Even though I have never been a hardcore YouTube addict, I would often lose myself in the endless sea of entertainment where every ounce of water is a new video, and the shore far away. Sure, I will make it to the shore, but it requires a lot of swimming on my part—a lot of watching “just this one last video.”
Today, I am in firm control of my YouTube consumption, and I can assure you from my personal experience that there are addictions, even behavioral ones, that are harder to get rid of. So do not worry if you feel like you have a serious problem. You do have some willpower, don’t you? Sure you do, hence all you need is the strategy presented in this article to overcome your YouTube addiction/overconsumption for good.
But let me first say that I get it: YouTube is awesome. It is the richest source of entertainment in human history. You can learn about everything on YouTube, listen to music, or laugh at cats, babies, and people all over the world. All you have to do is sit on your ass, click, and let armies of videos stimulate and numb your passive mind.
Every thumbnail, every click, every video gives you a little dopamine hit. Your brain rewards your behavior by releasing dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. This feels good and motivating, so you do it again, and again. One more video, and tomorrow anew. Over time, synaptic connections between neurons strengthen, a habit forms, and genes in the nucleus accumbens become overexpressed (specifically, ΔFosB). You become addicted.
Being addicted to watching YouTube videos is a behavioral addiction like addiction to gambling, porn, and video games. When you impulsively watch more and more videos and compulsively log in more and more frequently, even though you have planned to do something else, then you are addicted.
Psychologically, the causes of YouTube addiction can be manifold. Is the work you have to do so unfulfilling that you need to distract yourself with procrastination? Do you have an exaggerated desire to wind down and relax by, ironically, stimulating your mind? Are you afraid of missing out on something if you do not watch the latest videos by your favorite YouTubers? Do you need to escape from yourself—from loneliness, silence, anxiety, negative recurrent thoughts?
It helps to consider these questions, but this article is not a therapy session, nor should it become another source of procrastination. Here is what you can do:
Set yourself a specific time of the day to watch YouTube
Let’s say you choose [6-7 pm]. The time itself does not matter. What matters is that it fits well into your lifestyle.
One hour is enough. It is important that you do not extend this time window. This will teach you to choose your videos wisely while getting rid of all the unnecessary bullshit. (If a video is longer than one hour, you will watch it over the course of multiple days.)
Also, it does not matter what kind of videos you prefer. No video on earth can replace the necessity of going outside, becoming active, productive, creative, and making your own experiences.
No excuses
Do not make excuses. No matter how much you might learn from a video or how urgently you need a certain information. It can always wait, and it never requires more than one hour per day. Real life trumps everything.
Imagine you have recently discovered a YouTuber whose videos you find inspiring. What exactly does he inspire you to do? To watch more and more of his videos or to actually do stuff? In the latter case, there is no problem: you turn off YouTube and turn your inspiration into action. In the former case, however, you are not truly inspired, but you are confusing inspiration with entertainment.
Another case is music. If you must mildly distract yourself with background music while you are working or writing an essay, do not use YouTube for that purpose. Rather, get an app or device that plays only music.
Ok, enough of this…
Let’s get serious
Just deciding not to watch YouTube videos outside a certain timeframe will not work. If you are using the Internet, it will not take long until a link pulls you back on the edge of the rabbit hole and probably pushes you down as well. That is why a common recommendation is to disconnect your computer from the Internet or to turn it off altogether.
That is great advice—if you can follow it. But be honest with yourself: You probably can’t, especially not in the long run. There is no shame in it. That is just how life works today. Most people need the Internet for school, college, work. So I do not advise you to limit your computer time. If it is out of your control to be 100% persistent with your restriction, you will not be successful.
Therefore, focus exclusively on limiting your time on YouTube, and here is how (no, you do not need to buy or install any fancy programs):
- open folder C:\Windows\ → right-click on notepad.exe → run as administrator
- open file C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
- add this line at the end of the file:
127.0.0.1 youtube.com
- save file
(Edit: Mac users, click here.)
Now you have blocked your access to YouTube (you may have to restart your browser).
Later or tomorrow at [6 pm] (or at whatever time you have picked), repeat the four steps, but instead of adding a new line, put a hashtag in front of it:
#127.0.0.1 youtube.com
Then set an alarm for [7 pm], put your alarm clock or phone out of your reach, and watch whatever videos you like.
- Putting your alarm device far away from you is key here! You must force yourself to get up and away from your computer in order to turn off the ringing alarm.
- It is like getting up in the morning: If you have your alarm clock right next to you, you will hit the snooze button and fall back asleep. You must place your alarm out of reach so that it forces you to get your ass out of bed. Then you will have a much easier time getting up. Use the same trick here.
When your alarm goes off at [7 pm], remove the hashtag (in order to re-block the site), save the file, and close the editor. This moment is crucial! Here you have to be strict:
- The moment when your alarm goes off matters the most. You must immediately close all YouTube tabs and remove the hashtag in your hosts file. No excuses. Then you walk away from your computer to turn off the alarm.
- I know how hard this is. I know the desire to finish what you have started very well. If you are watching a video, you want to know how it ends. Well, you should have considered this beforehand, since you now know that your consumption time is limited.
- Do not hesitate when your alarm goes off at [7 pm]. You must quit YouTube immediately. It’s over. No excuses.
In addition, uninstall the YouTube app on your smartphone. You will never watch YouTube on your phone again. Either you sit in front of the computer at your specific time or you do not watch YouTube at all.
- Do you feel you need to watch videos while you are travelling or waiting? Read a book, talk to people, or practice mindfulness instead.
- Do you feel you need to show your peers funny videos on your phone? I am sorry but you will have to find another way to entertain them. This restriction will also teach you how to exert self-control in social settings, so do not disregard it.
Stay consistent
Once you have set your individual timeframe, do not allow yourself to be inconsistent. You do not have time to watch YouTube between [6 and 7 pm]? Great, you are not watching YouTube today. Whatever you would have liked to watch, you will watch it tomorrow. If you come home at 6:30, good, you have 30 minutes left. Do not ever shift your time window! Even a minor inconsistency can quickly cause you to say “ah, fuck it” and ruin everything.
Instead of procrastinating on essential tasks, learn to procrastinate the unimportant stuff like watching YouTube videos. And keep in mind that successfully managing an addictive behavior is a very powerful experience. If you stay strong now, your character grows, which will benefit you in other areas of your life as well.
Again, do not extend your 1-hour window
Maybe you are doing homework and you realize that you need a better understanding of photosynthesis or the double-slit experiment. Maybe you want to have a time machine and need a YouTube tutorial on how to build one. Or maybe you have already been working for 8 hours straight and need a way to numb your mind with stupid entertainment. Well, whatever it is, it must wait until [6 pm] (or whatever time you have decided on). Again, learn to use the power of procrastination to your benefit.
If you truly need some information from a YouTube video, write down the topic on a piece of paper and search for a video on it at [6 pm]. Most of the time, you will realize that it is not that important anyway.
The same applies to random videos your friends share on Facebook. If someone posts or sends you a video, stay patient and watch it between [6 and 7 pm]. You do not need to comment on it right away (or at all, for that matter).
Good
If you see this through, you will have more time to take action, to get after your goals, or simply to enjoy life more. I hope that you have something else to do besides watching YouTube videos. Typically, YouTube is a means of procrastination and you know very well what you should be doing instead.
In case you do not have anything else to do and you think you might as well watch some YouTube, don’t do it. Better play a sport or an instrument, create something awesome, practice mindfulness, read a book, walk into nature, or talk to attractive strangers in the streets. Life is too amazing to be wasted away, so go outside and play—or back to work.
Read More
How to Get Rid of YouTube Addiction (for better long-term results)
The Neurobiology of Liking, Wanting, and the True Will
Willpower Consensed: Master Self-Discipline to Do Your True Will
Please Vote
I’ve watched YouTube since i was 13 and I’m 18 today. I never once thought of the word YouTube addiction. But man, I have it. I graduate soon but everytime i get stressed out about school or think some homework is difficult i just go on YouTube to take my mind of it. It’s a bad habit and my discipline is very low. But I want to be succesfuld in life and this is the no 1 thing that keeps me from it right now. THANK YOU to the person who wrote this article. I now acknowledge the problem and I can work on solving it (but it’ll probably be difficult, i know…).
Hey Ivy,
it’s good that you’re aware of how stress causes you to overconsume YouTube videos. Candidly identifying what holds you back in life is the first and most important step toward improving yourself. Thanks for writing in,
Dom
Hello,
I’ve always knew I had this addiction. I’m 16 and I think I’ve started watching my first youtube video when I was…12 ? My addiction began that day. I remember spending my whole afternoon, watching some stop-motion pokemon videos.
Today, I can’t help myself. I always find an excuse like “but I don’t know where I can do sport alone” or “I have to finish this video” and other stupid stuff.
I know what I do is bad, I know I have a real problem. But I have nobody to tell. All my friend would make fun of me or wouldn’t understand, not to talk about my poor mom who doesn’t know what to do about my addiction anymore. I do draw, write stories, studdy, singing…but it doesn’t help me to stop at all.
I do know I have an addiction. I accept it. But I’m powerless against it…I don’t know what to do anymore…
A few days ago, I was dreaming about going all around the world, even if it takes me years, without any electronic shit, like phones, internet, laptop…you see what I mean ? Even just a weekend at the beach ! But I’m too young to do all this, to do whatever I want to…I’m stuck.
A french expression is “to be stuck to the neck” or “having the two feet in the poo”. Well, that’s exactly me.
Your article really helped me, but I think I’m starting to be depressed because of my lonelyness and my weaknesses…Thank you anyway ! You really help me, be sure of that ^^
And sorry if I talked to much, I really needed to talk about this, to let it out, to let it go~
Hey Elsa!
Thank you for your honest comment.
First of all, don’t tell yourself that you’re weak or powerless: It’s not true! You’re addicted because that’s how your brain works, how everybody’s brain works. YouTube was designed to be as addictive as possible. So you’re not weak, you just have a healthy brain that got hijacked by YouTube; and you’re definitely not alone with your problem.
Maybe talk to your mom about limiting your time on YouTube to a specific time window every day. If she supports you with that, it won’t be as hard.
I’m glad to read about your dreams. Every tiny little step toward them will make you better and happier. For now, just focus more on doing the things you love to do: draw more, write more stories, study interesting topics, and sing as much as you can.
You’re on the right track!
Thank you very much, I’m really touched and glad by what you said. I’ve finally had the courage to talk to my mum, and even if she doesn’t really understand how I feel or what’s going, we’re working on fiding solutions to help me. I will start to see a therapist and go in a place where there a lot of other teenagers with their own problems, who talk, play, hang out, help each other…(it’s called KazAdos = teens’home)
Everything is changing (in a good way) because of your post (and myself, of course) so : thank you with all my heart and soul. I know my life will get better. Of course, it’s just the begining, so it’s not as bright as I would want to and I know it will be very, very hard and long, but I’m happy to see I’ve got the courage to choose to help myself.
I hope your post will help other people 🙂
(well, I hope there’s other french who speak english enough to understand thought ^^’)
That’s awesome, Elsa. Positive social support, combined with trust in your own abilities, is definitely the best medicine. Keep up your courage and praise every little step you take forward!
what a good idea, thank you so much for text about stopping YT-addiction and your supportive kindness to commentors! Lucky those with social lives. I know my situation is not hopeless, but my problem is to find the helpers and not be exhausted-nervous and not spoil it by being too open and detailed about the problems I have to solve.I am too intense with the urgency, anxiety, ambition, low self-confidence and self-esteem, lowered a lot by others for a loooong time. Being mostly alone in it, people even diminishing my issues without making sure they got it right, promising help that never comes for years, is the worst thing, not the problems themselves. I even like to solve problems. If I have a fair chance. I have to get away to someone humane and warm, calm and wise in order to stop my deadly stress with sleep deprivation. The bad habit of Sympathicus. Can’t change my thinking as long as being so over tired, but have to change my thinking in order to help my body to calm down, be less fearful and to sleep. The fear and unsafety come partly from insomnia anyway, in an intricate cycle, or at least was reinforced by it.Cant get out of realistic fear and long-term burnout by myself in isolation and the pointlessness of such a life going on and on. it’s not just the videosthemselves that take my time, but waiting for the 4- sec. ads to pass, and checking vids out to see if I wish to watch them.Reading and aybe commenting takes time too. The need to express myself and be of help, not just consume. But am too exhausted and sick to do it well and fast anyway. AND I get sick from the computer itself,!But am too tired, lost, down, rusty and scared, nervy socially to associate devotedly with ppl, because most tend not to be that sensitive/observant and considerate, and also load their problems on me, not thinking a heavily laden human needs relief from such things…because I take other people’s problem onto me anyway. Thinking I am not a good person if I don’t care, engage and help.An addiction, too.. Anyway, the thoughts-feelings have to change and improve before my body can heal or get better.
The place Elsa was going; is there such a place for grown-ups too? I welcome the help I need now.Stable and right.Fear of dying Sudden Adult Death. Could you reply, please?
Hey boten, thank you for sharing your experience. It can be difficult to have a healthy social life when one feels constantly tired and exhausted. Are the people whose problems you load on yourself close friends/relatives or random people on YouTube? If the computer makes you sick, you might want to spend more time of your day outside, somewhere in nature where you can just walk and regenerate, breathe fresh air and cool your mind.
Thank you for this inspiring article.Now I only use YouTube to watch math videos like Khan Academy.He does science and math.Thank you for stopping my YouTube addition
Thank you for your comment, Jaiden. I, too, currently use YouTube mainly to further my education in math and statistics, although I remain cautious not to let my consumption go out of hand. Wish you all the best.
Well even though I’m addicted to YouTube, I am a very young person so my parents set a time limit on YouTube anyways…….
Try watching some Youtube videos on grammar and spelling. That should help you, or at least bore you so much that you will lose interest in Youtube.
It’s hard to lose interest in YouTube.Watch khan acedemy on YouTube,he’s good.He helps you with math,science,etc.I also watch bright side cause he helps in crazy situations
I never in a million years thought I would be one of those people that would become addicted to social media, but here I am. Hi everyone, I’m David, and I’m a YouTube addict.
It started out as an alternative to TV, since I don’t find much there entertaining, but it has since turned into a full blown addiction. On a bad day, I watch my first Youtube video before I brush my teeth and take a shower. It’s literally the first thing I do when I wake up, Lean over, grab my phone, and open up Youtube to see what’s in my suggested feed.
Then, it’s going through video after video, only making room for essential things like cooking, cleaning, eating, working out, and a little bit of work. It’s not unusual for me to watch videos until I get ready to call it a night.
On normal days, it’s not as bad. But I do spend at least 8 hours watching YouTube — or scrolling through comments — even on the best of days. The worst part is I tend to gravitate towards all the negative stuff, so I’m also bombarding myself with negativity all throughout the day.
Now here’s the real kicker, I’m self employed and work from home, so it has really affected my work since I spend a huge chunk of time wasting away on YouTube. That turned what started off as one of the most financially rewarding years for my business, which was early 2016 (when I had my habit under control) to the worst financial crises I’ve ever had by the end of the year. I was forced to sell my car just to make ends meet, and it’s even lead to me possibly getting evicted.
Never in a million years did I ever think my habit of watching videos and going through the comments would lead to so many severe consequences. But here I am. It’s even caused a major drift with my girlfriend cause we went from texting each other throughout the day, to me ignoring her messages for hours before replying cause I’m so engrossed in what I’m doing.
The one positive thing is that I have now identified the problem. For months, I’ve known I spend way too much time watching videos, but I didn’t really see it as an addiction. For some reason, today I decided to google Youtube addiction, and my search led me here.
It’s nice to know I’m not the only one with this issue. I guess that why I’m writing all this because I need to get it off my chest.
Today, I’ve only watched two hours of YouTube, and I plan to stay away from it moving forward. I look forward to having more productive days and I wish you all the same.
Hey David!
Your story is very similar to what I read in emails I get from many people who are just as addicted as you. Some of them managed to successfully keep their daily consumption in check, particularly those, I found, who had something more important to do—just like you have.
If you focus on your business first and always work on it first thing in the morning, I am positive that you will be able to put yourself back in a positive momentum. Your YouTube addiction does not seem to be a random bad habit you have acquired, but a way for you to resist working on your business. Figure out what exactly you are resisting and break the resistance! And keep in mind that the first few days of breaking a bad habits are always the hardest as they are fraught with the most discomfort.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I am sure your story will be helpful to many other people reading this as well. I wish you a most productive time and I hope you will write in again to let us know what worked best for you to overcome your addiction!
Dom
Thanks for the kind words Dom. My break from Youtube is going well so far. I managed to stay away for the rest of Sunday. And I haven’t watched any videos today. I have accidentally clicked on my phone app a few times just out of habit, but I was able to close out the window without clicking play.
It’s actually a lot easier now that I have recognized the problem.
I’m already reaping the rewards of my break from Youtube. Instead of wasting away watching videos all day like I normally do, I spent my Sunday hunting for new clients on work for hire sites. Two of those clients responded to my bid and we’re already sending messages back and forth getting ready to finalize the contract. It all feels so good.
Anyhow, I’ll be lurking around here from time to time, so if anyone here needs someone to talk to let me know.
Great to hear. And you’re absolutely right: self-awareness is key for staying disciplined. Keep at it, man.
Hey David,
Thanks for your story, it touched me a lot. I am experiencing a very similar situation and also randomly decided to Google YouTube addiction after another almost full day of watching youtube and doing the bare minimum for work. I never thought about the addictive side since I always have been too busy hating myself for my own behaviour and wasting time. It has affected my educational, personal and later professional life in various ways and I was always too embarrassed to adres it to someone in a serious way. It estranges me from my collegues and boyfriend since they all “have it together” To hear other people with a career experiencing the same has really opened my eyes. So thank a lot for your story. And thanks of course Dom for writing your article.
Kind regards,
Eva
Yes, thank you for this article!
I have been struggling hard to sleep at night. You see I always find I am thinking about the next day at night and my thoughts get sort out jumbled when I watch You tubers, tv shows, music videos and skits. The constant stream of videos in my recommended tab keeps me up for hours after I have set a bedtime. Then I get 7, 6, 5, or even 4 hours of sleep!!! Sometimes YouTube is the bomb a lot of time YouTube will help me fall asleep with their guided meditations, but then again I’m on YouTube!!! And a lot of the nights I turn to YouTube to solve my problems but it just ends up getting me in more. Every time I watch videos to relax it snowballs into a marathon, this hour technique may work for me, but it’s a tough habit to kick!
Hey Elisabeth,
you’re very welcome and thank you for sharing your experience.
If you enjoy listening to guided meditations at night, you may want to get an audio file or a CD that you can play without having to go on YouTube.
Meditation will also become a much more effective relaxation method than watching videos—if you just keep practicing it. In fact, the “relaxation” you get from YouTube is largely just an illusion because your mind keeps being stimulated.
I wish you much success with my technique! It is very tough, indeed, but I hope you give it at least two earnest tries (virtually all people fail initially).
Dom
Hi, Thanks I really want to block it, but I do not understand the steps.
*open folder C:\Windows\ → right-click on notepad.exe → run as administrator (Mac users: run TextEdit)
*open file C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts (Mac users: /private/etc/hosts)
*add this line at the end of the file:
127.0.0.1 youtube.com
*save file
Where do find/open C:folder and what file do I save? I have a Mac
Thanks heaps
Hey Kim,
on a Mac, I recommend the following steps:
1. open Terminal in /Applications/Utilities
2. type in “sudo nano /etc/hosts” and hit Enter (you may have to enter the admin password, too)
3. in the host database that will appear, go to the bottom and create the new line “127.0.0.1 youtube.com”
4. hit Ctrl+X, then Y to save the changes
5. back in the Terminal command line, enter “sudo dscacheutil -flushcache” (alternatively, you can just restart your computer to flush the cache)
– Dom
Hey
It doesnt work for me in Wins 10..i mean in ‘etc’ there 3 files named hosts…i cannot save any of them after editing as it simply says “Access denied”
Please Help
Hey Sujith,
did you run notepad.exe as administrator before opening the file?
Sorry, I don’t know how to start my own comment thread. If you don’t want to have to troubleshoot code, there is an app called self control for mac . It’s free and will basically do the same thing. There’s also an app on the chrome webstore that is similar
https://selfcontrolapp.com/
OR
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/self-control/ncaaipdfhdijmfdfmeoagmogddhkfdec?hl=en
Haha. Its impossible, I can’t stop!
https://www.quibblo.com/quiz/1fHXY_J/Are-you-addicted-to-Youtube
Have you tried to stop? Do you want to stop?
i agree if you want to stop then you should work hard at doing it and if you dont want to your life may become miserable
I only know I am addicted because it seems like nothing new comes out, I am ahead of all my hundred channels just waiting. It seems like i hit the edge of the universe. I need help. Will try this starting today before it drives me to the psychiatric intake. I feel i must soon crush my phone too in order to save my soul.
Hey Neil,
if you’re at the point of waiting for new content to come out, it would probably be best to think first about what you could rather do with your time. Also, if you’re getting notifications from YouTube, I suggest you deactivate them all (in order to relieve your brain from the ‘reward’ of new videos having been uploaded) and remove the app from your phone if possible.
I am a YouTube addict.. It feels silly to say but it’s true.. I was never the biggest youtube fan and would watch it rarely in my free time, But now, I’ve moved to a new location and looking for work.. To which I apply on online.. For last 2 months I’ve just been on YouTube every other waking minute.. My gf is gone most of the day at college, I’m stuck at home bored.
I wake up, video
Lay in bed, video
Talk to my friends about, videos
Brush my teeth, video
Shower, video (hang my phone up)
Eat, video
Apply for jobs, video in background
Leave house, headphones video
Toilet, video
Watch Netflix, I pause to check YouTube
Gf comes home, we eat chat, Netflix, I pop my phone up, check for videos I’ll watch later
We go to bed,
She showers, I watch videos
We later in bed together, watching videos, laughing and chatting
She falls asleep and I stay up and watch videos.
My schedule is so outa synch.. I need to get back work to cure my addiction, but employers take forever to respond. But I’d be so bored with out YouTube,
I once spent 22 days in December trapped in doors by myself due to the worse storm weather & flooding we ever recorded, the house was freezing cold house, no Internet, no tv, no money, rationed supplies, all I had was The game of thrones books and a copy of The grey with Liam Nelson, I would play the movie every hour while I read for back ground noise and company.. I had it on loop, I’d fall asleep with it on and wake up to it.. Its the most boring depressing movie I’ve ever watched, I can speak every line word for word, I could probably even recite it from memory.. I was able to survive The Grey for 22 freezing unstimulating days with the help of GRR Martin.. I survived without going mad.. Now I feel like there’s a void inside me if I don’t watch YouTube every hour.
Thanks for sharing your story, Daniel.
Have you tried anything to control your consumption? Do you have any hobbies besides watching videos?
I just recently realised how much time I’ve been waisting by watching hardly entertaining YouTube videos. I became bored with my recommendations a long time ago but I just couldn’t stop clicking and clicking on those thumbnails. There’s still fun and informative content on the platform but let’s not lie to ourselves, we all know what type of videos get the most views & appear in the recommended section.
I’m don’t know if anyone shares the same regret. There was time for me to read so much books or do something else that’s productive, or even consume entertainment of good quality and there was I just nervously clicking on YouTube vlogs.
Hey Amber, have you made a plan to limit your YouTube time to 1 hour a day (or 1 day a week)?
Hi I’m Dan, and I’m an internet addict.
It’s been going on for years, and years, and years at this point. It would have started around age 10, when I realized, just as school was finishing up for the year that on a week day, on my own computer, I could play video games after school, and didn’t have to wait till the weekend like my parents made me (as I could hide in my room). So I’d quickly do my homework, and then hop onto minecraft. Eventually I realized that I could just do my homework quickly after dinner (or sometimes in class before it was asked for!), and play minecraft as straight as I got home. How healthy.
Now, 7 years later, it’s the middle of an exam period. I have an exam tomorrow I’ve done basically no study for, and an exam on wednesday that I haven’t done nearly enough for. It’s funny because I’ve read comments like this – not doing study – from other people, for ages, and never imagined it would be me, intil I’m here.
I’ve tried giving up youtube several times, but hadn’t really made much progress. For years, I’ve been saying ‘Oh, next year I’m going to give up the internet because I’ll have more important exams and stuff then’, but it’s never happened. But, earlier this year when I seriously tried to made real progress – but stopped. This article has given me motivation to try again, and this time I will force myself to make it.
I’ve actually done it before – around 3 years ago I deleted my reddit account, and for about a year never even thought of the site. However, around 6 months ago I re-started visitng it and now it’s a habit again.
But I gave up reddit then, and that was more of a habit than youtube was at the time, so now I know that I can defeat the both of them!
Okay, I need to go and study for tomorrow, so I’m going to stop waffling on (although I could go on for hours) and write down my ‘battle plan’ here.
——————————————
Short-term: getting through the next week of exams.
I have exams for the next four days, and I’m going to pull myself together and focus really hard on these last ones. I’ll also try to make it a launching board for giving up youtube – so, from once I’ve sent this message, no youtube or reddit or any distracting sites for the next 2 and a half days.
After that, I have holidays. Normally during school holidays I enter like an online binge state, spending literal weeks where the main part of my day is just watching dumb videos, browsing reddit, and hating myself for doing so. These holidays, though I will:
* Do at least two hours of study in the morning, preparing for next term. I did this last holiday, so this will be fine.
* Go for a run after studying.
* Do something fun, but OFFLINE for the majority of the day. I’m a bit worried for what I’ll do here – if anyone has suggestions, feel free to reply – but yeah. Read a book maybe? Varied activities? Go look around the city?
* Every second day, do at least another hour of study around 6pm before dinner.
*After dinner will be my one hour of youtube or reddit, from 8:00pm to 9:00pm. Also, I cannot go to bed for 30mins after I stop youtube, and must do something else (like read a book) for that 30 mins. My hope is that I can use that as a habit to eventually replace the youtube stuff. BEFORE I start watching youtube, I’ll read this post so it reminds me of my aims and why I’m doing this.
When I feel it’s right, I’m going to swap to only watching youtube every second night, and then IDK take it from there.
Maybe in a few years we can all band together and have a class-action lawsuit against youtube for engaging in such addictive practices, and preying on kids (not being serious lol – but, I I do think they deserve it just like the cigarette companies. Like their youtube kids platform? Seriously? And don’t even get me started on autoplay, related videos and all their crap. It’s so evil.)
I will say that I really like this article’s technique of limiting youtube to a small time of day. Before I’ve just tried to quit cold turkey, but after a week or so I go ‘or, what about x educational video? Those were interesting! Let’s just watch one’ and it’d watch say 3 or so… and repeat the next day… and eventually I’d just find myself back in the same pattern.
The other funny thing is, in the end I don’t even mind study. Once I’m doing it, I find it fun. Normally what happens is I procrastinate by watching youtube, and then when I start studying and actually start thinking again, I feel bad about having procrastinated… and so to avoid those sad thoughts and self-hatred, I go back to youtube!!!!!
But enough is enough, I’m ready to live my life (and to future me – when you read this back and cringe, you know it’s true and that you’ve thought it so many times before. Also, congrats on the progress you’ve made so far!).
To success!
Hey Dan!
I assume you’re having dinner with your family? If so, you might want to talk to them about your Internet addiction and ask them to help you with your plan (e.g., check in with you at 9pm to help you go offline again).
In any case, your plan is really good. Make it a success!
— Dom
I have been watch youtube since 2007 til now how do i stop watching youtube and detach myself for it?
think of other things like what i do is i think were do i want to go in my life usually i go out side and tack a break from the world and think how i a, lucky to have a life and not site inside playing video games all the time.
Thank you sir
My name raghu
I am from india
You are give me lot of information about how to brack you tube addiction
It quite useful stuff
I promise myself brack this bad habit
Onec again thank you sir
Most of what you say makes sense, but it will not work for me, I’ll most likely end up thinking “Screw him” and keep watching anyway.
I’ll have to find something else
Social support, for example, could be an alternative, but it’s usually not consistently available, so I doubt that there’s a reasonable option around developing self-control. At least try it! It works better, however, to simply binge one day a week—to keep watching even for more than an hour—and then to stay away from YouTube completely during the other six days. That’s what I do, personally. In any case, if you find another option that works, please tell us about it.
Its been a few months since I first read this article. I followed the steps and it worked out for me. I quit YouTube completely basically immediately after reading this, and I’d been trying to do that for months beforehand. Its all about imitating the mentality that is described in the article. I also made my YouTube hour between 6 and 7 pm, as it is probably the best time. It also helps that someone decided the time for me so that all the choices feel completely out of my hands and I can’t meddle with anything.
Thank you so much to the author of the article. You helped me a lot. I made a point to come back and thank you, I just forgot until now.
Hey Abdulkarim, thank you for sharing your success story! I’m happy to read this and I hope it will also inspire others whose YouTube consumption is still out of hand so that they, too, will develop their willpower as you have. Controlling oneself like this is hard, but its pays off in so many areas of life.
Hey Dom,
I’ve come again to this page for my biannual re-motivation. I just wanted to show my appreciation again while I was here. I got your book btw! I did that a while ago. It is pretty handy and I love the practical approach it takes.
This is a very poorly written article. It lead off with a horrible analogy and by the end of it I was confused, bored and glad that I was done with it. You know its not a good article when the only thing you can think of upon finishing it is how awful it was and how you regret wasting the time you did while reading it. I doubt the writer will read this comment but just in case he does here is what I have to say to you: You suck. You aren’t clever or witty or even that smart. Dont even try to come up with analogies because you are the worst at it. I would rather try to have a conversation with Hellen Keller than read any of your ‘work’ (yes I know she has been dead for a substantial amount of time.) Well I have rambled on enough but this dude sucks! This article sucks! Youtube is possibly the greatest thing that has ever happened to me….and I once tripple kissed these hot blondes after I won an Oscar and smoked a joint with Jack Nicholson in the bathroom and talked about him playing the Joker in Batman.
Not sure if this is spam or a real comment. If you are real, are you ok? I wonder how a metaphor can be so upsetting.
Hi Dom, I just want to say thank you for writing this article. I’ve bookmarked it and have decided to come back to it whenever I am having a hard time staying motivated.
I sincerely appreciate your insight, and I’m touched that you’ve made an effort to respond to so many individuals in the comments. It means a lot to me! And, just reading them, I feel a little like I’m in an online support group! 🙂
My youtube addiction varies day to day, but it’s been particularly bad lately. I know it’s because I’m a little stressed out and I feel like I have too many things going on, so I definitely use it to procrastinate and to numb. Even if I’m watching Ted talks and ‘helpful’ videos, it still wastes time. I’m a full-time college student, so I do spend a bit of time online, just for school. Even though I still manage to get good grades, other aspects of my life can be neglected, such as my physical health, mental/emotional health, and relationships. The information in this article, along with the empowering message and direct tone are all very much appreciated! I will be back!
Again, thanks so much!
God Bless,
Catherine.
I’ve just been on a week long bender watching YouTube videos in bed for about 11 hours a day. Not feeling too great about it! I was worried I wouldn’t find anything serious about it online so it’s reassuring to read this article. I’ve blocked YT and several other websites over the years but always come back to it. Guess I need to take the hint and be more strict about it.
Unfortunately, the blocking alone doesn’t do much. It only disrupts the automatic behavior and gives you a few seconds to think about what you’re doing and ideally to set a timer to prevent binging.
Hi, thanks for the tip.
I have a chronic procrastination issue but it is just WAY WAY WORST with youtube. It’s just like what you said, I usually try to control youtube consumption on my own but usually it takes me one youtube video and BAM! everything that I plan to do never gets done everyday it just repeats everyday. I have goals that I want to achieve but I just get so overstressed that I can’t achieve my goals and end up just munching youtube video anyway…
Now I’m pulling the plug and replacing my 5pm and upwards activity with anything other than a computer.
Thank you for writing this article.
It wasn’t until yesterday that I realized that YouTube is considered social media. I decided to pull back from various sources of time-wasters this year, yet I was still watching YouTube videos daily because I didn’t consider it social media.
Now that I know though, I can clearly see how limiting my usage of YouTube can provide more rewards for me in the long run. So, I’ve decided to not use YouTube for the remainder of this month.
I can always Google information when I require it. For music, I can use Pandora or Soundcloud.
Due to your article, I can now look at letting go of my YouTube habit as a way of improving my life. I’m eager to receive the rewards that will arrive due to this change. The rewards being – more quality sleep (less distractions), more money (increased productivity), and increased intelligence (due to reading beneficial books more often).
Hello
I just wanted to give my heartfelt thanks to whomever wrote this.
My dude, a year ago I started using your techniques and they have probably saved me hundreds of hours in wasted time. I even used the same time-slot as you. That way I would be less likely to meddle with it (since it was ‘given’ to me by someone else).
I stayed clean for probably around half a year. However, recently I’ve started going back to my old YouTube habits. I’m a university student and I kinda gave in during the summer, thinking there was no longer any need to maintain my system even though I’d worked so hard to build it.
Before I dragged myself back to ground zero with my addiction, I decided to come back to this article to try to get re-motivated. And, while I was here, I thought I may as well show my appreciation.
This article has been of tremendous help to me and continues to be very helpful. Thank you so very much for writing it.
Peace.
Man, this post really resonated with me. I’m 16 now and I was probably around 13 when I started youtube. For me back then it was a way to get out of the repetitive life at school, and I was really into it. Now it is getting worse though. I use it every single day and when my parents tell me to get off I go to the TV and start watching it there.
Primarily I watch gaming videos, as that is one of my passions, but I end up watching all kinds of things.
Your post made a lot of sense and I really think that this may be the solution I need. I have seen a psychologist before but I don’t think they understood the scale of my problem, as it’s out of control.
Outside of youtube I love programming and robotics, as well as astronomy, and although I’ve somewhat gotten into programming I never really found astronomy easy to do, probably due to youtube. I recently joined a group called the YSA, which consists of young people who are interested in science, and I go to every monthly meet up. The other people are understanding and helpful, but they do not share the same addiction.
I suppose I don’t know a teen life without youtube, and I don’t know what to do without it. I have many activities at night so setting a specific youtube time is also rather difficult, but I may be able to make it work.
Wow, it’s so nice to read positive comments 🙂 makes me happy.
Also, thank you for writing this! I’m struggling with this addiction, and it is definitely starting to take over my life. But thanks to this, I think I will start trying to fight back. Thank you!
Dear Dom,
I took down full notes from your article because it reinforced my conviction about YouTube before I stumbled on it. I need to say that I deeply appreciate you for putting your thoughts down.
Before I came across your write-up, I’d been striving to wean myself from all time-wasting apps, YouTube inclusive. I’d deleted my WhatsApp account, deactivated my Facebook account but YouTube remained because I never regarded it as social media. Besides, I praised myself on watching only educational videos like documentaries on science, life, nature,countries, cultures,and people. Nevertheless, I knew something was wrong. These YouTube videos were gobbling up a huge chunk of my time! Things became worse: I was leaving undone the things I should do, books remained unread and gathered dust on my shelf, the study of advanced topics in maths and physics that I’d been making strides in, ground to a halt. That’s when I realized that the culprit was my overblown involvement with youtube videos! I admitted to myself that this was the thing guzzling up my time. So I promptly deleted an app which enabled me to download youtube videos from my phone. I decided to restrict myself to looking for information on Google, instead downloading the so- called educational videos. The first few hours and days after my decision were the hardest! But I persisted. Now I’m feeling like someone released from a prison, with enough time to pursue my dreams!
God bless you and all yours for this article!
I think I might be starting to get this. I used to watch Youtube a few times here and there when I was free and had nothing to do. Matter of fact, I only discovered Youtube in 2013. Anyways, nowadays when working I sometimes just out of nowhere go on youtube or lets say I am reading a book for school and I don’t know a word, I search it up but then just get distracted. Also, most of my work is usually to be done on the computer and online, so I frequently get distracted. Moreover, I plan my whole day and do designate this much time only for youtube, but the f**king “one last video” always just f*ks me over. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to stop it, and I just helplessly get carried away by it and after many videos it turns out my whole day I planned has gone in the bloody bin. Although, I have kind of gotten better with this controlling, but I still do tend to waste a lot of time on Youtube.
(I’m not a native speaker, so excuse any grammar mistakes)
I am so addicted to Youtube and watching movies but I just can’t take it serious. I think, it’s because I have done so many worst things considered addictive (e.g. 1.5 years of intense crystal meth, etc.) and it was EASY to stop it. But Youtube…I just can’t stop, it’s ridiculous. Me not having had problems to stop meth maybe wasn’t a bliss. It really makes me not take my Youtube addiction serious cause I’m thinking “Well, if it was that easy to stop drugs, I can stop Youtube anytime, so one more video won’t hurt”. It’s so stupid. I’m actually a pretty successful engineering student on a great university. I have A’s and awards for other projects I do in my free time. I put A LOT of pressure on myself and I think that’s why I try to escape from my life by wasting days on Youtube. When I start watching, I don’t eat or drink or shower or brush my teeth for like days sometimes. And then I drag myself to uni and have a super productive week or two only to hit rock bottom again next weekend. I even started to hallucinate and see black shadows moving around my apartment, if I had a day long marathon but I think that has its roots in my meth years.
I have been able to talk to someone about this and to admit to myself that I have an addiction but I still can’t take it serious cause I have such good weeks sometimes and cause I’m all in all successful but I know that this won’t last, if I keep living my life like that.
It is so embarrassing to be addicted to such an uncool thing. I feel like people would laugh at me, if they would know. Everyone thinks, that I have my life so much together cause I’m always looking fashionably and wearing great makeup and high heels and my place looks great and tidy and is in an awesome neighbourhood (I do live alone) and I’m always polite and on time and say the right things and my friends a super cool and successful and people think, that I’m cool and popular and my family is so proud of me but man, I’m broken.
Hey, Vicky,
First of all, thank you for sharing this with us! You’re not broken. To quote Dom from another comment, “You’re addicted because that’s how your brain works, how everybody’s brain works. YouTube was designed to be as addictive as possible. So you’re not weak, you just have a healthy brain that got hijacked by YouTube; and you’re definitely not alone with your problem.”
I’ve really resonated with this article and the comments section. And I can truly empathize with your situation as well. I’m a graduating valedictorian for goodness sake, and I waste hours and hours of my day sometimes, and then I hate myself for it and how weak I am. I feel like, “there’s no way I can keep this up,” and I feel fake because everyone sees this ‘perfect’ outside of me. Except it’s really not very perfect anymore… It’s amazing to me that you still find time to keep the house clean and dress well! I don’t always…
Best of luck to you!
Take care,
Catherine
Hey Catherine and Vicky,
thank you for sharing your experiences! I was hesitant to reply because I don’t intend to play clinical psychologist on the Internet. However, I suggest to frame YouTube addiction as a bad habit rather than a personality flaw. Any habit can be changed by implementing a good strategy. I hope the strategy presented here can be of help to you. In any case, I appreciate your comments and wish you the best.
– Dom
This was simply wonderful, beautifully written and very helpful. Getting rid of a habit can be hard, but this article made me realize that it isn’t impossible. It is simply a matter of developing self-discipline. I agree to the one-hour time limit, but as I have reached a state where I would lose track of time and find it hard to stop myself from playing the next video I think it would be best to avoid entirely for a bit till the temptation dies off.
This article is the reason I am not giving up on this. I love the strategies and advices you have provided in this article. There is simply no doubt that the time I spent on reading this article changed my life for the better.
Thank-you for your support
-Chathumini Samarasinghe-
Hey Chathumini, thank you for the nice words, try setting an alarm to forestall losing track of time, and I wish you much success.
— Dom
Thank you so much for this post! It’s like an eye opener for me! Every day I pray Jesus to make me stop watching videos on YouTube. So today, he showed me this post! Every single day, fresh in the morning I plan to study for atleast 10 hours (I’m preparing for the most competitive exam in my country). But after around 7 hours, though I’m not tired, yet I’ll fool myself by saying lemme jzt watch for half an hour…then it goes on for more than than an hour sometimes…and I end up regreting. The effect of regret lasts only till next day. But again I’ll start fooling myself with the same trap in same way! Those nights, I could not sleep due to the guilt I had of wasting my precious time!
But now, I hope I can overcome this addiction. Yes, it’s gonna be hard. But my purpose of life is bigger than these videos! Thank you once again! ❤️❤️❤️
Bhavatharini, thank you for your kind words that I hope will inspire many others.
Wishes, Dom
Thank You very much for this article Dom! I am very grateful for your advice.
I will notify when I will be convinced that I am free from YouTube addiction
I’ve been seriously addicted to first video games, then YouTube, then a video game again, then YouTube, then a video sharing site called BitChute. For many many years my life revolved around these things; they were strong negative forces in my life. Many times I would try to quit then fail and quit and fail and quit and fail again.
Based on my experience, I believe to successfully quit, it is critical to first realize you have a problem, then really analyze the effect it is having on your life and fully except that those negative effects are occurring and are truly detrimental to you. Once you’ve done this, you will have a very clear purpose and motive to stop; not because you just “want to”, but because of how your quality of life will improve so much. Make a turning point in your life.
And after looking back at my these challenges I’ve had, I will warn you that if you are susceptible to this type of thing, then you MUST keep a lookout for yourself being consumed by a similar thing again. It can creep up in your life without you even realizing it. In closing, I have faith that you can beat it. You can do it.
Hey Dom. I am currently in college and terribly addicted to YouTube. This started 2 years ago when I got into college. I have holidays to prepare for my exams now and I’m spending 4 to 6 hours on youtube watching entertaining videos. I have disabled the app on my phone and tab. I practise mindfulness about 5 times a week. But the situation is not getting any better. I feel guilty after my binge and that eats up the time I have at hand. I was a very studious person in school and loved to study but this website has ruined my interest. I end up lying to my parents that I studied so and so today instead of confessing to my mistake. I want to overcome this addiction badly.
I’ve had a problem with watching more YouTube than I feel comfortable with for a while now, but I’ve hit a new low in the past week. I stopped taking some psychotropic medication (I’ve talked to my doctor about it) 2.5 weeks ago and now I’m STRUGGLING to even take a break from YouTube or stop watching to go to bed. Last night I only stopped when my phone literally died in the middle of a video. And the worst part was this particular Dr. Phil video I watched was etched in my mind. This poor child (I won’t go into detail) had some SERIOUS trauma and I couldn’t stop replaying parts of the video in my mind as I laid in bed quite disturbed. It took much longer than usual to fall asleep, partly because of the mental obsession and partly probably because of all the blue light I’d been staring at for hours. I’m seeing that this is becoming a HUGE problem. My husband brought it to my attention that I’m neglecting him in favor of watching YouTube. I left my phone at home last night so I would not be tempted to scroll YouTube on our date. I’ve NEVER had that much of a problem looking at my phone before. I did disable the YouTube app on my phone this morning, but I feel this itch to go watch videos even right now. I think I’ll try downloading a website blocker and get my husband to make up the password so I can’t disable it on a whim. I’m not sure I can give myself a cheat hour or day at all. I feel I would not have the self-control to stop, even if an alarm goes off I’d probably just turn it off and keep binging. I feel so utterly frustrated with myself. I know it is not actually satisfying to watch YouTube for hours every day but it’s so enticing!!
My mom won’t let me watch youtube but, I don’t want to watch it behind her back but, I’M SO ADDICTED!!! 🙁
I’m 10 and I don’t know what to do anymore. 🙁 I always watch this one YouTuber named Gamergirl, KarinaOMG, and Karina Kurzawa. She is all one person but, 3 different YouTube Videos. She likes to play some specific (it is going to be to embracing to say what game) games! I need help!
Would you help me?
Your Friend,
Rylee R.
hi, my name is Oskar and i’m a youtube addict.
i have just used 6 hours on watching youtube, meant for doing homework and working on 5 projekts, several og them with passed deadlines! i am very sorry for my bad spelling danish and 14 years old. i have realized that i have this problem for a long time now, and i have cut out watching youutub in the morning which has had a significant impact on my life, but even so i still struggle a lot to overcome the urge to watch the clickbait thumbnail. i am tired of my life being sucky and im slowly changing it!
I truly appreciate this post. I have been looking everywhere for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thx again