Honesty is the first step! Try deleting any scroll-type apps for 4 days. You can always bring em back.
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The book “Amusing Ourselves to Death” by Neil Postman is excellent for really getting a clear perspective on just how far we’ve strayed from having a reasonable daily amount of information. It’s not condescending or elitist. It’s pretty straightforward and academic. Postman was a keen observer of the past 100 years or so and shows in raw numbers, even through the lens of the 80s or early 90s when the book was written, that we have already dropped over the edge of the cliff.
It’s very easy to think we’re “above it all” and “reasonable”…but we’re just fish in water like the rest of them to some extent and sometimes it takes a seemingly “extreme” action to experience firsthand the freedom and contentment that comes from feeding the mind a proper diet.
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my 2 cents about social media.
it’s not necessarily something to have addiction to and waste a lot of time.
i use facebook to dump the byproducts of my brain activity. i’m happy because i told it all to someone, my subscribers are happy because they laughed. win–win. near-zero waste.
quitting facebook and other places like that is one of the very last things i’ll do for time management etc. because i’ll have to invent how to utilize all that byproducts — but why, if everything is already invented?!
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Gave up on the news 12 months ago. I realised it was giving me anxiety and symptoms of depression. I felt better within a day or two. I don’t need the news to remind me of all the bad things in t he world every hour!
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I had another thought regarding this thread after speaking with my gf. I’m of an age where I grew up without mobile phones and the internet on tap. So for me it’s easier to separate these things from real life and switch off when I need to. I wonder, however, for our younger Elektronauts, whether it’s so simple, because they have literally been conditioned by these apps from a young age when the brain is still forming the links that will last to some extent for the rest of their lives? My gf is younger than me, but also her parents banned her from this stuff until well into her late teens so she has been protected from the insidious nature of social media apps pretty well. Anyway, thoughts? Feelings? Could this be more serious for younger generations? 
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I worry massively about this for my kids, aged 8 & 10 right now. They don’t have any social media yet - though many their age do - but it’s a constant battle getting them do do stuff that isn’t on a screen.
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Damn, yes, that’s even more worrying. I am concerned in a more abstract way (not having any kids of my own). But, yeah, that’s a whole other level of worry I hadn’t even considered. Good luck!
Young people are probably more vulnerable to developing a diagnosable addiction to social media. I think a lot of people of all ages find themselves distracted by it though.
There’s a reason so many social media websites are now an endless list of items you scroll through. It works like a Skinner’s box. Your brain is anticipating seeing something interesting and releases a ton of dopamine when it does.
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I want to heart your post but am lamenting the fact I can’t do a sad react. Look how social media has already conditioned my responses 
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The gathering instinct repurposed.
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I am 100% in the same boat, 8 and 5 though… going to just try my best to keep them off FB, Twitter, Snapchat, Tiktok, whatever nonsense bullshit is the hot thing when they ask.
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@craig
As a younger Elektronaut (mid twenties) growing up with social media and a cellphone has definitely conditioned me and been an enemy to my creativity. Instagram and YouTube in particular have been huge sources of distraction and procrastination to my creative projects over the years. This last year has been my most creative so far and I’ve been making changes to minimize my time on these apps. I get worried that I’m going to miss something, but I find I actually miss nothing but stress and GAS not being on the various social media apps. I’ve Also started leaving my phone in a different room than me and that helps too. I’m so used to carrying it with me everywhere having grown up with it. Even into the bathroom. I’m working on it a bit everyday to minimize my phone addiction.
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Thanks for confirming my suspicions. At least you recognise the problem, so that’s the first step. I hope you manage to stay away from the phone be creative as much as possible.
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Thanks, I’m working on it. I’ve deleted my Instagram account and I’m going to delete Facebook next. In the end I feel Ike they’re just a superficial waste of time. I always justified keeping them because I wanted to promote my music with them. At this point though I’d rather be spending that time making music than having a few more listeners.
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I do this a lot, even not taking it with me when I go out sometimes. I tend to only pick it up if I need to call or message someone, or to look something up. By no means perfect at it though!
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The issue with kids (not exclusive): they will do it behind your back tenfold if it’s forbidden and totally set in stone. And it becomes even more important.
I like our kiddo when he is bored, … he is angry first, then he starts talking to himself and then he goes to his room and starts playing with his keyboard and percussion stuff!
Be bored, get creative.
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I have to agree with this. I had the most creative period of my life when I lived in a small swedish speaking town in the middle of Helsinki and Turku for a year. I moved there to be close to my then girlfriend who studied there. I drew comics for a living which basically meant that I had two workdays per month. (The comic came out bimonthly and it took one workday to draw and colour an episode.)
There was absolutely nothing to do there. No shops, no clubs, no nothing. (Even though I dabbled in arranging a monthly dj night there with famous dj guests from bigger cities.) As my GF was studying at daytime I had all day every day to work on my music and draw and write. I still have a couple of minidiscs filled with demos I made in that year. Over 70 unfinished songs from that period. Of course social media wasn’t around at that point (2000-2001).
Boredom is by far the best thing that can happen to a creative mind.
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I spend waaay more time in this forum than facebook or instagram. Much more interesting.
Elektronauts addiction 
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