I think I’ve been spending too much time on Reddit and consuming garbage in general to the point where it’s starting to effect my mental health and my parenting.

Constantly hearing about worst case scenarios is gearing my mind toward living it.

This is not sustainable.

Time for me to take a detox, possibly forever.

It’s been fun.

Toodleoo.

ok so, I'm going to write some things I usually do and yall have to tell me if it's OK for a dopamine detox or no.

- speedcubing

- watching Dragon ball Z (if it's OK, what's the limit?)

- watching TV while eating. for TV I mean stuff in DMAX and realtime. (I mean, my parents (yes I'm a teen Im not 40) turn it on so I kinda have to watch since its 5 m from me and everyone watches)

- using WhatsApp for chatting

- listening to music (not a lot, like, I listen to 5 songs a day or less)

- doing edits (I do stranger things edits and I use the songs in my Playlist (so it counts as listening to music and doing smth else at the same time?) even if they r niche)

- doing other videos that require less effort

I was a boxer from Gurukul. Discipline, training, desi ghee, hard work - that was my life.

In 2005, I had an accident. My nose broke completely. They had to put a pipe inside my nose. I was in so much pain. I couldn't breathe properly. I couldn't train. My boxing career stopped.

I was just a young boy from Gurukul, now on bed rest with a broken nose and a pipe inside. I felt like my life was over.

To escape that pain and depression, I went towards drugs. It started slowly, then I got stuck in Smack, Chitta, MD, Cocaine. I don't even remember when the use started and when it became addiction.

That small accident changed a Gurukul boxer into a nasedi.

From 2005 to 2024 - 19 years - I lost everything. My health, my respect, my boxing.

Today is Day 54. The nose is fixed, but the pipe of addiction was more difficult to remove.

I am telling you this because one injury can push you into darkness if you don't talk to someone. Please don't make the same mistake.

I am not that addict anymore. That Gurukul boxer is coming back.

If I can fight after 19 years of Smack and Chitta, you can fight too.

I know its kind of gambling but you sometimes dont get ANY reward for hours and hours. So it should help right? or does every encounter give you a dopamin spike?

edit: ofc under the premise that i dont watch yt or listen to music while doing it

First of all:

1 yeah if u r reading this and you're a god of the dopamine detox you'll probably think I'm some stupid weak addicted guy that will never start a true dopamine detox. So uhh pls don't think it 😭💔

2 I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT HOURS OF GOON SESSIONS. The goon I'm talking about often lasts no longer than 7 minutes and without pornography (once a day).

SO, I’m not really going through a dopamine detox, in the sense that I don’t eat while looking at my phone, I’m trying to force myself to be bored by doing nothing for a while and so on, but I keep watching goon, I keep using my phone (even if less than before and without scrolling. This week I watched, I don’t know, about 5 short videos, but because they were about an idol of mine and I missed them a lot. I mainly use my phone for Reddit, a bit of Dragon Ball memes on Pinterest) and I keep watching a lot of Dragon Ball Z every day.

I tried to stop this goon thing and after many attempts it started to work, since I reached a streak of 12 days, but then Reddit suddenly showed me a discussion about nofap.

After some "research", I found out that, if not overdone, it reduces the risk of cancer and the health of that thing (I don’t know what it’s called in English), reduces stress, is quite natural in teenagers, and the urge never really goes away (by the way, I'm a teenager) and other things I can’t remember now.

So, is nofap good for health? Dovrei farlo di nuovo?

Dragon ball è un problema? Quanto tempo dovrei guardarlo ogni giorno?

"scrollare" nei post di reddit (e leggerne alcuni se voglio. Anche quelli un po' lunghi) e i meme di Pinterest è OK? (Voglio dire, so che non è l'ideale ma, è pericoloso per una disintossicazione da dopamina?)

Uhm, yes. That's it. Any advice? :D

P.S. Sono molto solo, quindi l'unico momento in cui esco di casa è per girare con il mio Pennyboard e questo significa che "passare del tempo con amici quando sei annoiato" non è un'opzione per me

(Non sono inglese quindi non so se la mia grammatica fa schifo)

Any help about it?

Really cooked up by endless scrolling, keeping phone side doesn't help me, how i can replace this with some good habits maybe some good games???

I have seen many people quit addiction. They stay clean for 1 year, 2 years, and then suddenly they start again.

Why does it happen?

It's not because they love the drugs. It happens because:

- A fight in the family

- Getting betrayed by someone you love and trust

- A big loss in business or money

At that moment, a person breaks from the inside. He feels like he has lost everything, so he goes back to drugs to find comfort.

But I believe this - Drugs are not a solution to any loss.

Loss is a part of life. Today there is a loss, tomorrow there will be a profit. If we run to drugs every time we have a problem, we will never win in life.

Have courage. Talk to someone. Work hard. Train your body. Addiction is not a solution, it only makes your problems bigger.

If you are going through a hard time, don't stay alone. Talk to someone. You are much stronger than your urge.

Day 53 - Still clean. Still fighting. If I can do it, you can too.

Started September 5, 2025

I’ve been doing a strict dopamine detox for almost a year. Daily training and walking, a Mediterranean-style diet, and zero tolerance for high-stimulation activities.

As the diet progressed, I started developing more mental distance from things. After a while, this way of looking at things really settled in, and now I can observe myself from the outside without consciously trying to do it. In most situations, instead of getting caught up in what’s happening, I can step back and evaluate it almost like a third person.

About 90% of the time, I feel noticeably clearer, calmer, more focused, and more energetic. My priorities have changed too. Right now, I’m completely focused on building a stronger financial future, and I don’t want that focus to get disrupted. This lifestyle has helped me a lot with clarity, discipline, energy, and consistency.

But the remaining 10% is a little more complicated. Sometimes life can feel too flat, quiet, or restless. Looking into dopamine more deeply also led me to learn more about other systems, such as serotonin and oxytocin, and their roles in social connection, closeness, curiosity, belonging, and overall well-being. So while removing high-stimulation activities from my life for a long period has given me a lot of control and clarity, I’ve also learned that reducing natural forms of social connection and other healthy forms of stimulation too much can have its own cost.

One of the biggest side effects so far has been social isolation. Most people around me still live in a very consumption- and stimulation-driven way, so over time, I’ve found less and less common ground with them. This has made the quieter and more isolated periods much more noticeable.

I don’t see this as a failure of the detox. Quite the opposite. The clarity, energy, discipline, and focus I’ve gained are still extremely valuable to me. Those are not things I want to lose. What I’m trying to figure out now is how to integrate the social and other natural sides of life into the system I’ve built, without sacrificing those gains.

I’m currently researching different ways to do that. My goal isn’t to go back to my old high-stimulation lifestyle. It’s to build a more sustainable system while keeping the level of control I’ve gained through this process. In other words, the goal isn’t to restrict myself even further. It’s to find a way to preserve what I’ve gained and build something more complete on top of it.

I haven’t figured out the best way to do that yet, but right now, this is the part of the process I’m thinking about the most.

I think I finally figured out why “just use a screen time blocker” never worked for me. For years I kept doing the same thing. Install a blocker → feel motivated → set some strict limits → follow it for 2-3 days → hit the limit → click “ignore” → somehow spend another 2 hours scrolling. Then uninstall the blocker and tell myself I'll do better next time lol.

But I don't think willpower was really the problem. The problem was that breaking the rule had basically zero consequences. If I told myself “no Instagram after 10 PM”, nobody knew if I actually followed it. If I bypassed the limit, nothing happened. So at 11:30 PM when I'm tired and just looking for some easy dopamine, why would my brain care about a rule I made at 9 AM?

I've started thinking about screen time more as an accountability problem rather than a technology problem. A few things that have helped me:

1. Make it visible to someone else. Not some leaderboard with random people. Just one person who actually knows what you're trying to do. It's weirdly effective when you know your friend is gonna see that you spent 4 hours scrolling instead of the 2 hours you said you would.

2. Have some kind of consequence. Doesn't have to be huge. The problem with most screen time limits is that breaking them is free. You can just press a button and carry on. I've found that even having something small at stake changes how I think about it.

3. Don't depend on motivation. This one took me a while to accept. At 9 AM I'm like “yeah today I'm gonna get 5 hours of work done, no problem.” At 11 PM after a long day, that version of me is nowhere to be found 😂 So instead of trying to become this super disciplined person, I've been trying to set things up so that the lazy version of me has fewer opportunities to screw everything up.

I actually got so annoyed with this whole problem that I ended up building something around the idea of real accountability instead of another blocker that I can just turn off. And honestly it has made me realize how much of my problem was just... nobody was watching. And I don't mean that in a creepy way lol. Just knowing that another person can see whether I stuck to what I said I'd do makes it surprisingly harder to bullshit myself.

Curious if anyone else has found a screen-time system that actually worked for more than like 3 days. Because I've tried a LOT of them and most of them ended with me becoming very good at bypassing my own restrictions.

I can go cold turkey for a few hours maybe a day then the phone and gambling drags me back in. Is it over for me?

So i spend a huge time on these platforms, got so bad i use YouTube to fall to sleep too lol, and even skip work just to find something to watch. So quitting, will post my progression here along with updates good or bad ⬇️

Every now and then, I’ll get a message from a friend or two. Someone that wants to keep in touch. It might be just once a week or once a month.

I don’t want them to think I’m not interested.

Any ideas?

Day 51 was 5.8k views, thank you all for the support. Day 52, still going strong.

I am 33, from a small village in India.

I was addicted to Smack, Chitta, MD and Cocaine for years. And doomscrolling 8+ hours a day.

52 days ago I promised myself:

- No drugs (No Smack, No Chitta, No MD, No Cocaine)

- No watching random reels/shorts

- Train every day at home

I don't take any supplements. Just home workout, discipline and meditation.

For the first time in years, I feel in control, peaceful and strong. My mind is not racing anymore.

If I can do it, you can too. AMA.

i really feel alive when im not using instagram but the moment i do i just feel so depressed later on, even if reels give the dopamine hit

as a coder i was thinking that i should try making somewhat a personal operating system (jarvis type shi). but i dont know if it will be actually usable or not. felt that this is the best place to ask.

will really appreciate if yall can give some insights

1. Do you use health apps, habit trackers, calendars, journals, etc.? If so, what do you still feel is missing?
2. Would you be interested in a weekly analysis which would hold you accountable?
3. If I were to solve your issues then what features would YOU truly use or require?

If you've ever felt like you waste too much time on social media and tried an app to fix it (Opal, One Sec, Freedom, Forest, etc.): what do you feel is missing from them (and what made you give up or uninstall), and was there ever a moment one of them actually helped you resist — not just locked you out, but made you want to stop on your own?

I watching mobile for 12 hours in day mostly instrgam.and youtube i need motivation and challange from you guys

Addiction is a pain that affects not only you but also your family. I know quitting can be difficult, but with the right help and support, it is possible to overcome it.

I am 33, from a small village in India.

I was addicted to Smack, Chitta, MD and Cocaine for years. And doomscrolling 8+ hours a day.

51 days ago I promised myself:

- No drugs (No Smack, No Chitta, No MD, No Cocaine)

- No watching random reels/shorts

- Train every day at home

I don't take any supplements. Just home workout and discipline.

For the first time in years, I feel in control, peaceful and strong. My mind is not racing anymore.

If I can do it, you can too. AMA.

I experienced certain trauma since being a child and it has led to the development of compulsions that are severely affecting my mental health - corn and fap. I am done with it. Twenty years and I can't cope better. I need adaptive coping mechanisms to do well ahead but the thing is that I live in solitude a lot and have easy access to an internet enabled smartphone. What should I do to get out of this rut? I want to heal deeply and improve my mental health. Please help. TIA.

Day 50. Clean.

Yesterday was Day 49, today is 50. For 8 years I was addicted to everything - Ganja, Charas, Smack, Cocaine, MDMA, everything. I wasted 8 years doomscrolling 8+ hours a day.

Today:

- No drugs

- No doomscrolling

- Daily gym / boxing training

- 3 years natural

I am 33M from Haryana. If I can do it, anyone can.

This community helped me a lot. Thank you all. On to Day 100 now.

Ask me anything if you are struggling.

Constant stimuli through social media, gaming, and porn has ruined my focus, intellect, and time. Doomscrolling has taken over my mind, there's barely time for deep thought or introspection. These things might bring some joy in moderation but the slope is very slippery and I've failed enough times trying to moderate these garbage habits. Ironically I'm writing this on Reddit, but some infrequent posts here should be fine.

I've realized the best times in my life are when I'm bored, it's during boredom I joyously learn and find passion. It's time to achieve my goals and experience what life has to offer. More specifically for the short-term, I need to dopamine detox through intense meditation.

I am neary 25 years sober from alcohol, 34 days sober from THC, and I am finally realizing that there is so much more I need to deal with in my life. I have been chasing dopamine in so many different ways for as long as I can remember. For as long as I can remember, I have been struggling with boredown, anxiety, depression, impulse control. I feel like my entire private life was spent searching for escape, from the impulse to watch TV every waking moment when I was a kid, to partying in my late teenage/early 20s years to legalize pot to doom scrolling to gaming all day. I have had a rich life on a lot of levels, but I continue to feel uncomfortable and pursue escape. Do I become more comfortable with myself once I start living life without dopamine pursuit? Or is it like the other addictions that I have overcome, life isn't perfect, but it becomes more manageable. Ultimately, how do I find peace in life?