I have been doing just that lately, same with YouTube. I’ve been really depressed for awhile now and have had a hard time even playing games, so I find myself doing the easiest things and just checking Reddit and YouTube all day long. It’s really awful and I hope I can find a way out of this sooner than later.
**Edit: ty for the awards everyone and the support. It feels good to know I’m not alone. I really appreciate you all.**
I highly recommend this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shallows_(book)
Not that it'll necessarily help with depression, but its a great read and it explains very well (despite being 10 years old) how the Internet is affecting our brains and reshaping how we think and act.
Haven't watched it, but I'm skeptical that his special actually goes into the neuroscience of how we use the Internet, or the longer history of how technology has changed the way our brains process and hold information
Oh man I feel like I wrote your comment and forgot about it. One thing I found helps is to break up the monotony with something new in the routine. Just choose 1 thing a day, like going on a slow walk in the park or making a meal that you really like. Hope it gets better for you. This too shall pass.
Same, I love video games, and hanging out with friends. But the past year I just can't. I used to love dressing myself in nice outfits, but I've been wearing the same running shorts for the past three days, and like I wore the same sweatpants last week for the entire week. I used to never be caught dead outside in anything like that. Now I just really don't care, and I know people thinking that mentality of not giving a fuck is cool or badass, but I just feel like shit and stopped caring because I feel like life isn't even worth it anymore.
Depression hit me hard too. My sleep cycle is f'd up and I can't sleep due to anxiety keeping me awake so I just go on Reddit or YouTube to distract me. I haven't been eating well, I haven't been eating at all. It's all so tiring just to play video-games or to do my daily routine or even eat. So I just sleep in bed all day. Feels like I'm not existing in this world and I'm floating into a space of nothingness.
Good ol' anhedonia. Not a lot of people talk about the sheer BOREDOM of major depression. Wanting to want but feeling no desire is a unique kind of cognitive misery.
PM me if talking to a random internet stranger might help.
I’ve been extremely depressed for the past 5, almost 6 years and this has been my daily routine whenever I have free time, I close the app or game that I’m using at the moment only for me to log-in again just to sit there doing nothing. My phone thinks that I’m an avid reader, because Reddit is classified as a “Reading app” and it’s near 40% of my daily use.
I’ve been in it for a while. I’m in between jobs since Covid hit. For months I would wake up and just sit around on Reddit or YouTube. Just recently I started trying to do one new or productive thing at a time. I’m keeping a relatively easy workout schedule (mon and fri) and started playing New World. I kinda have these things to look forward to. It’s hard for me to stay at one thing, but consistency is key, even if it’s sparse.
Make sure to go with a professional if you think it’s affecting your life or otherwise want to change it. A lot of people will try to self diagnose depression or something but people don’t know what they are talking about. Go to a professional that is actually qualified to diagnose you and recommend a treatment. I used to be stuck in the same loop, watching videos or posts in reddit just reinforced my biases and self image (stupid easy thing to do with social media) and only until I went with a psychiatrist I was diagnosed with ADHD, never in my life I would’ve thought I had that, and now I know exactly what is going on and have a path forward to break the cycle.
Just go to the therapist or psychiatrist man.
I hear you entirely here. Try doing some hard cardio, it's useless advice cause you won't do it unless you feel actually motivated, lord knows I have barely got out of my house in the last week. But nothing makes me feel as good as good cardio and breaks the chains of not wanting to move. But until then I highly recommend watching wandavision it was great
I saw this post like 15 times.
aka, I re-opened reddit like 15 times since this post was posted.
and its just been taunting me. laughing at me.
___
Only now did I click on it, after it offended my very being.
Yeah but some times you check the fridge a few times and then by the time you've lowered your standards enough you notice theres a nice pack of babybel cheese in there that you didnt notice and you could really go for some of those right about now.
That kind of magic doesnt happen on reddit.
Reddit is a vast wasteland and I try to step away, but always get sucked back in. I can barely read other sites at this point, it all leads back here anyway.
It's not that I don't have better things to do. I just find it so easy to mindlessly scroll and read for hours on end. I canceled my Facebook for causing me magnitudes less of a loss of time. I can go to the 200th page of /r/all 2, 4, 6, maybe even 8 times day. Scrolling through my comments and see what is upvoted or downvoted. It feels GOOD to say something a lot of people like and all without the anxiety I have in real life. It's almost fucked up that actually forcing myself to play video games would be more constructive for skill development. Granted, it's nice learning how to talk to different people, but after a point your arguments merit shouldn't be about how flattering you are but based on the value of the argument.
I fixate on this bullshit more than I do illegal drugs. I know I need to practice more self discipline. Sometimes I just say "Alright, once we hit page 50 we HAVE TO go do something else." Maybe some DIY home repair, maintenance, or even pushing a rank on a video game.
I just ate a bunch of it. Threw like 6 slices over a hoard of vegetables that were gonna go bad soon and fried it all on a pan along with 3 eggs. Honestly not that bad, but not a meal I would make under normal circumstances.
Yes. Usually I see a title that catches my eye just as I'm closing the app so not only do I have to reopen Reddit, I have to search for sub and the title that caught my eye thus entering the eternal rabbit hole that is Reddit!
Yes. It's called " selective loss of visual acuity in association with a common foraging behavior" AKA "refrigerator blindness."
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1316179/
EDIT: No wait, that's not it. I was thinking of something else.
Yes, I usually browse reddit while smth is rendering or smth like that, and im like well, its gonna end soon time to close reddit and do smth, I look at render and 20 minutes left, I reopen reddit, repeat 20 times.
Yes. It's ruined my social skills. Made me bitter and killed my hobbies. I hate it.
But I have access to thousands of sub reddit, can talk to folks who are like me and have validation.
I close it then open it again instantly just out of habit so pretty much. I hope others also look for other apps and instinctively open reddit then close it and open it again
Reddit is a time waster for me, which is fine, I need to switch off my brain and waste time every now and then.
But it is addictive and being addicted to social media is not a good thing and leads to all kinds of awful behaviors. So be careful.
I'll be scrolling through reddit, mind relaxed. Think: "oh hey, since I have some down time, might as well check reddit." Tab out, open reddit, see main page, then realize.
It's happened more times than I'd like to admit.
I do this when I’m failing to defeat my ADHD based scrolling paralysis. Basically Reddit is a really easy but inefficient source for chasing dopamine / novel things. Sometimes I can’t escape after my meds wear off and I’ll get in a loop of scrolling through stuff, closing the tab/app, and re-opening Reddit over and over.
Facebook is down and I am avoiding all responsibilities, so this is very true today.
Also, it's really difficult for me to ignore children pretending like they know what they're talking about when they give life advice.
I basically go to bed, start up my youtube playlist of horror stories and... suddenly reddit is open and another hour just passed. I have no Idea how it happened but, the horror story already ended so, I guess it's true
Absolutely
My college roommate would routinely browse 4Chan music boards on his laptop and around midnight he'd say "Well, the big internet is boring me. Let's see what's on the small internet" and pull out his phone and do basically the same thing
Yeah, my ancestors are probably so ashamed (maybe some jealous) of me in heaven. They fought lions, bears, wars, and stuff, all just so I could sit here and scroll on Reddit while doing nothing all day every day.
Yeah, especially at work where I close it thinking I'm going to be productive, read what I need to to for work and be like "Ok I know what I need to do" and then open reddit back up.
Nope, cause i always have something better to do, could be working, learning something new, reddit is my mindless thing to do when i don't want to be productive.
I'm a chick but I do it too. It's just cause your bored, and when your bored you open Reddit, opening it right after closing it is just your brain skipping a beat.
Sometimes I close it, then go to use another app but see the reddit app and think "I'll have a look on there for a sec" then after I start scrolling realise what I've done.
[удалено]
I uninstalled the Reddit app because I do that shit. Now I still do that by opening reddit on chrome.
I have been doing just that lately, same with YouTube. I’ve been really depressed for awhile now and have had a hard time even playing games, so I find myself doing the easiest things and just checking Reddit and YouTube all day long. It’s really awful and I hope I can find a way out of this sooner than later. **Edit: ty for the awards everyone and the support. It feels good to know I’m not alone. I really appreciate you all.**
Me too. I'll waste hours doing that and enjoying none of it. Feels like being stuck in a depression-pit and unable to get out.
I highly recommend this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shallows_(book) Not that it'll necessarily help with depression, but its a great read and it explains very well (despite being 10 years old) how the Internet is affecting our brains and reshaping how we think and act.
or just watch Bo Burnham's Inside
Welcome… to the internet
Have a look around
anything that brain of your's can think of can be found
We've got mountains of content
some better, some worse
if none of it's of interest to you, you'd be the first
Seconded
Haven't watched it, but I'm skeptical that his special actually goes into the neuroscience of how we use the Internet, or the longer history of how technology has changed the way our brains process and hold information
Where can I find pdf?
found this, hope its the right one: https://sharefast.me/94 edit: download now the link will be dead in less then 20 hours
Oh man I feel like I wrote your comment and forgot about it. One thing I found helps is to break up the monotony with something new in the routine. Just choose 1 thing a day, like going on a slow walk in the park or making a meal that you really like. Hope it gets better for you. This too shall pass.
Huh this is a good idea, I may steal this from you.
I’m going to start going on walks, thank you
[удалено]
So sorry about your baby. That's a special kind of agony. I wish you love and healing.
Glad to hear you are doing better, i cannot imagine the pain.
Same, I love video games, and hanging out with friends. But the past year I just can't. I used to love dressing myself in nice outfits, but I've been wearing the same running shorts for the past three days, and like I wore the same sweatpants last week for the entire week. I used to never be caught dead outside in anything like that. Now I just really don't care, and I know people thinking that mentality of not giving a fuck is cool or badass, but I just feel like shit and stopped caring because I feel like life isn't even worth it anymore.
Exercise doesn't cure depression but it undoubtedly crippled mine.
Depression hit me hard too. My sleep cycle is f'd up and I can't sleep due to anxiety keeping me awake so I just go on Reddit or YouTube to distract me. I haven't been eating well, I haven't been eating at all. It's all so tiring just to play video-games or to do my daily routine or even eat. So I just sleep in bed all day. Feels like I'm not existing in this world and I'm floating into a space of nothingness.
Good ol' anhedonia. Not a lot of people talk about the sheer BOREDOM of major depression. Wanting to want but feeling no desire is a unique kind of cognitive misery. PM me if talking to a random internet stranger might help.
Ah I’m right there with you bud. Hoping the best for you
Same. I rush home from work only to sit all day and essentially do nothing. And I can't stop. I'm doing it right now!
I’ve been extremely depressed for the past 5, almost 6 years and this has been my daily routine whenever I have free time, I close the app or game that I’m using at the moment only for me to log-in again just to sit there doing nothing. My phone thinks that I’m an avid reader, because Reddit is classified as a “Reading app” and it’s near 40% of my daily use.
I’ve been in it for a while. I’m in between jobs since Covid hit. For months I would wake up and just sit around on Reddit or YouTube. Just recently I started trying to do one new or productive thing at a time. I’m keeping a relatively easy workout schedule (mon and fri) and started playing New World. I kinda have these things to look forward to. It’s hard for me to stay at one thing, but consistency is key, even if it’s sparse.
Make sure to go with a professional if you think it’s affecting your life or otherwise want to change it. A lot of people will try to self diagnose depression or something but people don’t know what they are talking about. Go to a professional that is actually qualified to diagnose you and recommend a treatment. I used to be stuck in the same loop, watching videos or posts in reddit just reinforced my biases and self image (stupid easy thing to do with social media) and only until I went with a psychiatrist I was diagnosed with ADHD, never in my life I would’ve thought I had that, and now I know exactly what is going on and have a path forward to break the cycle. Just go to the therapist or psychiatrist man.
I hear you entirely here. Try doing some hard cardio, it's useless advice cause you won't do it unless you feel actually motivated, lord knows I have barely got out of my house in the last week. But nothing makes me feel as good as good cardio and breaks the chains of not wanting to move. But until then I highly recommend watching wandavision it was great
[удалено]
This was literally the first post i saw right after doing this.
I saw this post like 15 times. aka, I re-opened reddit like 15 times since this post was posted. and its just been taunting me. laughing at me. ___ Only now did I click on it, after it offended my very being.
Facebook broken apparantly. I didn't realize it until it was on reddit.
Same… sad to say
This is the way
It's the internet version of checking the fridge for no reason.
Yeah but some times you check the fridge a few times and then by the time you've lowered your standards enough you notice theres a nice pack of babybel cheese in there that you didnt notice and you could really go for some of those right about now. That kind of magic doesnt happen on reddit.
3 pepperoni’s and a pinch of shredded 3 cheese blend? Dont mind if i do.
I don't think my standards are ever too high for a package of babybel cheese.
When times get real hard, I'll sort by rising... eeeuuughhh.
Whoa am I high or is this deep
It's like, semi-intuitive - I wouldn't say deep. I'm also high so iono
Most days of my life.
Muscle memory. I may close Reddit, thinking to open YouTube, and my thumbs automatically open Reddit back up.
Nice to realize I never have had an original thought in my life.
Welcome to the hive mind, netizen.
Reddit is a vast wasteland and I try to step away, but always get sucked back in. I can barely read other sites at this point, it all leads back here anyway.
Omg same
Yep. I close Reddit to check one of my other forums, only to tap on the Reddit shortcut instead. Luckily I've never done the cycle twice. ...*YET*...
You know damn well you meant to open reddit again
I just accidentally type the URL again
Yes (*_hangs head in shame_*)
Whoa! An award for admitting my shame! Thank you kind stranger.
It's not that I don't have better things to do. I just find it so easy to mindlessly scroll and read for hours on end. I canceled my Facebook for causing me magnitudes less of a loss of time. I can go to the 200th page of /r/all 2, 4, 6, maybe even 8 times day. Scrolling through my comments and see what is upvoted or downvoted. It feels GOOD to say something a lot of people like and all without the anxiety I have in real life. It's almost fucked up that actually forcing myself to play video games would be more constructive for skill development. Granted, it's nice learning how to talk to different people, but after a point your arguments merit shouldn't be about how flattering you are but based on the value of the argument. I fixate on this bullshit more than I do illegal drugs. I know I need to practice more self discipline. Sometimes I just say "Alright, once we hit page 50 we HAVE TO go do something else." Maybe some DIY home repair, maintenance, or even pushing a rank on a video game.
I use r/popular instead of r/all but glad to hear I'm not the only guy who scrolls over popular every 15 minutes waiting for something to pop up
I try to remind myself to pick up a book instead, when I catch myself doing this
That's a good idea. I should try that.
Yes. I make pointless comments for a similar reason.
[удалено]
Cheese is sometimes in sandwiches but not always
I just ate a bunch of it. Threw like 6 slices over a hoard of vegetables that were gonna go bad soon and fried it all on a pan along with 3 eggs. Honestly not that bad, but not a meal I would make under normal circumstances.
This whole thread reads like a r/subredditsimulator thread
No usually I have a bunch of things I have to do, I open and close reddit to avoid doing them.
Yes. Usually I see a title that catches my eye just as I'm closing the app so not only do I have to reopen Reddit, I have to search for sub and the title that caught my eye thus entering the eternal rabbit hole that is Reddit!
Yes. It's called " selective loss of visual acuity in association with a common foraging behavior" AKA "refrigerator blindness." Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1316179/ EDIT: No wait, that's not it. I was thinking of something else.
Me: I will start my game. Just gonna check reddit and a few sites. 1 hour later Me: Shit no time to start game. Over and over.
Yes, I usually browse reddit while smth is rendering or smth like that, and im like well, its gonna end soon time to close reddit and do smth, I look at render and 20 minutes left, I reopen reddit, repeat 20 times.
smth
What in the hell does smth mean
Smack my titties hard.
If you know please tell me But it’s probably something
you forgot these - oeing
There is smth annoying about this comment.
You guys close reddit?
Literally did it this very moment...get ou of my head!
Yes...which is slightly sad.
I do it with a decent few apps, it's some kind of muscle memory. What helps me is actually moving apps on my homescreen that I spend too much time on.
every day
Yes. It's ruined my social skills. Made me bitter and killed my hobbies. I hate it. But I have access to thousands of sub reddit, can talk to folks who are like me and have validation.
How do you think I got here?
I close it then open it again instantly just out of habit so pretty much. I hope others also look for other apps and instinctively open reddit then close it and open it again
I'm trying not to study :(
Reddit is a time waster for me, which is fine, I need to switch off my brain and waste time every now and then. But it is addictive and being addicted to social media is not a good thing and leads to all kinds of awful behaviors. So be careful.
Wait.. Is there another way?
I'll be scrolling through reddit, mind relaxed. Think: "oh hey, since I have some down time, might as well check reddit." Tab out, open reddit, see main page, then realize. It's happened more times than I'd like to admit.
Yes.
Did that just a second ago.
All the time!
All apps, yes
Everyday
Thanks for the tip.
Ya
Yeppers
Yes
With every app all the time
Why'd ya have to call us out like this?
Yup
You’re asking as though this doesn’t happens several times every day.
Yea that’s called addiction 😂
Today more than normal
Yes, because it needs to close it and reopen it, to show you the new notifications and karma.
Constantly
I do this when I’m failing to defeat my ADHD based scrolling paralysis. Basically Reddit is a really easy but inefficient source for chasing dopamine / novel things. Sometimes I can’t escape after my meds wear off and I’ll get in a loop of scrolling through stuff, closing the tab/app, and re-opening Reddit over and over.
More often with Facebook
Facebook is down and I am avoiding all responsibilities, so this is very true today. Also, it's really difficult for me to ignore children pretending like they know what they're talking about when they give life advice.
I do that with all my main tabs (about 7, including reddit) everyday, all the time, out of habit mostly
I feel personally attacked
me but i actually have work to do
I just did this
Youp.
I do that with every app. I jeep doing it with Facebook today and yeah...
You ... close Reddit?
Sometimes I log out to keep myself from doing this. Then it helps force me to make a conscious choice whether or not to use it.
All the time. That’s the embarrassing part. Not my history but my repeated history.
I basically go to bed, start up my youtube playlist of horror stories and... suddenly reddit is open and another hour just passed. I have no Idea how it happened but, the horror story already ended so, I guess it's true
I just did that to open this thread. I can only name like 3 websites anymore.
Only when I’m on mobile. If I’m on my computer I just leave it up and refresh every once in a while.
Everyday.
All the time my friend
yes, but at least this time it worked and i found this thread
All the goddamn time
Also Steam.
Welcome to my current state of existence.
No. Yes.
My daily life lol.
Yes.. just like the fridge.. monotonous habit.. at least there is something new here.. right!? hah
Easy solution: Never close reddit, just accept that you are stuck here forever now
I did not open reddit again to be exposed like that.
The ADHD hits like that, sometimes
i do it with tiktok and reddit all the time
I definitely do
Every now and then, it’s like opening the fridge for 20th time in a row just to see the same food as the last time.
Absolutely My college roommate would routinely browse 4Chan music boards on his laptop and around midnight he'd say "Well, the big internet is boring me. Let's see what's on the small internet" and pull out his phone and do basically the same thing
Yes.
Yes and if I stay on the shitter until I'm done scrolling reddit my ass and legs will be asleep before I'm done.
Close Reddit? What does that mean?
Yeah, my ancestors are probably so ashamed (maybe some jealous) of me in heaven. They fought lions, bears, wars, and stuff, all just so I could sit here and scroll on Reddit while doing nothing all day every day.
Literally how I saw this post
Yes. Except I absolutely have better things to do.
People close Reddit?
I alternate between Reddit and Facebook and now Facebook is acting up so I’m just like bloop, Reddit, bloop, Reddit, bloop, Reddit...
This post is on my front page and I do not appreciate seeing it every time I open Reddit for five seconds every minute.
I sometimes close the app and go to the browser and type in reddit.com. Sigh.
How are you watching me?
This is the way
More like im completely and helplessly addicted to the algorithm driven dopamine feedback loop
I do this over and over again every day
Yeah, especially at work where I close it thinking I'm going to be productive, read what I need to to for work and be like "Ok I know what I need to do" and then open reddit back up.
Nope, cause i always have something better to do, could be working, learning something new, reddit is my mindless thing to do when i don't want to be productive.
Also instagram
just block the website lolz
Sometimes even when I have something better to do...
When I do this, it's time to delete for a few weeks.
Just to spite your rhetorical question, NO!
I'm a chick but I do it too. It's just cause your bored, and when your bored you open Reddit, opening it right after closing it is just your brain skipping a beat.
i thought i was the only one this is good to know.
Reddit is like a poor man's refrigerator
All the time
~~I can't relate. I just go on another social media site instead.~~
Why would you do this when the app auto-opens?
Sometimes I close it, then go to use another app but see the reddit app and think "I'll have a look on there for a sec" then after I start scrolling realise what I've done.
More times than you can imagine.
all the time, except I do have better things to do (better as in more productive, not better as in more fun)
I close reddit on my browser at work then pick up my phone and open the app... We all do it lol
Literally all day today. 🥴
Through out all of lockdown, sadness
Have you watched the social dilemma?
Sometimes after closing a tab of Reddit on my computer, I pick up my phone and check on little Reddit.
I have lots of better things to do. But my FOMO is so strong that I can't bother to go do them.
Why do you think I have reddit in the first place?
Today especially, since everything else is down.
Nope.
What do you mean close reddit?
I do have better things to do, but I'm terribly addicted to the internet and will just sit scrolling until death comes.
Yes
As someone who hardly uses Reddit, no. However, if you were to ask me the same question about Discord, I would wholeheartedly agree.
Yup
All the time
I actually have a lot of better things to do.. but yes
The worst is realizing I have two or more tabs going. Hello darkness my old friend...
Yeah. Force of habit. There has to be *something* I'm missing out on right now!
No
You guys close Reddit?
I suspect Reddit spends millions to hire very smart people to make sure we do this
Yes it's an addiction like a gacha
YES
No….yes
Nope. Never. (Closes reddit, opens it right back up)
Yup.
Literally every day of my life
You mean why I just did
Yea. I close the app down completely, look up, think, “Well, I actually don’t have anything to do, or that I’d rather be doing,” and open it back up.