My Journal... Overcoming Instant Gratification

[Wingless_ace]

Hi there I'm Ace and I have been addicted to screens for 16 years and I'm looking to put and end to it.

I'm tired of being addicted 

I'm tired of social media telling me how I can and can't think

I'm tired of being depressed and anxious

I'm tired of not exploring the world

I'm tired of being tired all the time

And I'm tired of never attempting challenges or stepping out of my comfort zone to try something new.

 

I am going for a 90 day detox of all social media. This includes YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Discord, Reddit, TikTok, Twitter.

I am also going to not use my headphones for 90 days as those cause me to want to listen to music which then turns me to videos and mindless content.

 

With this detox, I am going to try to explore and learn the things that my parents tried to get me to learn or do as a child, but I refused because all I wanted to do was play video games or watch YouTube.

 

As a result, I am going to set myself an actual bedtime, 9:00 PM, and have a natural wake up time 6:00 AM. I am not going to be strict on the wake up time because I want my body to feel rested and wake up naturally, so anything from 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM is perfect.

 

I am also going to cook more and spend less money on ordering out. I don't know how to cook many things, but we have cookbooks and the internet that I can use to research recipes.

 

In terms of trying new hobbies, most of it will be outdoor hobbies, as that will get me off my screen. Most indoor hobbies now are somehow related to the computer I feel. So, I will be trying new stuff outdoors, like getting back into hiking, going for bike rides, swimming while I can and learning how to snowboard this winter.

 

Finally, the most important one, I am going to read way more books as my source of entertainment. TV from time to time or the occasional movie will be okay, but I don't want to spend a lot of my time watching screens as I said before.

 

I am excited with my goals written down and my hobbies figured out to start on my healing journey. I won't update this journal every single day, but I will take note of my emotions and my progress each day, so hopefully, I can finally feel what it's like to live life to the fullest and actually be a contributing member to my community / family / self!

 

Here's to healing

Ace

[Wingless_ace]

Something I’ve learned is that there are so many interesting things in this world that are unexplored. It makes me question why I would spend time wasting money on drinking alcohol or playing games, watching YouTube, missing out on it.

Experiences outside from the virtual world give meaning and make a life beautiful it makes it meaningful, it gives something to talk about with a peer or friend. If I never go out to experience stuff or I only view the world through my phone, my life, I believe will be a lot more dull. 
 

Sure, doing things in the real world take way more time and effort than just getting it through my phone, but I think that’s what makes it irreplaceable and awesome. Those challenging moments, the process of getting there, that’s what’s truly rewarding. 
 

Going to be trying new and different things each day or learning something new each day as I go on my journey.

 

Here’s to healing

Ace

[Wingless_ace]

The hardest part about quitting social media for me is the friendships I made from it. The friends I do have irl never want to reach out and actually do stuff away from screens. Their form of communication is updating their instagram story. So idk how I can really get off social media, knowing that all my friends use it and if I left, I wouldn’t really have any friends anymore 

[zeke365]

While reading this I can say I’m proud of you for attempting this but I think it a little extreme.

    If you can do it great, but you’re trying to beat last battle boss without leveling up so you can defeat your beast. 
   I would focus only one platform like say Tik toc I would try logging out, then once you get use to that disable the account (if it’s possible) then finally delete account by defeating individual you grow strong but trying to take everything on at once will get you crushed. 
    I would do this Facebook, YouTube, and others but be sure to have an alternative when doing this saying and doing are two separate things. 
   I know for me I did that with Facebook (meta) now I don’t have an account and same with Reddit, but I replaced with reading books (physical books). This more to help you, but I applaud you for trying.