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GreenVelvetWorm
Deinonychus
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Joined: 3 May 2023
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10 May 2023, 3:16 pm

I've tried programs that limit the amount of time I can use apps on my phone or visit websites on my computer, but I always get frustrated with them and end up trying to find ways around them (or I just find another way to waste time on my phone that doesn't involve the blocked features).

So far the best solution I've found for myself is taking voluntary breaks from recreational screen use for one week at a time, and then going back to normal for a few weeks ("normal" for me means spending huge chunks of my time mindlessly scrolling, even though it doesnt make me happy). It has to be all or nothing for me, my brain won't let me use it in moderation on a day by day basis.

If you also struggle with this, do you have any methods for regulating your phone and internet use?



ToughDiamond
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10 May 2023, 11:06 pm

I try to get out of the house. I don't have any devices that could properly be called mobile, except a rather heavy laptop, so the method works fairly well for me. Another thing is to start a music recording project. That's always computer-based these days, but at least some of it is singing, playing instruments, and setting up and tweaking the gear, so it's not quite as bad as staring at a screen all the time.

I also use a wireless headset for computer-based audiocalls, so that in theory I can be doing a bit of "ordinary" work while talking to people. I don't have much need for videocalls as such.

Rather than watching television as such, I watch videos that are played on a computer and go onto a TV screen. That's still a screen of course, but I also like to listen to good audiobooks when I can find any.

I wish I had some other good peripheral computer devices that would get me away from the screen and keyboard. I wrote a program that allowed me to audition big collections of new music, and I had it fixed so that I just hit a key to accept or reject a song after I'd heard enough of it to decide whether or not I liked it, all via a wireless keyboard so that I could just use it as a push-button device with little need to stare at a screen. It's quite good but I often ended up tweaking the program to fix minor annoyances or to make it run better, and if I haven't used it for a few weeks I'm back at the screen trying to remember how to work it. But at times it was liberating me, to a degree.

It's hard for me to get into anything much that doesn't have a computer at its heart, because computers let me do so many things without my spending a lot of money on it. But I often end up too involved with programming and configuring the machine instead of just using it. Doesn't help that I'm averse to buying programs, but I've often found that programs written by other people aren't quite bespoke enough for my requirements, so I tend to get drawn into the programming and configuring game.

I've learned to keep looking away from the screen and relaxing my hands periodically as I work, to keep the eye and hand strain down a bit.

I don't think I'd be as happy if I imposed a hard limit on my computer time, unless I had some really interesting non-computer projects going on. So I guess I accept being somewhat stuck on computers as a necessary evil. But I try not to spend too much time mindlessly scrolling through stuff that isn't likely to interest me. That's not easy when I'm at a loose end, because I suppose just using a computer has in itself become a source of comfort and decompression for me. I've never dared get too involved with video games because I'm in enough trouble as it is, though back in the Sinclair Spectrum days I got rather stuck on certain games. Luckily I came out of the other end of that tunnel.



stratozyck
Deinonychus
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Joined: 28 Jun 2022
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 366
Location: US

29 May 2023, 10:35 am

We are all vulnerable to this. I go through stretches myself.

The best thing is to have other things that don't involve screens. Your life will be better the less time you spend in the virtual world and the more you spend in the "real" world.



Joe90
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29 May 2023, 1:03 pm

It's hard for me not to be addicted to my phone, because my whole life is organised on to my phone (music, banking, social media, email, medicals, games, photos, reminders, notes, and more). And while I'm at it I always visit WP too. So while it looks like to users here that I'm just some nerd with no life sitting at a computer all day, my life is actually the complete opposite of that. Having access to social media on your phone means you more or less have access to the internet everywhere you go, even while sitting on the john or taking a bath. And when you're addicted, well, it just becomes a subconscious part of your life that you can't live without, like how smoking cigarettes affects some people.


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