Help: advice & tools for digital detox / minimalism?
Hello, I was wondering if anyone has recommendations for tools to help with digital detox / digital minimalism.
I struggle with mild impulsivity. Whenever I open my computer I almost automatically open a browser and check social media.
It used to be a problem primarily with Reddit and news sites, but since joining Lemmy my behavior has switched to regularly checking Lemmy.
I'm looking for any tools or advice, whether cognitive-behavioral or technical like browser extensions.
In the past I used the Firefox extension called Redirector to redirect myself from certain subreddits like /r/all to something more benign (I like /r/sewing or /r/books for example), and this intervention helped break up automatic behavior and was a kind of harm reduction: still feeding the impulsivity, but with healthier content.
I was wondering if there is something like Redirector that redirects randomly with some probability (like 20% of the time it redirects to the target you specify).
It's not exactly what you were asking for, but I'll say one thing that definitely helped me was to remove the mobile apps to sites like reddit from my phone. It was much easier to break its hold on me when I couldn't just view it anywhere. Obviously, it was still an issue on the desktop but nudged me in the right direction that made breaking away much easier. And once I could go several days without hitting a site at all, the addictive nature of the site really subsided a lot.
That is good advice, but I don't have any apps and I don't tend to spend much time on my phone. I find the mobile UI annoying, so it's really desperation when I turn to a phone to browse a place like Reddit. Usually I do it when I have a burning question that I want to explore and I'm not otherwise able to use my desktop or laptop.
I'm trying to find a way to nudge myself away from this impulsivity on desktop, which the redirecting helped do. I keep thinking maybe I could write some javascript and use greasemonkey to load it and do what I need.
One thing that helped me to minimize my digital life was to uninstall a bunch of apps from my phone and only use my computer to check on those sites. The key here is that I'm too lazy to go get my laptop just to scroll through endless feeds and instead I do other things.
App timers work well for me. I wouldn't say I'm addicted though, I browse the internet a lot but it's by choice, I find it useful and entertaining. I set my timers to 40m, but I rarely exceed half that unless I'm browsing memes with the gf and showing them to her.
I just use the digital wellbeing timer in the settings on my phone.
For the pixel on A12/13 It's under "Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls" -> "App Limits". Then just hit the sand clock icon next to the app and it should let you choose a timer. 1 min before the timer runs out, you'll get a notification and the app will turn greyscale, similarly to Bedtime mode if you use that. Once the timer runs out a toast notification will popup asking you to either change the timer or close the app IIRC. Bear in mind in either case the app will be killed hard, so all of your temp data (i.e. Lemmy comment in progress) will be lost.
I prefer to feel in control, and when I notice impulsivity and difficulty stopping or changing the behavior, it's a red flag for me
the amount of time spent is too much and I find it wasteful, the time could be better utilized, even if on a different down-time or recreational activity which leaves me feeling better or is more enriching
Lemmy / Reddit / whatever social media usually has some content that is useful or good in some way, but I would say most of the content I consume when engaging impulsively ends up not supporting my mental health (e.g. doomscrolling is a more common outcome from this impulsive behavior than, for example, engaging with community or other reasons that I seek these places in the first place).
Get a meditation cushion and then use it for five minutes a day. It will increase the interconnectivity of your prefrontal cortex, resulting in better impulse control.
As a side effect, it will increase the resolution of your sensory perceptions, enabling you to enjoy pleasurable things more deeply.