After many months of removing the Youtube app from my phone, I am finally in a state in which I do not feel the urge to doomscroll or scroll at all anymore.
I still do use Youtube on my phone, just not through the app. Using Youtube via a phone browser makes it more of a hassle to use (for one thing, can’t multitask; can’t click on a bunch of stuff while watching a video) so that’s how I gradually reduced mindless scrolling.
As to other social media platforms:
- Tiktok: when I tried using it a year or two years ago, I was physically repulsed by its repetitive nature and felt no desire to use it. So Tiktok was never my problem.
- Twitter/X: when I tried using it a year or two years ago, I was nauseated by the never-ending, meaningless, short content. I could see the tool being used in a meaningful way, but I didn’t feel like filtering out all the trash. Therefore, Twitter/X, too, was never my problem.
- Instagram: I sometimes log in, and sometimes there is content that is visually pleasing or informative. But in general, it feels fake and I especially do not like the intrusion of Threads posts. Threads feels the same as Twitter/X. The introduction of Threads to Instagram made it easier for me to say No to Instagram unless I’m checking specific accounts of people I know.
- Substack: This place sounded nice but I started trying it right when they introduced Twitter/X/Threads type short posts. Immediately the place started feeling as nauseating as Twitter/X/Threads. Therefore I stopped using Substack. I would be interested in trying it again if they ever remove the short posts feature.
- Facebook: This platform has so many features and is ugly, so it didn’t appeal to me until I wanted to use Groups. Groups are great. I still use Facebook groups, and I don’t consider that (doom)scrolling.
So Youtube was the only place where I was (doom)scrolling, precisely because Youtube is, in general, so great. (IMO.) The videos themselves weren’t the problem, most of the time; it was the act of scrolling itself that was exhausting.
At some point in March, I was able to just sit with myself without feeling the need to scroll. Like, I reached a point where I could see that, literally, doing nothing does more for me than pretending to be doing something.
(Also, in general, it seems to help to really truly feel the stupidity of one’s mindless actions. I say this half as a joke, but also, kinda seriously. I mean, just imagine yourself having sort of an out of body experience while you’re scrolling mindlessly. Look at yourself. As the ghost of yourself, observe the body that is doing the mindless scrolling. For fuck’s sake, what the fuck are you doing? What are you scrolling for?
At first I just felt stupid for being addicted to scrolling while knowing that I don’t even want to scroll. But after that phase, I naturally transitioned to one where I could see the stupidity and not act stupidly. I think if I had refused to see the stupidity, I wouldn’t have been able to stop the stupidity.
And yes. I consider mindless scrolling stupid. In case that wasn’t obvious.)
Basically, you gotta be fine with doing nothing. Doing nothing feels great.