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Help: advice & tools for digital detox / minimalism? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 2 months ago by dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Hello, I was wondering if anyone has recommendations for tools to help with digital detox / digital minimalism.

I struggle with mild impulsivity. Whenever I open my computer I almost automatically open a browser and check social media.

It used to be a problem primarily with Reddit and news sites, but since joining Lemmy my behavior has switched to regularly checking Lemmy.

I'm looking for any tools or advice, whether cognitive-behavioral or technical like browser extensions.

In the past I used the Firefox extension called Redirector to redirect myself from certain subreddits like /r/all to something more benign (I like /r/sewing or /r/books for example), and this intervention helped break up automatic behavior and was a kind of harm reduction: still feeding the impulsivity, but with healthier content.

I was wondering if there is something like Redirector that redirects randomly with some probability (like 20% of the time it redirects to the target you specify).

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[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

App timers work well for me. I wouldn't say I'm addicted though, I browse the internet a lot but it's by choice, I find it useful and entertaining. I set my timers to 40m, but I rarely exceed half that unless I'm browsing memes with the gf and showing them to her.

[–] dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

What timer do you use, and does it lock access after a set time or does it just notify you when the alarm goes off?

EDIT: I found this app: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/mind-the-time/

It keeps track of how much time you spend on different websites (so not so much an intervention / reminder as a time tracker).

[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I just use the digital wellbeing timer in the settings on my phone.

For the pixel on A12/13 It's under "Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls" -> "App Limits". Then just hit the sand clock icon next to the app and it should let you choose a timer. 1 min before the timer runs out, you'll get a notification and the app will turn greyscale, similarly to Bedtime mode if you use that. Once the timer runs out a toast notification will popup asking you to either change the timer or close the app IIRC. Bear in mind in either case the app will be killed hard, so all of your temp data (i.e. Lemmy comment in progress) will be lost.

On browser I use this and it's existential dread is sufficient: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/daily-motivation-age-coun/ndjleggnmncjmfjcgmmpimpccikiadaf?hl=en

[–] dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Oh, I love that - greyscale as a warning.

For a while I had my whole phone on greyscale, but I don't have trouble with spending time on my phone - it's really the laptop that I have an issue with.

Maybe I should write software to conditionally greyscale my desktop/laptop screen!

Thanks for the link and details, so helpful!

[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago

You're welcome! Sorry I couldn't help more. I actually have a script like this but for gradual redshift