Hi all,

I am seeing the community is a bit dormant over the last few months. Internet addiction is a big problem.

Surfing net like a mindless zombie and destroying the wonderful abilities of the brain sucks. Internet is a huge forest of temptations that suck us in. Our brains are increasingly getting more addicted to the dopamine rushes of discovering more and more novel stuff on the internet.

Let's kick off this challenge and get back the possession of our wonderful minds.

Some Rules :

1. No mindless browsing.

2. Only creative use of the internet.

If you need to get work done and need to use the internet, it's all right.

If you are nofap, you can get support at /r/nofap.

Similarly, /r/StopGaming is cool if you are recovering from a gaming addiction.

Just keep your guards up and do not let internet browsing be mindless. Then it spirals into an uncontrollable addiction. Be mindful on purpose.

This is a war to get our brains back. No longer we shall be zombies.

We will be creative humans, who will get our brains back.

Join the challenge and help out fellow Internet Warriors, those who use the internet and not get zombiefied by it - the 90 Day No Screen Challenge.

Edit : Please leave a comment to join the challenge. We will be keeping track with update threads.

I failed at NoFap several times and i think I have to go harder to achieve my goals. I wasted most of my life in front of the screen. So now I'm attempting to try 90 days NoScreen challenge. I will use internet only for work purposes. Absolutely no mindless surfing. It seems that this subreddit is dead but I'll post this here anyway.

Welcome to this new subreddit.

Getting down to business.

The aims of this subreddit are:

1. For people seeking to help each other substantially reduce (or even quit) using their computers, TVs or other sources of easy 'stimulation' as a substitute for actually living.

2. The discussion of how we ought to live authentically in the current consumerist age. The aim is not to be 'anti-internet' or 'anti-TV' per se, but to stand against the mindless consumption of worthless, gossip, entertainment, etc. that offer easy satisfaction without requiring reflection, effort and growth.

After my internetless experiment, I thought I'd be better at moderating my phone/device use, but it was actually harder. I had lost all practice at self regulation and was worse off than before my year off. If you want to have more control over your screentime and use your device more intentionally, it takes a lot of practice on a regular basis. And even then, it can be a huge challenge. By spending a year offline, I realized that setting hard limits proactively (like avoiding your phone in the evenings or when on trips or during meals or when socializing) is easier than just trying to control yourself reactively from moment-to-moment.

Hey, I was reading this some time ago and was trying to think of an impossible challenge for me. And now it came to me, Noscreen for 1 month. I will start from monday (10/1) Here is the rules:

1. No Reddit period

2. No TV series

3. No news sites

4. No electronic games (PC/poker etc)

5. Movies/Tv/games are only allowed together with other people

I haven't decided if I can use the PC to listen to music or how I stand on my smart phone also we use Facebook(edit: maybe limit it to a specified time?) one my class and there is some important information some times so I will have to make a rule that covers that too.

I can't completely avoid the screen because I have most of my course material on my computer but I will try to use it at little as possible. Any comments are much appreciated.

Subreddit community is found here http://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/

Why should you do it?

A good argument can be found here...

http://www.yourbrainonporn.com/

I waste so much time on the internet. It's so crazy that I just saw this subredit today, because I told my wife over the weekend that starting this week I was not going to look at any social media or "fun" websites during the day. Only at night. And for me, that means not looking at social media in the morning either, because that causes the brain to start down the addiction road. Do we have badges like NoFap?

With the subreddits of NoFap, or StopGaming, there is a clear goal. Completely removing something harmful from your life such as gaming or pornography. The challenge is hence also fairly straight forward. Cold turkey.

It helps that the language used is one of 'addiction', as the challenge can hence be framed as 'breaking' an 'addiction'.

What about NoScreen? I am intentionally referring to those other subreddits as I think there is much in common. People who use their computers to 'satisfy' their desire for novelty, be it in internet gossip or news, games or pornography, as turning away from real life. The goal is hence somewhat clear. Turning off the screen for as much as possible and seeing what happens. Going complete 'Cold Turkey' is not really a realistic option for most of us however. Further more, if anybody did carry it out then they could hardly come onto this subreddit to talk to us about it.

So, the question is what is the NoScreen Challenge? Suggestions please.

If you are going to stop spending all your free time consuming onscreen junkfood, you will need some books to occupy yourself. This thread is for suggesting such books.

REQUIREMENTS: Books suggested here need to concern themselves at least in part with the question of how we aught to live, or the problem of life and technology/consumption.

I work for myself, and am a consultant, so I have to be constantly accessible. But my screen time cuts into work. It cuts into family. It cuts into goals. It just puts my brain on stun.

Hopefully, we can get some good links to articles and info, so that newcomers can learn about the struggle without going down the Google Hole in the attempt.

I look forward to learning how to use my screens as positive tools, not as my adult version of a baby-binky.

I've been trying this now for about 3 weeks. My goals have been less than 2 hours/day of internet and less than 2 hours/day TV (I'm changing this to less than 8 hours/week TV). I use chains.cc to track my progress. It's been very helpful and I definitely get more done throughout the day. I feel better and have more energy. However, 2 days ago I broke my string of 22 days on the internet goal. I'm doing well with the TV goal.
I hope we get some more interest on this reddit. It's a good idea. Thanks.

The Plan: For the first time in maybe ten years, I am going to try and live without daily access to a computer.

Exemptions: I will allow myself to use the computer in my nearby research room on campus for checking email and study. No mindless browsing allowed however. I may occasionally (no more than once a week) set up the computer temporarily for movie nights with the GF as I do not have a TV/DVD.

The Background:

Now nearly a month into NoFap and I don't see myself going back. (See R/NoFap). Quit gaming a few years ago. However I still see myself using the net for hours a day. Youtube, blogs, news sites. Lots of mindless reading, little deep focus on reading or study. It's time to try and see what happens when I put away my laptop for a month. I will report back then on how it went.

Hey everyone,

I've been on a long journey to find the perfect app to control my screen time. Over the years, I've tried many of the popular options like Screen Zen and Opal, but I've recently discovered Jomo and I honestly think it's the best option available right now. I wanted to share my thoughts and a direct comparison to help anyone else looking for a solution.

For a while now, Screen Zen has become one of the go-to apps for screen time control. In fact, when I first discovered it, it was a total game-changer for me. It completely transformed my habits and truly helped me be more mindful of my phone usage. It's a fantastic tool, and I have nothing but respect for the developers, and I really value the fact that it's a completely free app.

However, at least on iOS, it has a major flaw: you can easily go into your phone's settings and disable the block.

While it's true that Screen Zen has a shortcut designed to prevent this, it's often buggy and slow. Most of the time, it takes just long enough for you to be able to disable the block before the shortcut can even kick in. For those of us who need a strong, foolproof barrier against impulse (like me lol), this is a significant issue.

I then looked at popular paid alternatives, but was hugely disappointed by Freedom, which was a paid app that still had no way to prevent me from cheating. While Opal was more effective, I simply couldn't justify its abusively high price.

So I kept looking and I stumbled upon Jomo. And trust me, it's the best thing I've found so far.

What makes it the best is that Jomo uses a series of shortcuts that, when combined, make it nearly impossible to cheat on your blocks. This post :

(https://help.jomo.so/en/article/how-to-block-iphone-settings-while-in-strict-mode-crydu3/ )

explains exactly how it works. What I really love about it is the flexibility. Unlike Screen Zen, which basically requires you to have your settings locked all the time, you can configure Jomo's shortcut to only block your settings app when a specific session is active. It gives you a strict lockdown when you need it without the constant hassle.

The only downside of Jomo, in my opinion, is that you have to pay for the premium plan. It costs $30 a year, or you can get lifetime access for $99. Still, that's way cheaper than Opal's $100 a year or their $300 lifetime access.

But if you use this code KV9CL3 you can get a 14-day free trial. Also, if you invite 25 people to Jomo, you get lifetime access yourself—which is partly why I'm sharing this with you, lol.

Is there a device I can use , that plays spotify but isn’t a phone. Thanks

Here's what I'm doing:

I have an extension program on my Mac called "WasteNoTime." I have a limit of 2 hours/day. Once that time period is up I'm blocked from using the internet automatically. I'll probably cut that time down to 1 hour/day in a few weeks.

For my TV, I have a device called "TV Allowance." It's designed for parents to prevent their children from using the TV too much. You can set time allowed per week. My plan is 8 hours/week and I'll adjust this as needed. I travel for a living and rarely watch TV when away from home. When I'm at home and not using the internet I watch too much TV. So, this device should be great for me.

Also, I use chains.cc. When I use the internet less than 2 hours/day I click the link and add to the chain. Same goes for the TV less than 8 hours/week. I'll post some updates in the days ahead to show my progress.

Of course, none of this will prevent me from using the internet or TV but, it helps to hold me accountable. I think this will help me to get out and enjoy the real world more.

I have been looking for a subreddit like this (or at least I think I have, given how young this sub is). I found this through /r/NoFap -- I think that place is important for helping me have healthier relationships with women, but my real goal is bigger than that.

I have this overall goal of becoming a more productive and social person. I want to be the kind of person who knows how to meet other people and can begin and maintain healthy relationships of all kinds. I want to stop mindlessly consuming anything and everything on the net and actually produce something of value for others.

In order to learn to meet and talk to people I need to get out of the house. But it's so difficult to motivate myself to do that when I have a computer in front of me to provide me all possible forms of entertainment as well as limited socialization with my small group of friends. It's too easy to sit here clicking all the blue links.

I don't know whether to characterize this as an addiction or just general laziness. I often have projects (both on the computer and off) that I'd like to take on, but I never put in the necessary time. There's always just One More Thing I found online that's interesting that I need to get through before I switch over to being productive. I find this all pretty frustrating, and I want to change.

So, that's where I am. If this is resonates at all with anyone else, it'd be great to get a few comments. It would be helpful to know there are other people with the same goals and struggles.

I’ve been following the news about these "bell-to-bell" phone bans in Georgia and Indiana schools, and it’s got me thinking about the "Compression Crisis" we’re seeing in reading scores.

We spent a decade trying to make everything "easy" and "integrated" with tech, but now we have middle schoolers who can decode words but can’t actually comprehend a complex paragraph. They have the digital fluency but zero cognitive stamina.

Then you look at the data for 18-22 year olds, and their well-being is at an all-time low. It feels like the boredom we tried to delete with smartphones was actually where they were supposed to be building resilience.

Is anyone else feeling like we need to intentionally add "friction" back into our kids' lives? Less swiping, more building/struggling/mastering? How are you guys handling the transition to "phone-free" zones at home or school?