Addicted to YouTube?

PMS

PMS

Fapstronaut
I have after much deliberation decided to block YouTube and all websites related to mindless time-wasting (not that YouTube is necessarily a waste, but you catch my drift). I am hopelessly stuck in front of a screen, unable to get myself to do what I actually want to do and feel better by doing. Like going to the gym or writing for my blog, or whatever is equivalent in your life.

I use an extension foor Chrome called StayFocusd if anyone's wondering.upload_2019-5-30_18-49-53.png
This is how it looks, you can easily block entire domains that are too distracting with one click. And most importantly it has tricky typing challenges which you can enable that makes it quite the drag to unblock websites again, which is good for the greedy internet user with poor impulse-control.

I have also blocked streaming websites for TV-Shows, twitch.tv and reddit. Which all have a similar attraction for me. Anyone else struggling with this kind of situation?
 
Good tip! I would be afraid though that your compulsion to watch YouTube will be transformed in a different compulsive behaviour, say... becoming a gym rat, or being stuck for hours writing blog posts.

We have addictions as an escape mechanism, escape from some emotional pain we did not resolve. We do it because it soothes our souls, no one wants to deliberately feel pain. The pain of loneliness and boredom maybe, that it puts us in the same place with our thoughts and, by gosh, how scared we are of our own thoughts and emotions!

I went on a slightly different route. I suffer from bouts of loneliness, from childhood, and I used various behaviours and substances as replacement for that loneliness. But I sat with the loneliness and it felt so nasty, all this anger inside me that no one wants to be with me, no one likes me, I'm useless etc etc etc. I cried and cried, but I also asked "why the heck do I feel like this?" After a while of just feeling those emotions and questioning where they came from (loneliness and boredom in childhood) through journaling the emotions themselves, I think I have replaced much of my compulsions with some healthy behaviours. One that plagued me: biting my nails compulsively for years; it just disappeared overnight...
 
properWood said:
Good tip! I would be afraid though that your compulsion to watch YouTube will be transformed in a different compulsive behaviour, say... becoming a gym rat, or being stuck for hours writing blog posts.
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Yes I agree with you. I do have an addictive personality that I am convinced is always going to be with me, however it manifests in the future. But I have realized in my years of addiction that distance helps. If I can manage to stay off YouTube through blocking it for say three months, the pattern of release that I get from the repeating process will have been broken, and I will have a greater perspective on the issue. That at least, has worked for me in the past, be it issues with drugs or gaming. But I see your point and it's certainly food for thought. I don't want to be "chasing" my anxiety, denying me aspects of modern life to remain safe from hedonism, or whatever.

properWood said:
I went on a slightly different route. I suffer from bouts of loneliness, from childhood, and I used various behaviours and substances as replacement for that loneliness. But I sat with the loneliness and it felt so nasty, all this anger inside me that no one wants to be with me, no one likes me, I'm useless etc etc etc. I cried and cried, but I also asked "why the heck do I feel like this?" After a while of just feeling those emotions and questioning where they came from (loneliness and boredom in childhood) through journaling the emotions themselves, I think I have replaced much of my compulsions with some healthy behaviours. One that plagued me: biting my nails compulsively for years; it just disappeared overnight...
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I think we might be in a similar stage of recovery, or whatever it is that we are doing. I'm glad you are managing to find perspective. I have also dealt with loneliness, especially in my teenage years. But I have been lucky when it comes to family and such, so that's no longer something that plagues me. I think I'm so self-indoctrinated in negative thinking-patterns that I struggle to maintain a positive state-of-mind, even though everything is much better than it used to be.

Great to hear from you my friend.
 
I too spend a lot of time on youtube, I'd say anything more than 1 and a half or two hours for me would be too much, it's quite some time but I have shit ton of free time, anyway, daily I spend about 4 hours and 20 minutes on youtube, so yeah, I just disable the yt app in my phone and block it using the hosts file on my pc, I still don't prohibit myself from using it, but I catch myself many times going for yb out of habit, not because I wanna see a video or whatever, so I've used much less, like today that I used it for less than an hour, though I was hanging out with someone so that stopped me too.
 
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Pedro Boy said:
I too spend a lot of time on youtube, I'd say anything more than 1 and a half or two hours for me would be too much, it's quite some time but I have shit ton of free time, anyway, daily I spend about 4 hours and 20 minutes on youtube, so yeah, I just disable the yt app in my phone and block it using the hosts file on my pc, I still don't prohibit myself from using it, but I catch myself many times going for yb out of habit, not because I wanna see a video or whatever, so I've used much less, like today that I used it for less than an hour, though I was hanging out with someone so that stopped me too.
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My problem is that I would just edit the host file back when I couldn't help myself from going on a YouTube bender. That's why this extension is helpful because it can require tests for you to reduce the settings. Now, of course I could just remove the extension, but it doesn't seem to be a step that I take. Especially since I took such a long time setting it up with all the websites and such.

The extension also allows you to set time limits, so you can control how much time you spend on your restricted websites. And when the time runs out it begins blocking them until the next day.

The main problem with YT for me is the algorithm, it just keeps recommending stuff. It's so addicting.
 
PMS said:
My problem is that I would just edit the host file back when I couldn't help myself from going on a YouTube bender. That's why this extension is helpful because it can require tests for you to reduce the settings. Now, of course I could just remove the extension, but it doesn't seem to be a step that I take. Especially since I took such a long time setting it up with all the websites and such.

The extension also allows you to set time limits, so you can control how much time you spend on your restricted websites. And when the time runs out it begins blocking them until the next day.

The main problem with YT for me is the algorithm, it just keeps recommending stuff. It's so addicting.
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If I wanted a bigger control of yt I'd probably use the extension, but the hosts file is just an added step for me to start using youtube, so I at least START using the website more consciously, but if the extension work best for you, it's fine.
 
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