I recently listened to Dopamine Nation, it wasn’t all that relevant to my life, but it got me thinking a lot about how much time I waste every day consuming media.
I’m looking for book recommendations on how to make changes with my media habits - I’d like a bit more balance with hobbies, chores, projects, etc. Basically just not feeling like all I do after work anymore is watch YouTube.
More details about my specifics below, but feel free to skip if you’re in a hurry and just want to drop your book :)
So Dopamine Nation was mostly about drug abuse, or people with actual debilitating addictions. The stories are kinda insane and fun to listen to. But I haven’t quite ruined my life with internet addiction (yet). Some insights were useful, but I want things a bit more specific to my situation. Not advice for how to get off heroine.
Lately I’ve been frustrated that I’ve had little free time to work on my projects. It feels like after work I just have to chill out and recover - which is mostly just eating and watching YouTube. When I run out of interesting YouTube videos, I watch dumb ones. And hours pass in an instant. Just last night I started a 20 minute funny video compilation and thought to myself, “I won’t finish this cause I have to go to bed soon” and my literal next thought was, “oh it’s over, did 20 minutes really pass?” And yeah, they had.
Meanwhile on nights that new bike parts come in the mail and I spend three hours in the garage after work role-playing a bike mechanic, it feels like an entire Saturday occurred just after work. And I’m not absolutely exhausted like I’d have predicted. Time just feels slower. I think I’ve always known this, I just refused to accept how significantly different life feels watching TV vs being engaged with something.
So I resolved to change a few weeks ago, and quit YouTube, but I don’t think I’ve actually gone a single day where I watched less than an hour of videos… One of the scary parts of Dopamine Nation was the evidence that high-dopamine activities shorten our abilities to think long-term; and a result of that is addicts constantly telling themselves “I won’t always be this way” or “I’ll quit someday for sure” but having zero commitment to a timeline. I feel like that’s where I’m at. “Yeah, I wanna quit and reclaim my time, but I can watch videos while I eat, right?” which leads to a lost evening. It’s like I have the clear desire to go cold-turkey, but then in the moment I can’t relate to those old desires and I habitually am looking for something to watch.
So I’d love a book that has guidance on managing internet addiction. Whether that’s some sort of balance, or advice on how to quit a bad habit.
Some books I’ve got on my radar:
- Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
- I LOVED his book Deep Work - it definitely changed my life in college.
- It seems like an obvious choice for me, but reviews seem to say it’s not that revolutionary. More like some loose ideas on the benefits of using your phone less.
- I’d love if someone here had a glowing review for the book or thought it might actually be what I’m looking for :)
- Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
- And I’ve been looking through lists online, like this one:
Not everyone absorbs information the same way. I can read a page 3 times and not remember what I read. Audiobooks I remember everything. Don’t knock it because it’s not what you enjoy
I know that very well. And still I recommend that, because the act of listening to an audio book is so different from the act of reading a book (and because the former has so many similarities to using other electronic media).
It has many aspects, not just absorbing the information.
Such as?