I’m extremely addicted to YouTube… and I’m quitting today
Around 10 years have been spent watching YouTube for hours every single day. Outside of work, it has probably been the activity taking up the most time in life. Whenever free time appears, the reflex is to open YouTube, even without real intention.
Shorts are almost never the issue. The main problem is long-form videos, often consumed on 2x speed just to get through more content. In the end, hours are spent watching videos that are barely remembered a week later.
Several attempts have already been made to stop. Sometimes a few days, sometimes several weeks, and once almost a full month. Each time it felt like the habit was finally broken, but slowly the same cycle always came back. “Just one video” usually turns into everything again.
This time, a different approach is needed. Instead of “trying to watch less”, the idea is to act as if YouTube simply does not exist. As if the platform was gone. Leaving even a small mental door open always leads back into the same loop.
YouTube has become an automatic reflex. Bored for 10 seconds? YouTube. Eating? YouTube.
This thread will be used to write down thoughts, track progress, and hopefully avoid falling back into the same pattern again without noticing.