u/IceyCucumber

On the surface, it looks like I am doing great compared to my friends or other people in my generation. I don't spend all of my day consuming brainrot on tiktok, and I can e.g watch a movie without picking up my phone and scrolling on instagram every time there is a boring scene (literally all of my friends do that and it's so sad), yet it still feels like my brain is in constant need of stimulation.

For context, this is what my screen time looks like throughout the day:

1. Things that I believe are completely ok

• I am a college student so I spend a lot of my time on my laptop studying
• I play (electric) guitar and my current setup relies on amp simulation so I need my laptop every time I play
• I watch movies every week

2. Things that are probably ok?

• I spend 2.5-3h a day on my phone. 65% of that is spent on messaging apps, 25% on googling stuff and AI, and 10% on spotify and other apps.

3. Things that are problematic

• I spend a looot of time on youtube on my TV. I have the history turned off so I do not have home page recommendations, but I still click on recommended videos that pop up while I am watching another video and end up watching way too many. I have tried uninstalling youtube from my TV but I just end up watching yt on my laptop or phone instead, and I cant just get rid of youtube, I still need it for essential stuff. The only good thing is that the content I watch is mainly somewhat educational (a lot of science, philosophy and music), so no mrbeast or anything like that, but I still feel that there's a lack of control.
• I keep checking notifications on my phone all the damn time. The thing is I have all notifications except messaging and emails turned off, and even then Ive made it so that the screen doesnt light up when i get a message. I just keep grabbing my phone and checking obsessively even if im not expecting any message from a particular person. I must do it at least 30 times a day and that might be an underestimation.
• I just need to be stimulated all the time in general. One example is I take my phone with me every time I poop, and i have multiple bowel movements a day so that happens a lot. Another one is that I cannot take a shower or cook without music. I just cannot sit down and stare at the wall for 5 minutes.

It honestly feels like my brain is foggy all the time. Even without fb reels, insta reels, tiktok, etc, I still feel like a zombie. It's literally the same feeling I get when I am addicted to something, only this time I don't even know what I am addicted to.

So I guess im writing this to ask the following questions:

1. Is what I'm experiencing actually a problem?
2. If so, do you have any advice on how to fix the aforementioned issues?
3. Has any of you gone through the exact same thing and "fixed" your situation?