Yeah. As somebody who's always had a strong interest in archiving, information organizing, and information persistence, this is certainly... an era. It's so hard to stop, and it's a lot harder when my personal life is so intertwined with the things I'm professionally/intellectually interested in.
For example, I'm fascinated by how people on TikTok conceive of the algorithm and the mutual push-pull of category definition. How the hell do I explore that without spending 2 hours derailed by fun history facts? Answer: I do not.
> How the hell do I explore that without spending 2 hours derailed by fun history facts? Answer: I do not.
Actually, the answer is "train your brain". Nobody's forcing you to get distracted and start clicking/tapping on other things - you're taking the actions yourself.
Now, of course, TikTok is designed to pull you in as much as possible, but ultimately it's still completely manageable. The maximum addictiveness of the internet (and adjacent things) is still not even comparable to that of hard drugs, and people can quit those.
It can be hard (depending on brain chemistry and how deep you're in), but it's doable, just like starting an exercise habit, quitting smoking, or learning to control video game use or eating habits.
I was being facetious, but yes, this is the actual answer.
Meditation helps me a lot, but the key to cutting out addictive habits for me has always been replacing them with something else, and nothing so far has quite scratched my intellectual itch like studying people online except grad school, and that doesn't count because that's part of what I was studying anyway. Usually, people are encouraged to do other things, but I think for those of us who are genuinely fascinated by the Web, it can be difficult. Imagine if you were genuinely really interested in the medical effects of hard drugs but the only way to study them was to do them.
Your approach of "replacement over removal" (of bad habits) is a solid one that I've had some success with myself! Better to distract yourself from the bad thing than just leave a void there...
And, you make a really good point about people who are actually interested in the Web, as opposed to just consuming a lot of content there. I'll have to give that some thought...
For example, I'm fascinated by how people on TikTok conceive of the algorithm and the mutual push-pull of category definition. How the hell do I explore that without spending 2 hours derailed by fun history facts? Answer: I do not.