Lessening internet usage

[voidcat]

I feel I spend too much online. It's gotten to the point where I just scroll Youtube and am bored watching the videos but don't stop watching regardless because habit. I have downloaded a minimalist app today so I won't be able to use my phone as easily to access google, social media, and youtube. My phone now is too annoying and makes me actually think do I want to be online? Do I actually want to open this app? Before it'll let me open it. It's highly annoying but so far has been helpful it kicked me off youtube after a certain amount of time and I am too annoyed with my phone to go on any of my apps so now I'm about to do some homework assignments. Not only this but I have decided to put my phone in a cabinet with my stuff so I'm not tempted to use it during naptime while the kids at the daycare I work at are sleeping. I also am going to turn of notifications for a lot of my apps.

I was wondering if anyone has any advice aside from this on limiting my time on my phone aside from this. I would like to be more productive and present in the world and actually do things I have planned on doing like reading my occult books, getting more involved in rituals, practicing math skills, journaling and introspection, working on my handwriting, mediating often and practice grounding, learning ASL(american sign language), being out in the community more often etc... All this I haven't been doing as much as I should because I simply am on my phone too much. I also feel being online so much has sapped me of my energy to actually interact with the kids at work because I'm too focused on my phone even when I am not using it and it's taken the joy out my life.

I just would like some advice here if anyone got it. I plan on asking my therapist as well because I know she has had clients with this issue. I'm tired of justifying my internet usage with all my friends are there, it's too boring being offline, etc etc. I know this is an issue so I want to do everything I can to fix it.

 

[unchainthewolves]

Something that has really helped me is getting rid of my smartphone and switching to a dumbphone. It really helps me manage how much time I spend "connected." Anything that would have been done on a computer, pre-smartphone (such as surfing the Internet, posting here, emails and IMs, etc) gets done on the computer, and my telephone is just for phone calls and SMS text messages.

I realise that's not feasible for everybody though. I know that some people use apps to block out stuff they don't need.

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used to sell a smart telephone called the "Unpluq Phone" that had the ability to turn off certain capabilities such as Internet browsing, IMing, etc, and this setting could only be changed when a physical NFC radio key was present to "unlock" it.

 

[IllusiveOwl]

Looking at yourself is a great deterrent to tv/internet/phone usage.

You sit there, staring at a screen, pacified, wasting your life and doing very little. You're practically dreaming with your eyes open, with thoughts drifting through your skull unconsciously, unchecked, and meaningless. The videos you watch will mean nothing to you 2 months from now, your body has deteriorated from stillness and your brain has rotted from resting in a prolonged state of receptivity.

If you view social media, regular media, and "content" as a poison and waste of time, you'll naturally not want to indulge so much in it.

 

[AlfrunGrima]

Start making music, start walking/hiking, start making art... Find another things to keep you body and mind busy. I would go for a very down to earth approach.

 

[St. Stephen]

Redirect your focus. Sounds easy, in reality is pretty hard (at first). Having been pretty much exactly in your shoes, I deleted almost all of my social media around two years ago. Instagram was what had a real grip on me with the infinite scrolling and very fine-tuned personalized algorithm. Once you cut those things off, like youtube, your mind will frantically try to find something to replace the source of stimuli. It will feel pretty uncomfortable at first. This is okay, and where meditation can really help. Learning to sit still and focus on a single thing at a time will retrain your brain to stop looking for something new to process every five to ten seconds. Like anything, it will take time and practice to see results, but the more time you're spending on retraining your brain, the less time you're spending exposing it to the neurological shotgun blast that the modern internet provides these days. As you progress in learning to settle the mind down and regain your focus, your hobbies and interests outside of the internet will become increasingly more enjoyable. Your brain will revert back to finding stimulation in these activities and you'll find yourself in "flow-states" more often while engaged in them. Again, this takes time and effort, but is totally achievable. Your brain is exhausted from the constant stimulation and the modern internet, particularly social media, has created a feedback loop that has scrambled attention spans to be looking for something new to lock in on in a matter of mere seconds. I've been there. It is not fun and looking back at how much time was wasted looking at senseless and empty bullshit hurts. You have hit a point where you've recognized that it has become a problem, so you're already on your way to fixing it. Do you have to delete your social media and cut your internet usage off entirely? I don't know, but if you're like me and have issues with "moderation", I either have it in full or cut it off completely if it becomes a problem.
Try quitting cold-turkey for a week. Log your results in a journal of some sort. Meditate, figure who you are and what you enjoy. Re-learn how to focus and lock in on what you enjoy.