Youtube addiction?

Seems like this problem with Youtube which I also have is quite a bit a persistent problem. The problem of course stems from the mind which wants gratification or entertainment. But what is most peculiar is that I get attached to seeing some pixels on a screen and call it entertainment or more specifically enjoyment. In reality the movies I watch are just someone else's imagination. So it is all just an illusory representation of someone else's imagination. What happened to reality? Such is my pitiful state. Addicted to watching pixels of light which at best represent some imaginative concoction that misrepresents reality. I should really seek out reality and truth. Avoiding all illusory and imaginative representations of the truth from someone else's fertile but misguided mental (not reality) mind. Why be interested in anything other than truth. It is factual and what I am meant to be living in.

 

Yeah I do too. I think YouTube is a much stronger addiction than PMO for me right now, but giving them both up is the best way to go.

 

Im not sure how to get rid off my youtube addiction. And I hardly watch movies... i watch mostly for information. I am thinking of going on a blackout period.

 

Try disabling youtube from your phone. This way, when you feel an urge to watch a video, you'll actually have to think about it to reinstall itm. It makes it easier than subconsciously going on YouTube due to boredom.

 

The funny thing is I am not addicted to my phone. I check it now and again for news or an app here or there and email. I don't even keep Facebook on my phone. The problem is when I get home. I would love to do more reading but I gravitate mainly to the computer in the evening. I don't own a TV by choice so I do check it to keep in touch with whats going on... it just seems out of control these days. And there is not much of a social life to replace it with.

 

Then I would try to ween yourself off of it. Measure how long you usually spend on YouTube, and the reduce it by 5 minutes. Do this for five days, then reduce it by another five. In this way you will slowly get used to less and less time spent. Or block it all together if you want lol. That doesnt usually work for Internet addictions though, as there are loopholes in all programs. If weening worked for a Minecraft addiction for me, I believe it could work here too.

 

I want to go on a youtube fast. But i have wastenotime so can try some restrictions. Thanks for the advice.

 

So I reset my settings on Wastenotime... blocker to include Youtube on the blacklist. And I plan to live my Tuesdays and Thursdays Youtube Free. I think I will go with this and see if it helps. I had used it on Facebook with great success... now I just do what I need to go and instinctively get off Facebook instead of mindlessly scrolling... and scrolling and scrolling. Thanks. Day 1 of youtube free tuesdays.

 

Well I was able to drastically decrease my YouTube viewing time in the last few weeks. In the last 20 days (not counting the last 24 hours), I had watched less than 15 minutes of YouTube, combined. It was quite amazing how much I was able to accomplish away from the trivial moments on YouTube, including extended and focused training for the GRE test.

 

I left every other social platform other than youtube. On youtube, i learn a lot and probably that's the reason why i even use it. It good entertaining and get the dopamine flow.It's educational but if i sit more than an hour on youtube i start watching bullshit so it's better to pre-download the videos you feel like you have to watch or add them to add it later this way u won't be lost between videos. The best thing is to replace internet from your life read books go on a date or watch t.v. It calms my mind when i watch old cartoon on t.v.

 

Huh, pre downloading is a good idea.

 

This is something I've been questioning a lot too. The only question is, what if your job revolves around social media? I spend a ton of time working on these platforms and I guess I can rationalize my addiction because the business is centered around it.

 

I fear this will only worsen my addiction to youtube. I fear that, once a person is addicted, any exposure - be it with the purpose to measure or to shorten the time spend there - will only increase the addiction.

Simply quit and install web page blocker and try to not have the device on which you browse. This seems more legit.

 

There are good blog articles on this topic on other sites.

I don't mean to state the obvious here but I think it is fitting.

So here is one I just copied:

"YouTube Addiction: How to Control It

MARCH 9, 2016

Even though I have never been a hardcore YouTube addict, I would often lose myself in the endless sea of entertainment where every ounce of water is a new video, and the shore far away. Sure, I will make it to the shore, but it requires a lot of swimming on my part—a lot of watching “just this one last video.”

Today, I am in firm control of my YouTube consumption, and I can assure you from my personal experience that there are addictions, even behavioral ones, that are harder to get rid of. So do not worry if you feel like you have a serious problem. You do have some willpower, don’t you? Sure you do, hence all you need is the strategy presented in this article to overcome your YouTube addiction/overconsumption for good.

But let me first say that I get it: YouTube is awesome. It is the richest source of entertainment in human history. You can learn about everything on YouTube, listen to music, or laugh at cats, babies, and people all over the world. All you have to do is sit on your ass, click, and let armies of videos stimulate and numb your passive mind.

Every thumbnail, every click, every video gives you a little dopamine hit. Your brain rewards your behavior by releasing dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. This feels good and motivating, so you do it again, and again. One more video, and tomorrow anew. Over time, synaptic connections between neurons strengthen, a habit forms, and genes in the nucleus accumbens become overexpressed (specifically, ΔFosB). You become addicted.

Being addicted to watching YouTube videos is a behavioral addiction like addiction to gambling, porn, and video games. When you impulsively watch more and more videos and compulsively log in more and more frequently, even though you have planned to do something else, then you are addicted.

Psychologically, the causes of YouTube addiction can be manifold. Is the work you have to do so unfulfilling that you need to distract yourself with procrastination? Do you have an exaggerated desire to wind down and relax by, ironically, stimulating your mind? Are you afraid of missing out on something if you do not watch the latest videos by your favorite YouTubers? Do you need to escape from yourself—from loneliness, silence, anxiety, negative recurrent thoughts?

It helps to consider these questions, but this article is not a therapy session, nor should it become another source of procrastination. Here is what you can do:

SET YOURSELF A SPECIFIC TIME OF THE DAY TO WATCH YOUTUBE
Let’s say you choose [6-7 pm]. The time itself does not matter. What matters is that it fits well into your lifestyle.

One hour is enough. It is important that you do not extend this time window. This will teach you to choose your videos wisely while getting rid of all the unnecessary bullshit. (If a video is longer than one hour, you will watch it over the course of multiple days.)

Also, it does not matter what kind of videos you prefer. No video on earth can replace the necessity of going outside, becoming active, productive, creative, and making your own experiences.

NO EXCUSES
Do not make excuses. No matter how much you might learn from a video or how urgently you need a certain information. It can always wait, and it never requires more than one hour per day. Real life trumps everything.

Imagine you have recently discovered a YouTuber whose videos you find inspiring. What exactly does he inspire you to do? To watch more and more of his videos or to actually do stuff? In the latter case, there is no problem: you turn off YouTube and turn your inspiration into action. In the former case, however, you are not truly inspired, but you are confusing inspiration with entertainment.

Another case is music. If you must mildly distract yourself with background music while you are working or writing an essay, do not use YouTube for that purpose. Rather, get an app or device that plays only music.

Ok, enough of this…

LET’S GET SERIOUS
Just deciding not to watch YouTube videos outside a certain timeframe will not work. If you are using the Internet, it will not take long until a link pulls you back on the edge of the rabbit hole and probably pushes you down as well. That is why a common recommendation is to disconnect your computer from the Internet or to turn it off altogether.

That is great advice—if you can follow it. But be honest with yourself: You probably can’t, especially not in the long run. There is no shame in it. That is just how life works today. Most people need the Internet for school, college, work. So I do not advise you to limit your computer time. If it is out of your control to be 100% persistent with your restriction, you will not be successful.

Therefore, focus exclusively on limiting your time on YouTube, and here is how (no, you do not need to buy or install any fancy programs):

1. open folder C:\Windows\ → right-click on notepad.exe → run as administrator
2. open file C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
3. add this line at the end of the file:
   127.0.0.1 youtube.com
   
   
4. save file

(Edit: Mac users, click here.)

Now you have blocked your access to YouTube (you may have to restart your browser).

Later or tomorrow at [6 pm] (or at whatever time you have picked), repeat the four steps, but instead of adding a new line, put a hashtag in front of it:

#127.0.0.1 youtube.com

Then set an alarm for [7 pm], put your alarm clock or phone out of your reach, and watch whatever videos you like.

• Putting your alarm device far away from you is key here! You must force yourself to get up and away from your computer in order to turn off the ringing alarm.
• It is like getting up in the morning: If you have your alarm clock right next to you, you will hit the snooze button and fall back asleep. You must place your alarm out of reach so that it forces you to get your ass out of bed. Then you will have a much easier time getting up. Use the same trick here.

When your alarm goes off at [7 pm], remove the hashtag (in order to re-block the site), save the file, and close the editor. This moment is crucial! Here you have to be strict:

• The moment when your alarm goes off matters the most. You must immediately close all YouTube tabs and remove the hashtag in your hosts file. No excuses. Then you walk away from your computer to turn off the alarm.
• I know how hard this is. I know the desire to finish what you have started very well. If you are watching a video, you want to know how it ends. Well, you should have considered this beforehand, since you now know that your consumption time is limited.
• Do not hesitate when your alarm goes off at [7 pm]. You must quit YouTube immediately. It’s over. No excuses.

In addition, uninstall the YouTube app on your smartphone. You will never watch YouTube on your phone again. Either you sit in front of the computer at your specific time or you do not watch YouTube at all.

• Do you feel you need to watch videos while you are travelling or waiting? Read a book, talk to people, or practice mindfulness instead.
• Do you feel you need to show your peers funny videos on your phone? I am sorry but you will have to find another way to entertain them. This restriction will also teach you how to exert self-control in social settings, so do not disregard it.

STAY CONSISTENT
Once you have set your individual timeframe, do not allow yourself to be inconsistent. You do not have time to watch YouTube between [6 and 7 pm]? Great, you are not watching YouTube today. Whatever you would have liked to watch, you will watch it tomorrow. If you come home at 6:30, good, you have 30 minutes left. Do not ever shift your time window! Even a minor inconsistency can quickly cause you to say “ah, fuck it” and ruin everything.

Instead of procrastinating on essential tasks, learn to procrastinate the unimportant stuff like watching YouTube videos. And keep in mind that successfully managing an addictive behavior is a very powerful experience. If you stay strong now, your character grows, which will benefit you in other areas of your life as well.

AGAIN, DO NOT EXTEND YOUR 1-HOUR WINDOW
Maybe you are doing homework and you realize that you need a better understanding of photosynthesis or the double-slit experiment. Maybe you want to have a time machine and need a YouTube tutorial on how to build one. Or maybe you have already been working for 8 hours straight and need a way to numb your mind with stupid entertainment. Well, whatever it is, it must wait until [6 pm] (or whatever time you have decided on). Again, learn to use the power of procrastination to your benefit.

If you truly need some information from a YouTube video, write down the topic on a piece of paper and search for a video on it at [6 pm]. Most of the time, you will realize that it is not that important anyway.

The same applies to random videos your friends share on Facebook. If someone posts or sends you a video, stay patient and watch it between [6 and 7 pm]. You do not need to comment on it right away (or at all, for that matter).

GOOD
If you see this through, you will have more time to take action, to get after your goals, or simply to enjoy life more. I hope that you have something else to do besides watching YouTube videos. Typically, YouTube is a means of procrastination and you know very well what you should be doing instead.

In case you do not have anything else to do and you think you might as well watch some YouTube, don’t do it. Better play a sport or an instrument, create something awesome, practice mindfulness, read a book, walk into nature, or talk to attractive strangers in the streets. Life is too amazing to be wasted away, so go outside and play—or back to work."

Now that sounds like a pain the in the ass so here is a simpler method if you are concerned you are "addicted":

"Do you waste too much time on YouTube?

If you have symptoms of addiction to YouTube, the best thing you can do is to block your access and start implementing cheat days.

Bodybuilders do this with their diet: They eat clean, healthy foods every day. Once a week or once a month, however, they allow themselves to go on a cheat day—they cheat on their diet and eat whatever they want; it helps them take off the psychological edge they need to stay strict and disciplined most of the time.

Now back to your YouTube addiction that you want to get rid of.

The solution to your problem is simple:

1. Block YouTube on your computer and delete the app from your phone.
2. Decide on one day a week where you unblock it and allow yourself to watch whatever you want (for example, every Saturday).

In other words, you will not watch any YouTube videos six days of the week, and you will never switch days.

Sure, YouTube—just like Facebook, Twitter, etc.—has plenty of benefits, but you don’t need to waste time and attention every day to reap 98% of these benefits; you can reap them all on Saturday. The remaining 2% are a cheap tradeoff for all the freedom you gain from beating your addiction, and all the success you then can achieve.

In an earlier article on YouTube addiction, I recommended limiting your time on YouTube to one hour a day. This is great for developing strong willpower and self-discipline, but it’s subpar advice if you want to stay consistent over the long term because it requires daily willpower effort.

I promised myself to keep this article short, so that’s it: To get rid of your YouTube addiction, limit your time on—your access to—YouTube to one day a week. Liberate your mind!"

Also willpower can prevent overuse without needing to resort to "external" tricks to "block" yourself from it.

 

Have not read the above yet but i see some good, common sense things in there. I just went ahead this week and started a restriction of no youtubes and replaced it with music, and set a day of the week most suitable, (today, fridays, suits me) and i use a download manager already to pull clips out, mostly podcasts that i play on a laptop while i make dinner of an evening. Poor substitute for good company, but company is not always practical, especially in my bomb site mess of a place.

Been going well for a few days now. Have not missed it, the opposite. Really enjoying music which i had missed and is such an important part of my life.

One hour a day would not suit me, more just trigger wanting to slack off and veg out, which is kinda the problem. I don't watch TV and I do run ad blockers, so content is controlled but the more often i'm on YT, the more i find myself watching trash, wasting time and feeling seedy af.

Today is my day to check YT and i am still too busy living my life and catching up on messages on here, listening to nice tunes. It is an easy habit to kick, but it had snuck back up on me after last time i realised it was out of control. Got complacent and you sort of end up tricked into thinking you are learning or socialising or that you just need to check the next link, and the next one, etc. Anything i want to learn is 99% better off being read, slowly. Tutorials are ok, but again, download and use later offline is the best approach there. There is some good content which takes a long time to search out, but no need to let that be all you end up doing with the precious time that is your life.

 

I watch youtube tutorials for exercises and other learning purposes.... and hours on other unproductive entertainment videos.

 

Developers of social media make these websites addictive on purpose. That's why I try to steer away from them:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphone-addiction-silicon-valley-dystopia

 

I agree to some extend. Human beings are preprogramed by genetics to crave for rewarding stimulations which have given us higher chances of survival in the past. For example we are preprogramed to be addicted to sugar (very high calorie intake jackpot in otherwise calorie scarce natural environment) or to reproduce/have sex (enabling us to pass on our genes to future generations). These brain circuits can be manipulated by neuromarketing and tech companies are hiring top notch scientist from neuroscience to trick us into compulsive behaviors. When you look into it, you realize social media is like giving chocolate bar to a child and expect from him to eat only 1/10 of it... It ain't happening. That's why I've stopped using social media altogether. It's a big fat lie that we need them if we want to function.

 

I've contributed to this thread in the past so got an alert. The irony is I came here to check the thread in the midst of listening to a lecture on behavioural evolution on youtube (as I don't have a TV). Irony of ironies... still battling the causes of this constant need to know more. Though I agree there is a place for such desires and giftings... mine has prevented me from going to sleep on time etc. And this is unwanted. Info-besity... indeed. Oh.. the irony... the LORD is speaking in this...

 

I use a slow internet speed now i have a hard time loading youtube witch works for me