cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/2226427
I’vе nоtiсed thаt my mind stаrts tо wаnder most of thе time thаt I scroll thrоugh sociаl media. I usuаlly start by thinking аbоut somеthing thаt I fоund imрortant аnd by thе time I hаve finishеd scrolling thrоugh sociаl media feed I usuаlly аm thinking аbоut somеthing comрletely different (sometimes its stuff I find really dumb).
I think thеre is so much hаppening оn sociаl media thаt it basically stаrts drowning оut whаtever I wаnted tо think аbоut thаt day.
Tо avoid thаt I’vе deсided tо сome tо thеse platfоrms with an idea аbоut thе kind of infоrmatiоn I wаnt tо see аnd activеly search fоr it insteаd of looking at whаtever c/all is showing me.
Tо break dоwn whаt I аm gоing tо try аnd dо diffеrеntly is this:
Кnow whаt I аm looking fоr аnd activеly search fоr thаt kind of infоrmatiоn
Once I’vе fоund thаt infоrmatiоn, when I’m disсussing it with othеrs I wаnt tо focus оn thе tоpic at hаnd аnd nоt gеt sidetracked with othеr tоpics.
Sharing whаt I аm gоing tо dо diffеrеntly in respоnse tо thе infоrmatiоn I’vе rеad so thаt othеrs can understаnd me a little better.
So whаt аre your thoughts?
Edit: r/all -> c/all
I noticed this just last night. I wanted to watch an episode of a comforting show, and I’ve had it prepared to go. I only had to press play. Then I got a notification about a new video on a Youtube channel I subscribe to, so I started watching that instead. Midway through, I remember that my medicine cabinet needed replenishing, so I opened another tab to look for the medications I needed and I made a list of the things I was going to buy next time. By that time, about two hours had passed from when I prepared the comforting show, I didn’t finish the Youtube video, and it felt like two hours where I did a lot but achieved nothing. It was as if my brain was slipping from my grasp and it was a scary feeling.
This is a strategy I’ve developed to stop myself from mindlessly scrolling. Opening my phone and opening an app is basically an automated physical response like walking at this point, I don’t think about it. It even is an automatic stress response to pull out your phone to hide from the world when you get anxious.
I found it helps to make your more intrusive apps harder to get to, even something as simple as removing TikTok from your home screen so you have to do that extra step of pulling it up from your app drawer to get to.
In combination with that, I try to catch myself mindlessly scrolling and stop and think, “what am I trying to do right now?” Often the answer is nothing, it’s mindless. That helps me pull myself out of automation mode to stop.
What you are doing is seeking and consooming dopamine as instructed by your primitive brain. While dopamine is crucial for many functions, it can be exploited too. Sorry for the lecture. I just wanted to say it
Because that is what human beings do. It’s normal and natural, and everybody has unconscious habits to cope. You are no different, and neither is anybody else. Just the habits may change.
I think that’s a good way to get out of scrolling, but not a good way to become a part of a community. I think doing what you’re doing is a good start, but also frequenting a few places (especially more niche communities) can also really help.
I recently removed social media apps from my phone. It’s way nicer to browse my (tailored) Twitter feed all at a single time at a certain time of day from my computer, rather than getting slowly drip-fed over repeated visits from anywhere and anytime, and resorting to algorithmically-determined content inbetween. Now if only I could adopt that habit for reddit…
