I am totally addicted to social media. I’m really glad this topic came up because I definitely need help. Days are wasted by me endlessly checking for likes, responses, watching addictive YouTube videos like Tarot readings etc. The only one I’m not addicted to is this community. You all have saved my life more than once and I really love you guys. Need to quit social media but am “scared” it seems to just live in the real world. I’m glad I admitted this, it’s been on my mind to quit for a long time. Have a great rest of your day! 
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Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience
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Once I deleted social media, my life became more simple and lighter. I wasn’t influenced or worried what other people were doing with their life or comparing myself to anyone.
You feel a weight lifted off your shoulders.
I don’t sleep with my phone near me and I shut my phone off at night and it charges in the living room.
Your life is in front of your eyes not on the Internet, your life deserves your full attention not half in a phone.
I am not perfect myself but since deleting all social media and being aware of my phone usage, my son, my family and friends and the world gets my full attention if I’m interacting with them, my phone takes back seat 
not my life.
I despise social media tbh it’s all nonsense and very toxic.
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How can I diagnose if I’m addicted and what measures can I take to modify my behaviour?
Twitter. Ten hours a day. Political maniacs.
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I can’t answer the first question, but regarding the 2nd one: when I’m at home, I leave my phone in another room, and usually on silent.
I also have no social media (aside from TS), which seems to be what most people are glued to when on their phone.
Not a phone addict or anything, I just want to look at it as little as possible.
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While reading this (older) thread I have to admit that I’m addicted to social media too 
I used an unholy combination of Twitter and Second Life. Today I found out that Twitter is the most addictive thing out there, yesterday I deleted both accounts.
It was not the main reason I started to drink again, but it “helped” me to forget why I shouldn’t drink.
It made me sleep less, I wasn’t balanced at all, I became angry pretty fast even out there with real people. I’m not the type of woman who would start a fight, some days ago I almost did start a fight with a stranger.
Many things made me pick up the bottle again.
Realizing this is oof…not easy 
So much happened to me and I didn’t realize.
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Hey @Sabrina80 I can totally relate to that. I’ve been off of Facebook for about a month now (again 
) and am feeling better. I never had a twitter account and am not going to try it out 
super glad you’re back and am glad you’re doing well now 
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10000% . They literally hire people to make the apps as addictive as possible. I heard the refresh option is supposed to kind of replicate the pulling down of a slot machine lever.
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i feel like i’m constantly looking at my phone! Really need to look deeper into this and learn to have more appropriate boundaries & expand my reality here.
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I had to quit all social media over 10 years ago when Farmville on Facebook was a thing… What an embarrassment haha.
I also worked it IT so the need to have a phone was required, and I often would put my phone in my pocket, and after only a short time I’d think I felt it vibrating, so I’d pull it out to look… But there was nothing most of the time. Then I’d try to ignore that feeling, and anxious thoughts would occur and I’d grab it again to look at it, almost feeling like I was missing out on something.
It became a major issue for me, almost like the feeling of cold sweats when getting nervous. It’s horrible that all of these big IT companies can create applications that are purposely based off of the way the brain functions. I fear AI is going to only make it harder to stay away.
I think smartphone addiction is the fiercest addiction I ever had and enough is enough. No joke it was easier to quit smoking. And Im a heavy drinker. But its the phone and not alcohol the first thing I touch in the morning or the thing that sleeps under my pillow.
I remember more than a decade ago when my brother got his first smarphone we would visit my mother and he wouldnt take his eyes of his phone scrolling at his facebook. I felt that was pathetic but three years later I was as addicted as him (with the difference Id leave my phone home when visiting her amd my grandma)
I ever liked technology and could spend 6 hours playing a strategy game on my PC (which I dont do anymore because phone steals all my free time) but this phone thing is just another level. Im not into gaming anymore but I wish I was, even these Call of Duty players with 2 thousand hours look like they have harmless hobby compared to what I see the phone does with me and other people.
Despite trying to be antisocial I made a lot of friends on sports and mainly work and since I work from home they only catch me on instagram dms and whatsapp.
I have a 3yr old boy who I never allowed to touch a phone warning he would became dumb if he started to use. This in fact is not a lie.I was a bookworm most of my life and now I cant concentrate to read more than a half dozen pages. My focus disappeared like some of my brain melted.
But apart from playing with him outdoors and stimulating his creativity and taste for sports and being fit, I know I need to give him an example. How I will make him away of the phones If I spend 9 hours a day with that shit on my hands?
I wont delete my insta account because there are some marvellous family moments mainly from my son. His first steps, playing sports, trips and so on. I deleted my facebook 7 years ago but I wasnt a father yet. I have backup of many of his moments but still tjey are perfectly arranged on my insta. Anyway I must delete the app and resist to the urge of reinstalling it.
But i receive there like dozens and dozens of messages from friends. Most are small talk that doesnt adds much to my life. And TONS of reels. They know me well and send a lot of, must admit, good jokes on reels but sudenly Im scrolling like theres no tomorrow, seeing the abroad trips of people I dont really care, wedding of former colleagues, beach photos of some some girl I worked with a decade ago, or arguing with unknown people who have pathetic opinions and different world views. Absolutely pointless shit.
My job is almost independent and my boss calls me like once every two months. My wife also works from
home so I need minimum contact via whatsapp. Recently whatsapp created the option “archived” messages and then “locked” messages. This last addition was probably made for comitted people hide its affairs but I think it can help fighting addiction since you dont need too see everything is happening when going to answer your wife.
So I arranged my whatsapp in three levels;
1- Regular conversations that shows up as soon as you enter the app, just people with REAL URGENT messages:
- my mother
- wifey
- my boss
- lawyer
- neighboor
2- under the archive tab, people that can have some important thing to say but never urgent as before:
- rest of family
- work group chat
- friends that only call if important
3- under the locked session I put the people who more waste my time, dont matter if good friends or no;
- people very addicted who spend the day sending messages
- very active group chats
Today Is my frist day to try to check the two items only after 21 hours, so I wont texting shit instead of working, studying or giving attention to my boy and wife. Need to say that my wife is kinda addicted to ir too but since she needs rhe phone to work with her customers I must be the first to set example and use less this shit since its 90% “recreational” to me.
I tried before quitting and the first days I feel absoultely FREE but unfortunately one or other thing happened and put me back on the phone prison.
When I go out with wife I most of times let my phone at home. Thats good but as soon as I come back I spend hours on it. A shame. The FOMO
is bizarre think one day people will be warned and there will be studies showing all the shit smartphones did to people, mainly kids who are now diagnosed with adhd.
I started to use internet in 1996 and got my first smartphone late, in 2013. I just wish I had that healthy relationship with internet like in 2012 and before. As I read another day, “internet was a quick escape from reality, now reality is an escape from internet”
The smartphone, specially the socisl media (I ve deleted twitter last year too) took me off many more innocent hobbies like reading history books, watchint shows or playing videogames.
Today is my day one trying to escape from Instagram and whatsapp addiction. Wish me luck!
Blockquote Just wait until the Metaverse is fully rolled out…
this is another good reason to control the addiction NOW, just before joining the hordes of VR Glasses zombies which will be around soon 
I was diagnosed with ADHD in my 30s, had the symptoms all through my childhood and early teens but mental health wasn’t taken nearly as seriously back then. So I was left struggling throughout my whole life. School was a struggle. Work was a struggle. I couldn’t finish my degree. But I didn’t grow up with a phone. Smartphones are addictive, yes. And a commend you for trying to nip it in the bud. But they do not cause ADHD. You’re kinda born with it.
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I hate to admit it but I seen my kid’s look at me like that too. I’d be busy scrolling and chatting in meaningless conversations and would say hang on a minute. My husband would complain about it a lot but was always on his phone too. I would drive 30 miles to go see my elderly mother and she’d be glued to the screen playing Farmville. One day about 7 or 8 years ago I decided nothing was as important to me as what was sitting right in front of me and I deleted all social media accounts. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’m sure I miss out on a lot seeing pictures of my relatives etc. But it’s not worth it to me to have it. If my family needs me they can call me or come see me and can text or email me pictures or even send me a printed copy. I get on here once in a while if they’re sleeping or off doing their thing. But when they need my attention I shut it down. If they are in my sight I shut it down. People look at me like I have a disease or something when I tell them I don’t have Facebook lol!!! But I’ve been around alot longer than home computers so it wasn’t a hard choice for me. I missed life when people would give one another in person attention. My kid’s deserve that life too. I ghosted the entire world for them because they are my world. It felt great. Hope your wife will wisen up to whats most important to her. Best wishes.
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hey amy sorry if I couldn´t explain myself.
what I meant is that a lot of kids diagnosed with adhd in fact has some attention deficit triggered/caused/helped by the excessive smartphone use. It´s a known fact that apps like tiktok damages the attention spam of brains in development. Its not that ADHD doesn´t exists, but smartphone addiction symptoms can lead to wrong diagnosis or make the situation worse. I have a friend of mine which was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and is suffering a lot recently. What I can assure you is that her 10 hours daily routine on instagram certainly doesnt help 
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My kid’s deserve that life too. I ghosted the entire world for them because they are my world. It felt great.
This is an awesome insight! Thanks for sharing it!
Last night I was watching hockey in the couch with my family and realized I was explaining them something about the game or the teams history and doing my wife a foot massage instead of being busy on the phones talking to “friends” who aren´t significant in my life. It made me feel ashamed for the past years but happy for the fresh new life.
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You’re welcome thank you same here. It feels nice spending time with who really matters without all the clutter. With having 2 children who are now grown and 2 who are still little I know full well thsts the times we’re going to miss one day. I don’t want to miss anything. Sounds like you dont neither. Thankfully my elderly mother has cooled it a little bit with her Farmville too because I’m an older lady too and it bothered me not to have her attention after driving all that way to see her so it got me to thinking how my own kid’s felt. I didn’t say anything to her about it or try to shame her in any way. She can’t get outside and grow a real garden anymore and she was doing what she was used to doing when she’s alone and she seemed happy so that’s what mattered most to me. But I’m happy she cooled it lol 
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Thank you for clarifying. I think the increased knowledge of the early signs of ADHD means that more kids are being diagnosed and being diagnosed early, often before they are on TikTok or smartphones. My son has ADHD, and signs were clearly there in nursery school. But I do worry about him getting a smartphone, he will have to be extra careful to use it appropriately.
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