This is a great point. It’s talked about in a book called Indistractabke. The author talks about trying to get rid of his phone during the day and even moving to a flip phone. But other nonsense just takes its place.
It’s essentially like being a dry drunk. You need something else to replace the alcohol or you just trade alcoholism for something else.
Been there, done that. Listen to the person above me.
I tried to do that in the past when I my depression was more severe. I thought that'd help me, but I replaced staring at my screen with staring at wall or just sleeping.
On top of that, which is absolutely true, saying "listen to the person above me" (instead of something along the lines of "guys/to anyone reading this, listen to...") while replying directly to someone makes it seem like you're exhorting them--that you're advising them to look for some other reply that runs counter to their point, instead of addressing the general HN crowd. "I thought that'd help me, but..." also seems to counter their point further instead of agreeing with it.
Yes, exactly. I had no idea what to do with myself, and thus all I did was browsed Internet. I thought that getting rid of it will "fix" me (to be honest, I think I confused cause and effect). And so, I tried.
But I had nothing to replace this with, and I didn't magically became a disciplined or productive person. And then I would go back to my bad habits, just feeling even stronger self-hatred.
I didn't, honestly. In the end, it was just a gradual step for me. I got more things to do, I became slightly more social, talked to more and more people, and it just happened. I still deal with it, just on a lesser scale where it's managable unless I have a bad day - in which case again I'll turn to screens for comfort. But it's rare.
You can’t just go from screentime to no screentime if you have nothing to do off the screen, plan some activities.