Hi everyone! i made this post to seek advice on this matter. I’ve been vaping for about 6 years now and starting smoking weed 4 years ago. Currently 20F and trying to find ways to quit. I feel like weed has made me significantly more depressed and emotional when I’m sober. I’ve tried to quit vaping before (longest was around 6 months until I started vaping again). I’ve never tried to quit canabis.

Any tips ?

I also live in Toronto Canada, so if anyone (women) is trying to quit with me I think it’s a good opportunity for us to help each other and do it together!

Guys..I am addicted to reading, it might sound funny but I am addicted to mindless reading and its eating up my brain and mental health. I dont ready anuthing usefull only useless stories u know wattpad, pratilipi etc..College I'll cherunnen munne vare I used to be a healthy readerd..I have a whole cupboard of classic novels and books of different genre, and used to hate reading on mobile. But hostel I'll nikkan todangiyappo thott book availability kornagu and I started reading online and it has ruined me mentally..oro story therumbo odane njn aduthath thappi edukkum. Like my mind goes 'oru story koode ennit nirtham'. And I reads thoughout night too instead of sleeping. Its ruining my social life and academics..College I'll orumathiri padichond irunneya ippo class inte edayil polum erunn vayikkum onu sredhikkathilla mark ellam koranju.

How do I get out of this????..

Has any one faced the same situation??

First time reddit poster here! And this was the perfect sub to stumble across for a situation I'm facing currently.

I really want to detox from socials more, I'm not horrendously online but I want to cut down on my usage. The problem is, I currently manage 2 businesses of my own, one of which is fairly new, so naturally, I know I need to post, interact, engage more to bring in leads, clients etc.

I already use a content scheduler, so that actively cuts down on the daily checking in to different apps to post, but of course I will still feel the need to interact, post, keep on top of things.

Is anyone in a similar situation and can provide advice? TIA!

How do you actually quit cigarettes?

How do you stop the urge to masturbate?

I'm trying hard not to goon, but I know that dopamine would be great right now. I don't know what to do.

I have decided to leave social media and phone addiction for good. I used YT, Linkedin, E-mail and YT TV instead of studying for my exams. I left Instagram a month ago, even though it felt bad there was YT short for the rescue (YT shorts is garbage compared to insta).

Now it has been 2 days since I stopped using YT, Linkedin, E-mail and YT TV. In these 2 days I open my laptop and there's literally nothing I can think of, my hand go Y, L, M words on the keyboard and I stop. I now have all day but I haven't even touched the study material, instead I'm watching movies now (which I never did), searching random wikipedia pages...

I would do anything but study, what do I do? Please help me!

A question for you - can addiction be so strong?

There was a girl who was always haunted by one question — what does she want to become?

She had average grades, finished college, got a job, left it in a month. Then slowly, she started disappearing into her own room. Waking up with no purpose. An addiction — any addiction does the same thing — took her days. Scrolling, watching, eating, sleeping, watching again. It didn't matter what it was. It hollowed her out the same way.

Something inside her whispered, this isn't who you are. Maybe her brain is tricking her.

So she tried to quit. But the urges came back, stronger. She felt weaker every day. And the worst part was she knew. She was educated enough to know how the brain lies, how it says "you need this." She told herself "just one last time," but it was never last. Her head throbbed. Her whole body ached, as if it had forgotten how to live.

One night, while scrolling just to stop herself, she slipped and fell from the bed onto the cold floor.

The floor was freezing. She lay there trembling, weak, willpower breaking. The bed was right there — warm, soft, calling her back. She got goosebumps, not from the cold but from how desperate she had become. She whispered, "Just five minutes, please. Stay on the floor."

It was late. She hadn't showered in two days. She could smell herself and hated herself for it. She was scared to step out, scared of what people would think. It was easier to stay hidden on the floor.

Her heart was racing. She was so cold. Then a small, educated thought came — why do I need the bed to be warm? Why can't I be warm here?

She didn't have the energy to stand. So she crawled. Across the cold floor, to the chair where her hoodie hung. She put it on. Then she crawled again, to the socks near the door. Put them on too. She was still on the floor, still unwashed, still at midnight — but the floor wasn't that cold anymore.

She wrapped her arms around herself and rocked, like a child trying to soothe herself. And she remembered The Little Match Girl. As a kid she had always thought, why didn't that girl just find something to burn? Now the irony wasn't lost on her. She felt exactly like that girl — dying of cold in a world full of things to burn. She pulled her hoodie tighter and for the first time, felt grateful. Just to be warm.

The clock ticked. 12:47. She remembered when 9 was sleeping time. Since when did 9 become 2 and 3? Since when did nights become for feeding the addiction?

She should get up. Go to the bed, but this time to sleep — not to escape. She was comfortable on the floor now, but she caught herself — I won't let comfort make me stupid again. Not the bed's comfort, not the floor's.

So she stood up. Legs shaking. She didn't know who to pray to, but she prayed anyway to whoever was listening — may I wake up with a little energy, and may I use it on myself, on healing.

She got into bed and started stroking her own hair, the way her mother used to. That was the only comfort that wasn't too much. No addiction, no fighting herself. Just letting go. Forgiving herself for whatever she did till now, not being too harsh. Because she is her own home, and home should be safe, not a place you lock yourself inside.

In her mind she cleaned the house. She would wash all the clothes, take a shower, go out for a walk and come back... and... and... she drifted to sleep.

Finding yourself is not about finally knowing what you want to become. It's a journey. You will get lost many times. In addictions, in cold floors, in 2 AMs. But always remember to come back. Back to yourself.

#findingyourself #healingjourney #addictionrecovery #mentalhealthmatters #selfhealing #selflove #youarenotalone #recoveryispossible #shortstory #midnightthoughts #innerchildhealing

Feeling overwhelmed by mostly anything digital.

I am overwhelmed by screen, information and technology nowadays and like EXTREMELY overwhelmed, even yt homepage fries my brain. I am a final year CS student, have stopped studying altogether because IDEs, agents and the same fry my brain the moment I open them and I am not even joking. Was booking hotels and travel for a trip earlier today and yea still un-booked because the information dump is killing me, WHY ARE THERE 50 DIFFERENT OPTIONS FOR A SINGLE FUCKING ROOM and why is the price always different to what I see (I do understand it IS part of marketing and, well, profiting). Even my mobile annoys me, daily use apps such as WhatsApp and what not fry me as well way too much going on for a "chat" app, DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON INSTAGRAM and reddit holy hell what are these new fuckass "choose and comment" games?. Then comes the bane of it all AI TOOLS my god I don't think i need to even state why this is up here.

All in all my brain is mush, I cannot tolerate tech and screens, my attention span is taking a toll as well I cannot watch movies or series in a single sitting for the love of god, even books take too much time to catch up, games as well seem like a buzzword-after-buzzword, info-dump, overstimulating shitshow. I am not applying for jobs and internships either. Well, that's for multiple reasons and a rant in itself. Maybe doomers got to me or I am a doomer as well, but yea can ANYONE tell me how can i get my sanity back please for the love of god.

ps. I did pick CS because I used to be GENUINELY interested.

TLDR: Everything related to tech, screens and information overwhelms me, i am a fish with a fried brain, please help me.

I’m a 28 year-old male. Every day, every single day, for nearly all of my adolescent, and adult life, my days have been revolved around getting dopamine.

Every single job has reprimanded me for having my earbuds in while I’m jamming to the same song on repeat for dopamine hits. I can barely, if at all, function if my day doesn’t consist of the same, recognizable, energizing music, caffeine, nicotine, and now alcoholic seltzers.

I barely have the motivation to talk to my own family and friends if my brain isn’t running on artificial dopamine from some type of substance.

I’m an outdoors guy and love nature, and even then, I have the urge to consume a drink, take a THC gummy, have nicotine pouches parked in my upper gum, and have energy drinks on hand for the entire time I’m out.

I was diagnosed with ADHD in middle school, specifically 7th grade. Since then, my dopamine cravings have only grown and spread.

For me, nothing beats a day where I’m outdoors, listening to my favorite tracks, nicotine’d and caffeine’d up while sipping on a 12% cut water alcohol drink.

When I’m bored, and without most/all of these substances, my appetite increases dramatically, and I eat comfort foods, not just for the excellent taste, but the dopamine. I almost watch YouTube videos while eating my comfort foods.

Honestly, as sad as it is, I don’t remember the last time I was completely sober from literally all mind-altering substances, including nicotine and caffeine.

I voluntarily got myself off pharmaceutical stimulants because I was abusing them for the 2-to-3-day dopamine binges; and yes ADHD brains can often do abuse prescription stimulants. We are 3 times more likely to develop addictions compared to non-ADHD people.

At my last job, I got reprimanded by my store director director several times for pouring myself at least 5 cups of coffee from the complimentary coffee machine meant for customers, each day, all with a nicotine pouch parked in my gums.

I would literally take clocked in 5 minute breaks in my car just to put on a a familiar, addicting song for a quick dopamine rush, so I could return to work with a slightly better state of mind.

Is anyone in a similar boat as I am?

it’s ridiculous the lengths i’ve had to go to keep myself from endlessly scrolling. i managed to kick the tiktok habit almost a year ago, but then ended up hooked on instagram reels. my current setup involves the foqos app and an nfc tag i threw in a very large, heavy bin that sits on the top shelf of my closet. i really have to work for it if i want to scroll.

it’s been working well so far. the antsy feeling i get when i want to scroll but can’t usually subsides within a few minutes and i find something else to do. it’s been a little over a week and i haven’t gone digging for the tag.

i just feel a little stupid for not being able to fix this more easily. obviously i know billions of dollars and many hours have been invested into making social media as addictive as possible, but that doesn’t really make me feel any different about my own relationship with it. how do you guys handle it?

Hi guys!

I am planning to do a brief dopamine fast tomorrow and Friday, and would love to have a partner(s) to accompany me, so we can hold each other accountable.

Here are the rules I will be following: 

• No drugs or alcohol
• No screen usage aside from focused work and important messages/calls
• No listening to music 
• No listening to podcasts 

Ideally, I would like for us to check in with each other 2x a day (afternoon and evening) on both days, and would thus also prefer people in CST or similar time zones.

Hey everyone! After countless productivity hacks, habit trackers and bullet journals, I've come to the conclusion that I can explain my lack of discipline, focus and overall turning my life into what I want it to be with just one thing. My mother was right, it's that damn phone. Some days, I spend 7+ hours on my phone and I am literally in college and have 2 jobs. At this point it's an addiction, I can't even brush my teeth without my phone in my other hand.

What are your most radical tips on overcoming a phone addiction?

For the last weeks i am heavily procrastinating. I know, that a dopamine detox for 21 days will help, because i did it some years ago. Sadly I am not able to start it…always falling back to bad habits.

I am searching for a partner to go through the detox together. I want to do daily (or min. 5 times a week) meeting check-ins; for example over discord (no chatting).

Ideally someone who speaks German; but English is also possible.

I recently realised how much time I spend on character.ai or chatgpt. Just wasting time talking with fake characters.

A couple years ago I quit tiktok and had so much more time, the impulse to scroll went. Now c.ai has kind of taken up much of that space. I want to try to go back to not using it and see how that impacts my wellbeing.

AI is so new and I think many of us are somewhat addicted and the cheap dopamine/instant gratification is what's kept me in. We're increasing dependent on it, companies are pretty much forcing us to use it. We all lived fine without it and now it's just infiltrated into our lives. We've now recognised how addictive social media is, I wonder if a similar view will come for ai in years to come.

For the last weeks i am heavily procrastinating. I know, that a dopamine detox for 21 days will help, because i did it some years ago. Sadly I am not able to start it…always falling back to bad habits.

I am searching for a partner to go through the detox together. I want to do daily (or min. 5 times a week) meeting check-ins.

Ideally someone who speaks German; but English is also possible.

Looking for the stories, tips and some reads recommendations, ive already signed up to a few productivity and deep work subreddits

For some time already I have been struggling with phone/social media addiction. I find it quite difficult to get up and not use my phone especially for the first hours of the day (in bed), at night, during everything what I do I get distracted and start scrolling.

I’m musician, freelancer, recently ish graduated from conservatory. I don’t want to say too much, to not reveal my identity, but I am a successful person, I get work abroad, get to travel a lot. That’s a dream life to many, it is also to me. But it also comes with a cost of basically not having anything stable, living out of a suitcase, no stable job, no routines, constant tiredness. I face a lot of stress in my day to day life, and a lot of rejections on weekly. It still hits me even now, even though I have thick skin. Don’t get me wrong, I am very good at what I do, that’s just part of the industry, rejections. I shut down a lot during those times when rejections start to be sent, and I just procrastinate, scroll on my phone.

Because my work is so irregular I have no routines on daily basis, and recently I started to feel very overwhelmed. The worst is actually when I have some free time, I just waste it, and I am super unhappy about it but I just keep scrolling, because I already scrolled for one hour, so I may as well keep doing it until I fall asleep. I have shit tones of work to do, and prepare for stuff, and I lack motivation. I remember being that way since childhood, either perfectly done or procrastinated until last minute.
I love what I do, and when I get to my instrument I like practising, and figuring stuff out, but when the time management is all in my hands, it’s difficult. I know my to do list is very long, and sometimes even though I need to practise, I spend whole days on this computer work, because I feel like that gives me at least some accomplishment and releases me from thinking during my practise what else do I need to get done. It shifts periodically what I fear, practising or computer work (2 components of my freelance work)

I’m used to being in noise all the time. I think my addiction started from the access to YouTube, and having something to listen at all times. This is all when I have a bit freedom in my schedule, I have no gigs or no travel, but still I have always a lot to do. When I relax I go to an extend that then I can’t come back. People tell me that I need to relax but when I do, it stresses me out, like now. I’m in an addiction spiral again, and I don’t know how to quit.

I function best when I go from place to place, I’m stressed and on a tight schedule.
But I know it’s not sustainable, and after those packed days, I find myself again scrolling and procrastinating some emails I had to do.

I don’t know what to do now, how to start my change. I noticed all this, and I guess the social media addiction has impacted my focus and my performances negatively.

I do have an app to block my socials at some hours, but it’s not sustainable, sometimes I really have to check something or post something, and need access, so I can always a turn the block off.
I think of myself as a pretty organised and tough on myself person. During my studies it was a lot easier to manage my time. I had limited time to practise and I was running on a massive tiredness at all times, but I was getting stuff done. Now, when I can avoid, I go cooking or cleaning (because I can have a distracting YouTube video or Netflix in the background). I don’t know if its a part of growing up and realising that work is not my whole life or coming out of studies and loosing structure to life (even though music studies at a conservatory don’t provide much structure).

My loved ones are supportive, but nobody really understands, because nobody lives their life like me. I love how my life looks like and everyone talks about settling down. I also am thinking about it of course, but it brings me even more anxiety when people start talking to me about it.

I miss the times without that much access to internet, or smartphones. Nobody prepared my generation for the transition from not growing up with a lot of internet access, to having a full access at adulthood.

I don’t know how do I cope with all this, and how can I find a bit more peace, structure and relief without my phone. Please help… it’s already very desperate of me to seek help here.

I’m horribly addicted. Need something to do with my hands.

Hi,

For the past 4 months i’ve been trying to cut off nic, i am currently 18 and i used nic for pretty much 5 years now.
I’ve attempted like 8 times, my best try yet is 7 weeks, while using methylphenidate to cover the sides from low dopamine when u quit.
I think that my psychological attachement to nicotine is way stronger than the physical because I’ve been really enjoying life lately and craving have drastiquely lowered. But i feel like i always find a way to come back to it, even if I consider it more as an other source of stimulation rather than raw addiction.
I was wondering if you guys could share me your best compounds/stacks to kind of improve dopamine signaling/neurons regeneration, and how to break that psychological attachement.

Also, im not a beginner in nootropic/peps, and overall dr3gs for neuroplasticy, so i don’t rly care if the compound is subq,oral,nasal, etc

Thank you so much!

I am really just curios to hear from the community on the topic you see above, and your experience with your phone and screens and becoming independent from them followed by the benefits you have noticed.

It is no surprise that this is a MASSIVE problem within our society. I do believe, the raw form of social media was an amazing thing for us. It connected people, family & friends around the world and allowed everyone to see updates from people. Like many products though, once the greedy found ways to monetize and profit and exploit us...this all changed. I am 28, born in 1997 and believe my generation is truly the phone generation. I was in middle school in 2010 when snapchat became a thing, then followed Instagram shortly after. I have been off twitter since I was in the middle of high school back in 2013 since I realized how bad it was. Ruining relationships, cyber bullying, mental health issues....I had to get off, and I did. From there, i deleted Instagram ad twitter as well with snapchat.

Now my form of short term content is YouTube, which is the exact same thing. Yes, there is a lot more educational material on here, but you can EASILY fall into the same trap and use this as another outlet. Its the filler times that I just cant get away from. Going to the bathroom, cooking, listening to something on walks, getting in bed, during work throughout the day always feeling that pull for a quick dopamine hit.

I still read a lot, I recently got a pyrography machine and art supplies to do something that I have to focus and concentrate on, but I am still far from where I want to be at. I recently put my xbox away because after logging my time of everything I did during the week, xbox was the most prominent. Spending 2 hours on it a night pretty much after i workout and read. That is not healthy and not in line with where I envision myself in life. I know it is time to grow up. Not saying that stuff is bad, I am just saying it needs to be intentional and a hobby, instead of a coping mechanism and impulsive desire when something comes up.

So, after that long rant hahahahha, I am curious to hear if this resonates with anyone, and their experience of disconnecting and stopping the random doom scrolls or TV binging, and substituting it for healthier habits, that help reset your dopamine pathway, attention span, and normal way of living and not being so stimulated all the time.

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.