Youtube addiction?

I avoided YouTube, on and off, for several months but have recently wasted more and more time watching videos purely for entertainment. After a particularly long session of video replays, I will feel as I would after PMO: ashamed, pathetic, wasteful, and unclean. Who wants to feel that way?? Anyways, I think that I need to delete the app for awhile.

 

I mostly watch YT for information/cutting edge material but yesterday I enjoyed a great spaghetti western starring Lee Van Cleef called Death Rides A Horse and music composed by Ennio Morricone. Generally, anything can be addictive. Enjoy but never be enjoyed. Picking out material wisely and moderation should be your focus with YT.

 

Youtube has become my second home and lately it really gets out of hand like it does from time to time. There's no other site I'm spending that much time on (distressing realization). I can say, mindlessly watching videos on yt plus mindlessly searching and surfing the web defines my internet addiction. And porn is intertwined with it, but that's another story.

This seems to be a great thread! I haven't had the time to read much of it yet. But I will be back.
First I need to find out what I want to do - which things are the important, wanted or needed things in my life and which aren't. I need to find my goals and ambitions and than analyse and decide which are the subsequents dos and don'ts. This applies also to youtube.
Then I need to time-frame it and log it. There should those hours dedicated to learning and working and those dedicated to play and have fun. The playing element is especially important to find new fields of interests, new perspectives and be inspired. But it's enough to have that from time to time, instead of killing the sprouts of consistent interests and activities with a sea of new experience.
ok, that's enough drivel for tonight. See ya folks!

 

I blocked youtube on my browser now. Before making complicated rules and schedules I should just abstain from it for a while. This will do me good.

 

Not only am I addicted, I am a connoisseur.

 

I can relate to that 100 %. I've managed to stop my PMO addiction but "mindlessly watching videos on yt plus mindlessly searching and surfing the web" is my 2nd big problem. It has definitely worsened when I entered in PMO monk mode. Anyone else had this problem. How did you address it?

 

I haven't read the posts from other people, but I hope this works.

YouTube can be a good thing. Try to use it for videos that will help you. Ask yourself, "is watching this video going to help me be who I want to be?"
This is hard, but I urge you to try it.

A more practical way is called 'temptation bundling.'
What's something you know you should do but don't?
Is it exercise? Is it applying to a job, or doing homework?
You're not eliminating YouTube completely (which is really really hard given your circumstances) but you are reframing it and making it into something positive.
If you have trouble exercising but you know you should, tell yourself that you can only watch YouTube after you exercise or AFTER you finish your work.

 

Yes I agree, YT can be very useful for learning. BUT it has one flaw. It is designed to keep you on the platforms. YT/GG goal is to keep you watching as long as they can (attention economy) as this literally translates into marketing money for them. This is especially bad for people who have trouble controlling compulsive behaviours (myself included). I just can't stop watching no matter what obligations I'm missing because of that in real life. That's why I've decided to "go cold turkey" for 30 days and than pre-tab only 2 channels I need for work and few recovery channels. That way I can hopefully control it.

 

I totally get that. It's horrible. They literally do this intentionally to us to increase their business. Have you tried switching to other forms of media? I have an easier time walking away from Netflix after one episode then from YouTube. Or maybe write down in a paper what kinds of videos you are trying to watch, and how many you plan to watch, before you open the YouTube browser? Just brainstorming, haven't figured out it yet because I'm in the same boat

 

I also have the same yt addiction i think it all just started as a escape from porn but now i am in more deep trouble as when i watch porn i just stop watching it after mastrubation but now with yt i waste my whole day wathing yt and i just cannot leave it as there are many educational videos on yt and i go there to watch educational videos or random 2-3 video i just get hooked on it and it is ruining me completely more than porn addiction it is taking my complete days pls tell how to stop i have taken up streaks to not watch yt but always loose them in three or four days it was only once that i manage 20 days but since then there is no chance

 

I too am/was in this exact situation. I just didn't watched youtube for a week, but was missing things, so now I use youtube in incognito mode, youtube knows it's me using it, so it suggests videos specific to my profile, I just watched the tutorial, etc then closed it. Now youtube don't suggest videos from my profile to incognito and I don't go peeking the timeline, just what my google searches lead me to; even then if I could find a written article I prefer that. Now I am planning to view just lectures, I think leaving Incognito would be a bad idea.

Am still not productive, but am in the right direction. Seeking to install LineageOS just to uninstall youtube app, wasting or using my time on this and this website.

 

Not addiction, I just enjoy it. Although I use it much but I can't categorize my usage as addiction otherwise I'd do something about it.

The contents I consume are educational. Through these years of my yt usage I discovered new channels that each taught me something new in a different category. Stuff I'm able to reach there is almost impossible to get from somewhere else or in real life.

So I'm cool with it and don't have intentions to restrict it.

 

Hi to all!
I'm after reading the entire post and I wanted to ask you what is your attitude to this platform today?
Only now do I see how unhealthy my relationship was with it.
Thanks for this thread