last weeks (and other times I've done this in the past):
a. Increased focus
b. Longer, deeper sleep
c. Better relationships
d. Increased productivity at work and hobbies
e. Improved mood
f. Greatly increased control over my time
g. Much more time spent reading
This was at virtually zero cost, since I wasn't getting any value from about 98% of my browsing - maybe an enlightening Reddit post or Youtube vid here and there, but I think I can easily make it up with reading.
Your results may vary of course, but there are good chances you will experience some or all of the above.
I know full well it's not as easy as it sounds but give it a shot - you won't regret it.