Going to attempt a dopamine detox for a week

[Deleted member 16657]

Recently I've been trying to work hard on a project but keep getting distracted. There are so many things at our fingertips like Netflix, Twitter, Reddit, Era or Discord. I was curious how much time I was actually wasting. I thought it was maybe 2-3 hours a day. I downloaded a time tracker app and was really surprised to see that about 6-7 hours of my day was getting consumed with what felt like just a few matches of a game or a bit of scrolling.

Yesterday I wanted to work but couldn't because I was so concerned about the Super Tuesday results, I kept refreshing Era/Twitter/news every 10 seconds.

I didn't like the feeling of being out of control, both emotionally and psychologically, and thought a lot about how I was spending my time everyday.

I think I have used the internet daily for over a decade, sometimes just for a few minutes but more often hours a day. I don't know if that's healthy.

I realized everything in my life that I spend too much time on be it video games, masturbation, mindless web browsing or junk food is overloading my brain with dopamine. To the point where simple pleasures like reading a book or working on my project aren't satisfying to do.

To this end I'm going to attempt to stay off the internet, video games, porn and shitty food for a week. I will try to only work on my project and other productive activities. I'm making this post to hold myself accountable so I don't cheat since everyone can see when I was last active. If all goes well, I'll come back in a week and let you guys know how it went.

Lastly I know "dopamine detox" may not be a scientifically bulletproof concept and that's fine. I just want to see how I'll spend my time and how my mindset may change if I practice abstinence for one week after years of unlimited enjoyment. Thanks for reading and see you in a week!

 

[Valiant]

Yeah I had to leave a discord that I was putting too much energy and time into, for this month at least.

Sometimes you just need a break from it.

 

[Cyclonesweep]

I waste so much time doing nothing on devices. I set usually 1.5-2.5 hours a day for personal time where I want to read or game. I spend most of it staring at my phone like I normally do

 

[jml]

Good luck, every time I try to quit social media etc I find myself back on within 24 hours because I absolutely hate feeling out of the loop

 

[Pasha]

I tried this for like 2-3 months during last summer, where my only source of entertainment was reading.
Shit didn't work lol, I'm back to my old ADD-like ways.
Honestly the only thing that ever worked for me to stay productive is waking up very early in the morning, getting some food and getting straight to my work without opening my YouTube videos or online articles, etc.
When I do that, my work flows and I get shit done.

 

[efr]

My dopamine fixes during the workday are podcasts, this forum and bad sports radio. I had to cut most of the other stuff out. This forum is the one thing that I read during work because it kills time pretty quick.

 

[Deleted member 8752]

I tried this for like 2-3 months during last summer, where my only source of entertainment was reading.
Shit didn't work lol, I'm back to my old ADD-like ways.
Honestly the only thing that ever worked for me to stay productive is waking up very early in the morning, getting some food and getting straight to my work without opening my YouTube videos or online articles, etc.
When I do that, my work flows and I get shit done.

Click to shrink...

This works for me too.

 

[Soundchaser]

I tried to do this multiple times, and ended up falling back into my old habits after a few weeks each time.

 

[Reversed]

No more pogging. :( Just kidding, I agree with the setting a early bird schedule and especially getting the heck to bed on time (which phones may ruin sometimes)

 

[jeelybeans]

I may be doing this, at least with Era and instagram. I'll keep doing some things like food and videogames (where appropriate). I want to see how and if it affects my mood.

 

[WellbornWarrior]

I think the reasoning that all this stuff you mentioned is wasted time is flawed to begin with. Except the shitty food maybe, less off that is always better.

From your description I guess you are working from home? If so, just don't try to work in the same space where you do your leisure time. There may be some scientific rationale for this, but if the place you are in feels comfy and recreational to you you are less likely to be productive. I could observe it with me as well. Just try to get outside in a cafe or so if you need work to get done.

 

[Felt]

This dopamine detox is such a sham.

You cannot "detox" from dopamine. You get a dopamine rush every time you achieve a goal as small as getting out of bed or grabbing a cup of water. If these activities you describe made you insensitive to dopamine then you'd stop eating and drinking. I find the whole fad insulting to brain chemistry.

With that out of the way, yes adjusting your lifestyle and habits away from attention-draining behaviors is a net-positive. You are just becoming exhausted from all those companies vying for your clicks and time. Stop being another dollar for twitter and era advertising and take control of your life.

Use the features available to you (screen time on iPhone for example. Set Era to 30 minutes max per day and DON'T IGNORE it).

Delete or deactivate your accounts. Make the barriers higher for getting back in. Change your passwords to something you randomly smash on your keyboard, and delete it from your password manager. This way, the only way you can get back in is "Forgot my password" and you'll feel like crap if you break down and try to get back in that way.

Do it for everything that's causing you distress. Take one or two days to relax before getting into your projects (just do something totally different and unexpected like go see a movie in the theatre, well maybe not with coronavirus but you know what I mean).

After that, try to get into what you want to do. You will probably be bored, and without all those accounts accessible to you, you will hopefully find solace that your goals (projects whatever) are the only things available to you. Or maybe you can go read a book now, idk.

 

[Kurdel]

Good luck man!

The most I did was turn my phone and tablets black and white for a week a few months back. Just being cognisant of how those screens/apps cause chemical fireworks mad to stimulate you and get you addicted is a great start.

 

[Deleted member 16657]

see you guys on the other side o7

 

[nsilvias]

disabling as many notifications as possible has helped a lot imo

 

[Jive Turkey]

I waste so much time doing nothing on devices. I set usually 1.5-2.5 hours a day for personal time where I want to read or game. I spend most of it staring at my phone like I normally do

Click to shrink...

Yep. Every time I think I'd like to relax with a movie, I spend the next hour or so browsing Netflix before realizing how late it is and settling for 30 minutes of MST3K.

 

[Valiant]

Good luck!

 

[Boy]

What works for me on focusing is that when i'm doing something important, i usually set a timer and just focus on that one task ignoring everything else until the timer goes off.

 

[Fisty]

Yep. Every time I think I'd like to relax with a movie, I spend the next hour or so browsing Netflix before realizing how late it is and settling for 30 minutes of MST3K.

Click to shrink...

Hey that's better than me at least, I spend 30 minutes scanning my Rifftrax/MST library and settle on either Birdemic, Samurai Cop, or High School Musical for the 400th time

 

[Jive Turkey]

Hey that's better than me at least, I spend 30 minutes scanning my Rifftrax/MST library and settle on either Birdemic, Samurai Cop, or High School Musical for the 400th time

Click to shrink...

Oh, God, I've seen Birdemic and Samurai Cop so many times and yet I'll probably watch at least one of them again before the month is out.

Soarerpanuhs.

 

[Deleted member 8901]

A San Francisco techie ended a conversation because he was on a "dopamine fast"

This is 100% real, as said techie starts replying in the thread. (and put "dopamine faster" in his Twitter bio) Quote tweets are pretty good.

www.resetera.com

 

[BoxManLocke]

God I long for the days when I had enough masturbation time, you really miss it when this one goes away

 

[Deleted member 11985]

Don't forget to shove a gem stone in one of your orifices to maximize detoxification.

 

[The Albatross]

Im not extreme about it but I try to chase digital asceticism even though I'm still a hyper connected person.

Good luck op and I'm interested in your progress

 

[Spinluck]

I have severe ADHD.

I have no choice but to do this to function productively.

 

[AcridMeat]

A San Francisco techie ended a conversation because he was on a "dopamine fast"

This is 100% real, as said techie starts replying in the thread. (and put "dopamine faster" in his Twitter bio) Quote tweets are pretty good.

www.resetera.com

 

[wandering]

I have severe ADHD.

I have no choice but to do this to function productively.

Click to shrink...

ADHD is believed to be linked to a deficit of dopamine, though.

 

[big_z]

Sure fire way is to spend a 10-14+ days camping. Like real camping not rv bullshit and the first few days are hard due to fomo but then you feel real good and don't care anymore. Most fucked up thing is when you get back you can catch up on everything in like an hour whereas normally you would have wasted dozens of hours out of habit.

 

[Prine]

Switch it with endorphins fixes. Much more important for me, keeping active and exercising over gaming.

Gaming can be depressing as I feel I'm wasting my time, I need to earn all my game time, like finishing a chapter of a book, completing a module on a course or, at a minimum have a tough workout at the gym.

 

[Spinluck]

ADHD is believed to be linked to a deficit of dopamine, though.

Click to shrink...

That's why I have to regulate it.

 

[Seirith]

No, I've never done that and I have no interest in doing it. I work hard, often on days I do not feel good due to CRPS, RA and IBS and I think that everyone needs time to do things they enjoy and unwind. I see nothing wrong with playing video games, watching TV or anything else that someone likes to do to unwind after working.

 

[Deleted member 15737]

Waste is such a bad term.

My life isnt to be productive, it's to enjoy life. If you're enjoying the stuff you do, you're miles ahead of most productive people as far as I'm concerned.

 

[andymcc]

lmao what kind of tech yuppie bullshit is this

 

[Spinluck]

Switch it with endorphins fixes. Much more important for me, keeping active and exercising over gaming.

Gaming can be depressing as I feel I'm wasting my time, I need to earn all my game time, like finishing a chapter of a book, completing a module on a course or, at a minimum have a tough workout at the gym.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, if I'm gaming out of avoidance of "something" the guilt factor is high. In have to be completely on top of my shit to enjoy anything that gives me a quick easy dopamine rush.

Exercise is the best.

 

[Bomblord]

Try an actual fast OP you might find it more beneficial.

I'm going to have to agree with the detractors here it's poorly researched and your body produces dopamine far more often than you realize. Cutting out digital distractions, and things like porn that hit an addicting pleasure cycle should be a long term permanent goal not a impermanent "fast". The same for bad food if you want to cut it out change your diet don't stop eating it with the goal being to start again. All these things cause issues for other reasons. If you want to increase productivity eliminate distractions (I permanently switched to a flip phone for example) don't deprive yourself or arbitrary things.

 

[Taco_Human]

Take lsd OP. It'll completely pull you out of entertainment, your work schedule cycle, and just make you look at life around you and analyze yourself. Safely of course.

 

[PeskyToaster]

I think the main issue with your premise is that you just assume that feeling good is wasting time and bad while depriving yourself of that is good. I don't think that's a safe assumption. It's like some flagellant shit except instead of doing it for God, you're flogging yourself for productivity, money, and someone else's pocket book.

 

[JoxxerTheMighty]

I went to using a Nokia 3310 a while back for 1-2 weeks for this reason. It's oddly liberating (granted inconvenient in this day and age), and the number of times I 'phantom reached' to check my phone was crazy, it's as involuntary as breathing these days. After a couple days I got used to it, nice to 'unplug' once in a while.

edit: for trying to stay focused on task/project, look into the 'pomodoro technique'.

 

[BebopCola]

When I'm home I don't really have this problem, but when I am at work I can't help myself. Even with my ADHD meds, office work is much too slow-paced for me to not seek shelter here in Era and on social media.

 

[Mulciber]

I guess it depends on context, but I've definitely done this, for example, during vacations. I took a trip last year for eight days where I effectively didn't use an electronic device once during that time period. I didn't even have cell phone coverage to call or text.

 

[Unicorn]

What are you going to do instead?

 

[Deleted member 16657]

So its done.

The first day was the hardest. I learned that my default state is to open a new tab and go to reddit/fb/yt/era. Several times when I was stuck at a hard point in my studying I would reflexively and almost unconsciously try to open a time waster only to get blocked by my web blocker and return to my senses.

Someone asked how I spent my time. I've been tracking my time and the difference between last week and this one is night and day. So many hours I spent on web browsing last week, this week they went to my studying or my self-improvement. I started working out again and finally got around to doing some home cooking and meal prep.

One really cool moment for me was that I was with my friends and one of them off-hand mentioned that Bernie wasn't doing great. I suddenly realized it was "super tuesday 2" and I was just appalled at the difference a week makes. No doubt that I would have been fretting about the results and melting down over bernie's decline if I hadn't done this.

In the end I've decided to permanently keep all distractions blocked on my main PC. I think confining my fun browsing to my phone is good enough. I really like being able to just keep working. I can't eliminate my desire to constantly try to stop working but I can prevent it from actually effecting me.

Sure fire way is to spend a 10-14+ days camping. Like real camping not rv bullshit and the first few days are hard due to fomo but then you feel real good and don't care anymore. Most fucked up thing is when you get back you can catch up on everything in like an hour whereas normally you would have wasted dozens of hours out of habit.

Click to shrink...

Yeah this is so true and mindblowing. In ten minutes after my web block released I caught up to evrerything. "bernie's done, we're fucked, stocks broken ok" The really nice thing is that I'm not super emotionally connected to it anymore and its not emotionally fucking me up.

I tried this for like 2-3 months during last summer, where my only source of entertainment was reading.
Shit didn't work lol, I'm back to my old ADD-like ways.
Honestly the only thing that ever worked for me to stay productive is waking up very early in the morning, getting some food and getting straight to my work without opening my YouTube videos or online articles, etc.
When I do that, my work flows and I get shit done.

Click to shrink...

Yup, I just need a bit of help in the "without opening videos" part, which is where web blocking might be the answer for me.

I think the main issue with your premise is that you just assume that feeling good is wasting time and bad while depriving yourself of that is good. I don't think that's a safe assumption. It's like some flagellant shit except instead of doing it for God, you're flogging yourself for productivity, money, and someone else's pocket book.

Click to shrink...

Waste is such a bad term.

My life isnt to be productive, it's to enjoy life. If you're enjoying the stuff you do, you're miles ahead of most productive people as far as I'm concerned.

Click to shrink...

The problem is that my enjoyment keeps taking over my productivity. I'm not a monk and don't want to be. I love having fun, but I love it a bit too much. I needed to refocus and make funless time so that I could appreciate the fun more. Having fun when you're putting off work isn't as good as fun after work. For example now that I've finished my work for today, I can spend 3 hours web browsing vs 3 hours playing a game (obviously I'll do that instead). But before it would have been 3 hours web browsing throughout the day, oh no I gotta finish my work no time for games.