My attempt of reversing an early stage netflix-addiction(trigger warning). Do not try this yourself

Your Story
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I support what you’re doing here just because I know that experience is the best teacher. Have you read about the balance between dopamine and serotonin? I encourage you to look into that if you haven’t. Also I found this video on willpower enlightening.

2 Likes
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This was perfect timing. Was going through a bit of struggle with a severe craving caused by being home alone, but decided to divert my focus to TS.
This video is very enlightening. I can’t take away the tv nor sit somewhere where I won’t see it constantly since the chairs at our dining table are uncomfortable AF. Slid the remote under a cabinet so that I will have to take time to take it back instead of turning on the tv mindlessly if I do get a severe enough craving

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whoops, forgot to update yesterday

24th of July 2020: DAY 4

22:07 Sitting down on the coach wanting to watch TV, struggling to wait until 22:25 for the news

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Updated the rules for clarity in the future, also edited the title since I’m attempting to reverse an early stage-addiction rather than using moderately.

updates:

  • After finishing Umbrella Academy, my limit will be 25 minutes of series each day for 2 weeks. I will then increase this number by 5 minutes every 2 weeks until I hit 2 hours per day.

  • Watching the news is allowed at all times and does not affect my amount of television allowed for that day.

This experiment is to figure out if it is possible to reverse an addiction in early stages of said addiction.

1 Like
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25th of July 2020: DAY 5

14:17 Severe craving caused by being home alone. Diverting attention to laptop as to not struggle as much with this craving

14:32 A video was shared with me concerning willpower. Simply taking away the thing you are craving is a great solution. I had already done this by deleting my Netflix profile. The tv I cannot remove.

14:38 I realised I do not have to remove the television as I can just put away the remote.

14:48 Since I don’t have a fault or any other means of locking away the remote, I slid it under a cabinet so that I have to struggle to grab it giving me plenty of time to change my mind if I do something stupid.

1 Like
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Another rule update.

  • As soon as I watch TV again I can watch a movie instead of series

Otherwise it will take multiple weeks before I can watch a single movie

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26th of July 2020: DAY 6

No cravings or anything else to mention

27th of July 2020: DAY 7

16:58 Some cravings

28th of July 2020: DAY 8

No cravings today

29th of July 2020: DAY 9

19:00-22:00 Severe cravings for Netflix, but also gaming after feeling really annoyed with the way /I work

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@SoberD, I absolutely see your points. I look like a desperate addict to some and I understand why. But this is not only an attempt for myself, but also for science. Scientists now know that there are 6 phases of addiction.

  1. Experimenting: This is the phase where you experiment with said drug. Don’t know how this applies to Gaming/Netflix. In this phase there are no problems yet.
  2. Social: In this phase you use the drug only in social situations. In this phase there are no problems yet
  3. Alone: You use said drug alone. Nothing bad happens yet, but you have to be cautious with breaking limits.
  4. Breaking limits(Netflix-addiction): In this phase you break your limits, bu it does not affect anything else in life. Some can reverse the addiction, some can’t. There’s not enough knowledge about this phase yet to know.
  5. Chronic: Your use affects other areas of life. You lose social relationships. Your job is affected. Your school is affected. You will be addicted for the rest of your life.
  6. Lethal(gaming-addiction): If you continue to use at this phase, you will die if you don’t stop. You will be addicted for the rest of your life.

Since my Netflix-addiction is in the 4th phase, there is a decent possibility that the addiction can be reversed, that’s what I’m trying to do.
As for my gaming addiction, I’d be pretty stupid if I’d think I can reverse that

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30th of July 2020: DAY 10

All day: Looking forward to Umbrella Academy being released tomorrow. Not cravings, but excitement

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31st of July 2020: DAY 11

No cravings today.

Watched the first episode of umbrella academy season 2