Deleting Two Apps Changed My Life in Just Two Weeks
Why removing endless scrolling made me happier, more productive, and more present.
I uninstalled Instagram a month ago and it did nothing but good things in my life. The most important thing was making me happier. I think this should generally be the sole metric that should guide life decisions. If quitting Instagram made me happier, what else could I quit that would make me ever happier?
YouTube was the next obvious vice. I used to use Instagram about 1.5 hours a day but I usually use YouTube more than 3.5 hours a day. Generally my daily routine ends around 6pm with me making dinner, then sitting down in front of my computer and watching YouTube from about 6:30pm to 10:30pm.
I decided to go into my hosts file in Windows 10 and redirect the YouTube domain to 127.0.0.1, my own computer’s IP (kind of ) and so trying to go to YouTube.com on my computer would time out. I also decided to add x.com to this list. I don’t use it too often but I figured there would be a good chance that I would just refocus all my YouTube time into scrolling X.
There are a lot of similarities between YouTube and Instagram. They both have that same slot machine dopamine trap dynamic where you get fed new content after new content with no natural end point. There was also a big difference in the way I use them, Instagram was usually in a few chunks throughout the day, while YouTube is in one giant chunk at the end of the day.
The main issue to contend with was what was I going do with all this extra time? 3.5 hours is a significant chunk of time. The main things that ended up filling that void was movies and shows. It may not seem that different but watching a movie with a well written story and maybe some lessons about life feels like time way better spent than clicking on random videos mostly with no real value for hours on end.
I’ve also started to read a lot more again. I used to be big reader when I was younger. Pretty much up I started using social media, but I consume far less books than I used to, from a few books a month to maybe 5 books a year. I have found this to be quite a tragedy as some of the most important things in life I’ve ever learned were from books, both fiction and nonfiction. I’ve also noticed the more I am reading at any given time the easier it is to access more vocabulary when speaking. It seems to give the speech center of your brain a workout.
I’m also getting more random stuff done. I feel like getting on YouTube was symbolic at the end of my day that I wouldn’t be doing anything productive until I go to bed. Now that I’m not stuck in a YouTube vortex I’m more likely to take care of stuff I would usually leave for the morning, like dishes, cleaning, etc. My energy level is much higher at night, until I am ready for bed.
It’s been about two weeks at this point and I’m still not sure if this will be permanent. I am enjoying getting to a bunch of movies and shows I’ve been meaning to watch, but there was some YouTube videos that I feel are beneficial.
I definitely am even happier now. Am I getting addicted to quitting addictions? I quit alcohol too for two weeks. I think I’ll write a separate entry about that.