Reels, Shorts Addiction

Exactly the reason I deactivated Instagram. It's been a year now. Don't even feel the need to ever go back.

How to get rid of that? Setting timer or digital wellbeing is not working for me 😃

First of all uninstall them, use web app in desktop if you still crave for them. Install ublock origin, and block reels and YouTube shorts for good from filter settings.

Gym jao bhai

Not only this but the dopamine quality and quantity goes down as well so watching more reels would still not give happiness in the long run, been there done that

Delete the app and logout

EVERYONE LISTEN HERE'S THE HACK Download the one sec app and *pay* 99 rupees. Add Instagram to the list and voila. You can delete your timers but this will activate your slow brain and that'll talk you out of the mindless mania that's going to trap you. I put the timer and installed this app, now I don't even have the urge to open the app because the moment I open I get disappointed because of the big ass wait screen of 10 seconds and then my brain probably attaches negative feeling to opening Instagram. Also I have quiet mode on so that also contributes.

I have also been through a similar situation where watching reels for atleast 2hrs felt like a ritual and as soon as it could capture me in its addiction trap. I turned off the notifications, and trust me, it's been over a year without reels. Life feels so much better by just focusing on ourselves rather than wasting time on these 30sec short videos. Hope this helps!

The reason why I uninstalled the app last week

Use Chrome. The poor experience doesn't let it get addictive.

I don’t remember who said it but essentially this is a battle of ‘you’ vs ‘hundreds of neuro-scientists’ whose only job is to hook you to these platforms and make you stay. It’s a battle you cannot win. Only way is to uninstall the app. It will be unsettling for a few days but post that you’ll be surprised at the results and the interesting directions and avenues your mind will take you to. Personally, I rediscovered and rebooted a lot of old habits and things i used to do until a few years back and it’s one of the best decisions i took.

Pta hai, I don’t know how many people spend their time on Insta. I mean my avg is < 1hr 30 mins. I don’t get addicted to reels. I would say join gym. You will feel better. Just replace with better things. May be write journal.

Hard agree to everything you just said

Here is the deal i was in the same boat. Current state of things 1. Uninstalled Instagram - don't even think about it anymore 2. Uninstalled Facebook 3. Reddit - 15 mins a day 4. Twitter - 15 mins a day to stay up to date with tech news 5. YouTube - 15 mins mostly for fun / tech updates But what about that meme everyone is talking about? Yes you will miss out on shit that doesn't even matter. E.g I had no fuc*ing idea why the heck everyone is singing this random song Moye moye I asked one of my friends what is Moye moye and he explained it to me and yeah that's it. If there is something worth sharing you will find out anyway (Moye moye wasn't). Your brain doesn't have an infinite amount of storage. So be wise and store things that are helpful and needed to live a happy life not some reels junk. At Max you might have to ask people what they are talking about and if you have good friends they will happily explain it to you and if they make fun of you are they even friends? Now coming to point but but what do you do in free time then ? 1. Every month I watch the UFC main card ~2 hours 2. Play games with friends on some weekends 3. Learning to sketch whenever I have time is so much fun to see yourself improve a bit by bit 4. Read books / listen to audio books. Till a very long time I was like books are meh it's for nerds but boy I was so wrong. Reading a good book feels like a person just poured their entire life's worth of experience into just some pages and it's so much fun. You get to learn a lot as well. I'd say i don't feel like I am missing out on something. I am so happy that i don't find myself randomly picking phone now and then and start scrolling insta. I am more mindful about things. I am much more calm and composed than ever before. How I did it? Digital wellbeing ❤️ + Being aware of every action

Try replacing the itch to watch Instagram with something else like micro journaling or maybe just walking around your house. If you can’t stop watching it then curate it. If you find stuff helpful then just save / share it, the algo will bring more of that stuff to you. My feed went from a meme and gossip train to more mental health and productivity.

I totally agree with you. Even though I'm not addicted to reels (atleast I feel that :p), my attention span got shorter. I was a big fan of 20+ mins of YouTube videos(learning/informative videos). Now I don't remember when did I last watched even 10+ mins of video except work meeting recordings😁

Just solve leetcode questions whenever you realise that you are scrolling insta or YouTube

I quit cold turkey. Uninstalled Instagram, Linkedin, Reddit… all of social media. Never felt better. Been over 2 months now. The only thing that’s increased is the amount of mails I get from Instagram and LinkedIn to reinstall the app and what I’ve been missing.:D

I have been facing a similar issue for sometime! I have already used all the digital timer apps. The trick that I learnt was making it difficult to access the reels section. I did 2 things: 1. Uninstalled Instagram 2. Started using insta on safari (Still using Instagram because the only way to stay connected to the few friends I have is via sharing memes, I know sad but true in this wfh scenario) The experience of the platform is so bad on the browser that you will be forced to quit. I am still experimenting with this so I install the app on weekends to post some or the other thing but I have had positive impact so far with this barrier of entry technique!

Check out this app : https://apps.apple.com/in/app/one-sec-screen-time-focus/id1532875441