Sorry I typed a lot, so I get if you don’t want to read my whole post lol.
I recognize the irony of asking this on a super online forum, but with the introduction of Sora AI and the AI getting harder and harder to detect, I’m getting to the place where I’m personally think I need to start fortify my mind and start to unplug from big tech and the internet more.
I’m starting to build my own NAS to self host media that I curate. For me, my digital plan to ward off the brain rot is easy: RSS feeds, email newsletters, and self-hosting and getting off big social media platforms (YouTube is gonna be hard , ngl; I legit have a YT addiction…)
But for the IRL offline piece, I don’t even know where to start. I spent the vast majority of my life by myself on computers (entering my mid-20s). Because I have neglected building social relationships, I’m so socially inept, lol. I’m starting from zero. Like, I know for older folks and more offline zoomers, this might sound dumb asking, but if you are more comfortable being by yourself alone on a screen, dealing with the real world and ppl unpredictability is hard knowing where to start.
I’m out of college, and grad school is too expensive, lol. It’s crazy to think just 20 years ago ppl lives were completely different. And with the direction the internet is going, it just getting filled with bots, slop, and ragebait, I recognize I need to better use my time on earth, but it’s hard when most of my life I’ve spent online in front of screens. Like, I’m kind of a bit agoraphobic,(not completely; I go to office when required, though), and WFH and all the internet conveniences make staying indoors so easy and attractive (amazon, walmart, streaming, porn). I was listening to my favorite podcast and they said “We need to make real life more enticing than the internet.” And that really stuck with me.
Our brains have been hijacked by big tech to keep our eyeballs on their platforms for profit. and with the AI stuff, the level of fakeness I cannot personally tolerate, and I dunno if the combo of just me getting older and becoming dissatisfied with my life and all that is causing me to seek advice from strangers on the internet to help inform some changes lol.
Can’t help you with the relationships, but I can help you with long posts and online stuff. Yes, I know, the irony is getting real thick here… LOL
Wall of text
When a complex idea manifests as a wall of text, dump the early draft to an LLM, and tell it to squeeze it into a tighter package. Tell it to delete the unnecessary ramblings and repetitions while keeping the core message intact. Before LLMs, I had to manually tidy up my posts and long comments, but nowadays LLMs can handle that sort of stuff for you.
BTW I totally agree that screens tend to be too interesting to humans, so here are a few ideas to help with that.
Be intentional
Make a habit of making your interactions with digital technology more intentional.
This philosophy applies to mobile apps too. Instead of starting an app by tapping an icon on the home screen, use the search feature on your phone to type the name of the app and launch it that way. Muscle memory tends to lead to starting apps even when you don’t really intend to, but using the search as a means to starting apps adds a layer of friction between you and wasting your time on brainrot. This method works best when your home screen doesn’t have any interesting apps to distract you. Put only boring apps in there or make it entirely empty if you want to go full detox. Having a really nice wallpaper helps with that.
Watch videos on your computer, not your phone or tablet. Uninstall the YT app from everything, and use it on a browser instead. This adds a little more friction, making it harder to mindlessly watch videos. When you do watch them, it’s deliberate instead of accidental.
Limit exposure
Limit your online exposure by using whitelists instead of blacklists. On YouTube, you can do this by ignoring main feed and sticking to your subscriptions. BTW, the PocketTube browser extension makes this even nicer, but is it useful to make the experience that nice though? If not, disable uBlock Origin, SponsorBlock and PocketTube to speed up the detox process. You’ll end up hating YT so much that watching paint dry will become surprisingly appealing. Maybe that’s a bit hard-core… Better start with smaller steps and try full detox later.
Anyway, the same approach works for Lemmy too. Subscribe to the stuff you really care about, and ignore the rest. This way, you’ll be exposed to less Internet overall, and the part you do see is more likely to be worth your time. As a result, you’ll run out of top-tier material rather quickly, and the internet becomes boring to you. As soon as you get bored, take your eyes off the screen. Look out the window. Take a deep breath. Let your mind wander, and you might suddenly remember you still need to take out the trash (or whatever task you’ve been putting off).
Edit: I wasn’t happy with the initial version, so I let an LLM suggest minor tweaks. Only some of them were included.