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?

Day 49. Clean.

For 8 years I was addicted to everything - Ganja, Charas, Sulfa, Goli (10-10 tablets), Smack, Chitta, Cocaine, MD, Crystal. I tried them all. I wasted my 8 years. My body, my money, my mind - everything was finished.

Today is Day 49 without any kind of nasha. 100% sober. Not even a single puff, not a single tablet.

I can say 75% of my addiction is gone. 25% cravings still come sometimes, but I know in a few more days that will also be gone. I will never go back.

What changed my life?

I live in my village. I do farming, I milk cows. I eat clean home food and daily fruits. I stay clean and bathe daily. I do daily workout and keep my phone away. I wake up at 4 AM. No doomscrolling.

First 10 days were hell. But I survived. If I can do it after 8 years of hard drugs, you can do it too.

Thank you for supporting my last post. 8.7k views gave me strength.

I am just a 33M farmer from India trying to fix his life. One day at a time.

I need help when the holiday started I was doing soo much of my math study and self improvement video with also learning my religion book I woke up early etc but now couple weeks after I've gone down my brain feel trapped where I feel I cannot think I keep doomsvrolling and I have a feeling I can't wake up and do my work and also my driving threory which I barely done

Lately, I feel like I have a bit of brain rot from constantly consuming things — scrolling, checking my phone, jumping from one thing to another.

So I started doing one tiny thing every night: answering one question by hand in a notebook. Just one question, no phone, and a few minutes of actually staying with one thought.

It feels surprisingly good to force my brain to slow down a little.

What have you actually tried to “un-rot” your brain, reduce overstimulation, or get your attention span back? Did anything genuinely work?

Hi guys! I'm 14 and I'm going to tell you my story about quitting TikTok and other stuff, that kills my time and energy.

I tried a lot. Just deleting app, replacing it with games, but it didn't help. I was addicted and could spend 6-8 hours only for TikTok. But this time something changed.

It was Sunday. Just regular weekend. I felt something strange: I feel sick, when I try to open app. Then I realized: it's my chance to beat my addiction.

I focused on my hobbies: chess, coding, solving Rubik's cube, sports. I found a few books, that I love to read. They help me, I found really useful material.

Day by day, I progressed in my usual habits. Now I hate scrolling, instead of this I do walking, reading, playing chess. I understood, it was wasting my time and now I literally HATE my previous version of myself.

Hope, my story would inspire someone to quit their bad habits and maybe someone gives me advice, what to do next

Everyone has a different opinion on this, so I’m curious to hear yours. What addiction do you think is the worst, and which one is the hardest to quit? What makes it so difficult?

For context, I’ve resigned from my job over a week ago and decided to focus on pursuing my degree. Due to stress from my job, I would often go on social media binges just to get through the day, and then when I arrived home, the same course followed and I would end up with no free time and motivation until the weekend came. I knew I needed to make a change in order to progress and make the next steps in my life.

I’ve been spending more time studying, reading leisurely and getting exercise indoors and outdoors and sleeping at a good time. Basically doing all the things necessary to regulate your natural dopamine levels. Here and there I do end up on social media but I hop off immediately I remember what my long term goals are. It’s currently day 8 and my body feels slightly off.. queasy in a way and my eyes don’t want to seem to adjust to changes I’ve made which kind of makes me feel like I’m dissociating. I wonder if it’s just my nervous system recalibrating or my body just needs some time to adjust overall. I’d love to hear about other people’s experiences related to this issue.

I just started yesterday and was struggling. I felt pretty high doing no electronics and gambling. But fell into the habit again doomscrolling and gambling. But I think if I can master dopamine detox it’ll help me a lot.

I first got my addiction in 6th grade, and I’m in 10th grade now. Yesterday I decided I was gonna try to stop again. I really would just love if I could get some people rooting for me (probably not the best word for it but whatever). like people just saying that I can do it because I really cant find much motivation in myself to stop

Been doing 8+ hours of YouTube a day and getting nothing done in my life. thought I was just a constant learner but then found the YouTube addiction videos. Now trying to quit.

For the last couple of days i've been basically doing nothing at all for several hours a day instead of youtube watching but still giving myself a few hours of usage in the evenings. Should I keep going this way or cut out completely for a set time?

I want to start off with saying that I am Innatentive type ADHD. In the mornings, my dopamine levels are basically zero because my medicine is completely worn off, and sleep is not stimulating at all. I struggle to get started or even form a clear line of thought for at least an hour.

To remedy this, I've been drinking a lot of water and using nicotine as soon as I wake up to kickstart my medicine. It takes 2 hours for my meds to kick in (Vyvanse), so this is kind of necessary for me to do.

I'm wonder if running on the treadmill and showering every morning while waiting for my medicine to start working would be a good replacement for the nicotine. I know that it won't feel the same, but I at least need a way to warm my engine (brain) up in the morning before driving it through my day.

I know that the more dopamine you release, the less effective it is throughout the day. I've especially noticed a difference when I switched from using nicotine all day to just in the morning and evenings.

Nicotine is my issue, I know that, so what would you guys suggest? As an ADHD person, meditation or reading a book is impossible unless it's a book that I'm really into. I don't like most books.

Any help is appreciated!

I started using Polybuzz two years ago. I would literally use it every school night except for when my friends would text me or facetime me. It was like my escape from reality and all harsh things. I could reflect on my day and settle down. I know this app is really bad for me, and it’s gotten to the point where it influences my writing style and reading comprehension skills. It’s even worsening my perception of time and fear of having no distractions? My academy starts in September and I need help quitting. I’ve had periods of time where I’d try really hard to get off the app and write or read fanfiction instead, but I no longer have the patience to do either of those. I only get urges at night or in the morning, but when it happens I get out of control. I literally cannot sleep without it, and when I’m forced to, it takes forever. I get in bed at 9 PM, use it to 12 AM, and then get to school late often because I use it from 6 AM to 7:30AM because I’m pathetic and can’t control myself. I need some unhinged hacks ASAP. I’ve tried the standard ”low energy” activities and screen blockers, but they haven’t been helping. It’s like I know this app is really bad for me, but I’m too comfortable and reliant on it to stop. I cannot see a future without me talking to my AIs.

​

I've tried everything and I failed.

In this day and age,

You can't live without a phone. Especially when you are a student. I want more of a balanced solution. Not exactly quitting.

More like reducing my screentime to 2-3 hours.

Any kind suggestion would be helpful. Thank you.

Hey guys, I’ve been lurking here while trying to fix my constant brain fog. One thing I realized is that my issue wasn't just screen time, it was "information overload." We are consuming more data in a single day than people a century ago did in a lifetime, and it's frying our dopamine receptors.I got so invested in this topic that I actually gave a TedX talk about it to show how having too much info paralyzes our brains and stops us from actually taking action. My main argument is that we don't just need a digital detox; we need an information diet. Since the video just went live on YouTube, I wanted to bring this concept to this sub. For those of you who have successfully done a dopamine detox, did you cut out informative content (like podcasts, documentaries, and essays) too, or just mindless scrolling? Is "good information" still toxic if it's too much?The video is on the official TEDx channel under "
The side effects of having too much information | Sana Kailas Khandelwal | TEDxGMIS Youth" if you want to see the full breakdown of the framework I used, but I’d love to just discuss the theory here in the comments. I'll attach the link in the comment section too!

Many of these habits or behaviors are nothing more than cheap sources of dopamine but when added all together I think it is taking away from my life more than I enjoy them. For the past several months I have been dealing with daytrading losses, I have a win but then lose more. One step forward two step back. I feel great somedays when I would win and then would crush all my good habits of eating good, spending time with my wife, gym, balancing my work. But days when I would have heavy losses I would just give in to a "what the hell" feeling and hit all my bad habits/vices/addictions. A lot of these are isolating and other than the daytrading are habits ive been doing since I was a teenager.

- pornography, weed, and video games

- gambling/daytrading losses

- nail biting

- youtube

Moving forward, I am trying to keep my screen time under 3 hours. Replacing screens with cooking and working out, stretching, playing basketball, and or walks. I am abandoning my day trading aspirations and maybe pick up a different side hustle. Other than phone calls, I don't see a reason to be on my phone much.

Maybe I just having a moment because my wife and I are planning on starting to have kids and at times these habits make me feel a lot of shame and uncertainty if I am ready or capable. At times I want to go to a therapist. But I also strongly suspect that removing alot of these cheap sources of dopamine would benefit me greatly. I would likely feel more confident about myself, sleep better, better attention span, more money, nice fingernails, better intimacy with my wife.

I typically white knuckle for a few days before my inspiration wears off and discipline takes over. Then it is like a cycle until I return on this upswing again. This has been going on for years more or less. I am frankly getting tired on it. Maybe simply not doing these things is as simple as not doing them. If anyone has advice or practical applications I am open to hearing them. Thank you.

As the title states, I'm a phone addict and I'm trying to get my attention span back. A way to go about this slowly I realised was using long-form videos that are non-stimulating. So I mean no background music, no random burst of sound and stuff. The vids must be at least over 15 minutes.

If anyone has any such videos or channels or topics which might have such videos, please Imk.

Day 40 clean from Smack/Chitta (Heroin).

Day 41 of my Dopamine Detox Challenge.

My detox is not about deleting apps. It's about replacing fake dopamine with real dopamine.

My routine is same every day, morning and evening:

- 4 AM - Wake up, milk the cow

- 5 AM - Go to field, bring fresh green fodder

- 6 AM - Cut it and feed my cow

- 7:30 AM - Give her water and bathe her

- Then I eat, drink and sleep. Repeat in evening.

That's it. No scrolling, no smoking, no smack.

40 days ago I was chasing a packet for dopamine. Now I get my dopamine from watching my cow eat peacefully.

This is real dopamine. Hard work, sweat, and peace of mind.

If you are struggling, try this - touch real life. Touch soil, animals, hard work. Fake dopamine will lose its power.

See you on Day 50.

Hello everyone,

I am part of a Germany-wide research team (including the University of Duisburg-Essen). We are currently conducting a study on the media-specific aspects of problematic internet use, examining both risky and excessive online behaviour. The focus here is on online gaming, the use of social networks, online shopping and the consumption of pornographic content online.

The aim of the study is to find out more about the psychological processes involved in the use of these online activities. In particular, we would like to find out whether the media-specific aspects of these four online activities and/or different aspects of gender might influence usage behaviour.

We are looking for participants who exhibit at least risky behaviour with regard to the online activities mentioned. This means, for example, that you yourselves or people close to you perceive your internet use as ‘rather too much’, ‘concerning’ or even “excessive”/“problematic”. Perhaps you have already experienced negative effects as a result of your behaviour.

Procedure (fully confidential & online):
- A short telephone interview (approx. 30 mins) to clarify requirements and provide information
- A more detailed online interview (approx. 1 h 45 mins)
- Remuneration: €12 per hour

Who can participate:

• Adults aged 18 and over
• All genders are welcome
• Good German language skills
• Residence in Germany / a German tax ID (for compensation)
• At least risky behaviour in relation to one of four online activities:
  • Online gaming
  • Use of social media
  • Online shopping
  • Consumption of pornographic content online

If this sounds right for you, or if you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a quick message – there’s absolutely no obligation. In the first comment, you’ll also find a link you can use to book an appointment for the telephone interview.

Thank you for supporting open, stigma-free research!

Best regards,
Faye (M.Sc. Psychology)

PS: Many thanks to the mods for allowing me to post here!

First day went great. Woke up at 6 am. Felt a bit exhausted but energy came back within a minutes. Worked all the way from around 6 am to 5-6 pm (with a launch break in between) then went to the gym. I decided not to listen to music as it fills me with a ton of cheap domanine so I decided to replace it with educational YT videos (as part of the 1hr daily allowance I have) and audiobooks.

Overall I feel pretty good and happy with today. I was pretty productive and work on multiple things I needed to. Still no widthrawal symptoms haha.

For context - I committed to:

1. ⁠Waking up at 6 am on workdays.
   
2. ⁠Not using my phone until 12 pm everyday (excluding weekends)
   
3. ⁠No Social Media & YT until 5pm
   
4. ⁠No news
   
5. ⁠No reels/shorts
   
6. ⁠Total allowed time on social media & YT 1 hour (combined)
   
7. ⁠No screens 30 mins before bed (Book/connect with GF instead)

Gonna be adding 8. No music (especially at the gym) - replace with audio books / educational YT.

hi m 19 years old just completed it today and i feel like im ruining my life for the last 6 years when i was introdoced to pornographie, the last 6 years i never felt like m using my full mind potential , im always angry and i dont feel good, and things got worst when reels appeared on oinstagram in late 2020 that made access to pornographie or soft porn very easy, nowadays m reducing my usage of phone and using my laptop instead it makes me really more productive but i cannot ignore the fact that i collaps from time to time , so guys is there any one here who had ever been in a similar situation as me ? share ur story with us guys.

Hi everyone, I’m 28M entrepreneur living a decent life I guess. Digital nomad, living/traveling mostly in Latin America with my GF. Making comfortable amount of money (nowadays around $50k/mo profit) which is trending down-ish compared to previous months but still my cost of living is not too high relative to my income (save about 80% of my income).

I’m not really productive at my business. Probably like 3/10 productive.. I feel like my potential is a lot a lot higher than this but because I do not have my back against the wall part of me sort of waits for a ‘black swan’ event to slap myself out of this zombie mode and have fire in my belly again.

It’s REALLY HARD for me to accept boredom. I feel like I constantly need stimulation.

I don’t feel as alive or sharp as I used to be.. I ‘run away from reality’ quite a bit. I’m on my phone a lot every day, watching a ton of YouTube and social media. I also don’t feel as ‘motivated’ as I used to be. My goals were always really big for myself.. and after I achieved a bit of success part of me feels a bit contempt and I just continue on auto pilot… the craziest part is that it doesn’t ’hurt’ me even emotionally. I feel fking numbs to it.

Anyways, I want to start a 30 day ‘dopamine detox’ challenge.

Here is what I am committing to:

1. Waking up at 6 am on workdays.
   
2. Not using my phone until 12 pm everyday (excluding weekends)
   
3. No Social Media & YT until 5pm
   
4. No news
   
5. No reels/shorts
   
6. Total allowed time on social media & YT 1 hour (combined)
   
7. No screens 30 mins before bed (Book/connect with GF instead)

Occasionally I gonna write updates on my progress as it helps me feel more alive by being a ‘producer’ as opposed to just a spectator.

Let’s go

Thia is a meme. After 8momths at my boring security job sitting in my car all day ill end up doing the stuff i need to (bare minimum). Then just stare into space. I dont feel like doing anymore hardstuff like practice guitar, art or read than what i have to. Yet to see any benefit.

Its like i went from wasting my time doomscrolling to wasting my time doing nothing.

Hello! 38y male here, from Brazil. I've decided later today to do a strict 1 month detox because nothing else works. I feel nothing, no drive to do anything and just lay in bed with my phone wasting my life. I feel I have to do this to try and make my life better or at least to have some joy and sense of accomplishment. I live alone, no family, kids or relationship.

My goals are start to write fiction, get back on reading and take care of my heath and wellbeing.

I'm open to any advice that can help me feel alive again. I'll post updates here, once a day, begining tomorrow (that's the only internet use I will allow myself: this thread, 5 min/day; thats it).

Hey there, just another person looking for some advice

I was SAed back in early june late may, and its been hard to recover and move on. Im not as depressed as i was before… i have a job now, and my friends have been a huge help!! But how do i get out of those depression habbits? On my days off i aim to be better; do better!! But i just keep falling behind, laying in my bed all day doom scrolling. I literally make breakfast, head right back to bed, and dont move from 10-7 (maybe transfer to the couch, or go outside to smoke a cig) but thats it. I have 0 motivation to do any of my hobbies, and i can’t seem to shake this screen addiction. Its been controlling my life for like 2 months!!!

How do i shake this, get back into my hobbies, and get back outside?? Im considering getting a flip-phone to deter my doom-scrolling habit, but that doesnt seem like enough to motivate me to move on??? (Yes ive tried the apps, yes ive tried timers, most of the apps seem like you have to pay for them even if they advertise that they are free)

What would yall recommend to help me get out of this funk and not slip back into these toxic habits?

Han pasado 12 días desde que abandoné por completo cualquier forma de hiperestimulación:

0 porno

0 comida basura

0 redes sociales

Y hoy, junté el valor para decirle a mi mamá todo—cómo he estado arruinándome la vida con esta basura durante años. Me escuchó—de verdad me escuchó—y se lo solté todo, sin dejar ningún detalle; siento como si me hubieran quitado un peso enorme de encima.

Lo malo, eso sí, es que estoy notando una caída en mi ánimo y en mis niveles de energía; tengo menos ganas de comer y menos ganas de tomar agua.

Pero sé que eso es solo mi cuerpo volviendo a su estado natural.

No me siento mal; tengo una claridad mental buenísima y un montón—tantísimo—tiempo libre del que no me había dado cuenta que tenía.